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| The Inspiration |
It's 10 minutes 'til five on Sunday, June 10, 2012 and the three-day TRAC (Toe River Arts Council) Studio Tour in Mitchell and Yancey counties, North Carolina is almost over. I'm babbling.. a little giddy... nearly brain dead... But not because of the amazing guests we met this weekend, No, it's because of my current book of the week,
Paper Flowers.
There were five us in Lisa's book art and letterpress studio, Common Life Press.. and when Michelle arrived for set-up Thursday night with a bouquet of paper flowers as our centerpiece I was charmed. The origami-folded papers reminded me of the beauty of words, of poetry, of love letters and maps to magical places...
Sunday... when things slowed down a bit and sales were
not happening... we asked Michelle to teach us this folded wonder. I started making notes...
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| Huh? |
Sometimes the written word is not the most effective way to communicate... I needed notes for my notes... and my handwriting is
awful! The first paper flower attempt was a mutation.
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| Not quite right.. a mutation? |
The solution was a sample of
every step. That's how it is in making books, in writing, in anything with many parts and manual (or mental) dexterity.. not always as easy as it looks.. A sharp crease burnished with a bonefolder is a necessity... actually many sharp creases.. many, many folds...
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| My friend made this bonefolder |
The steps in making a paper flower are shown below. There are 8 steps shown here... each step has many parts.. like that man going to St. Ives with the sacks of all those cats and the cats with all those lives... Making a paper flower is complicated.
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| The Eight Steps to a Paper Flower |
This is them too....
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| One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight... |
It's a good way to learn a complicated process. Each new step includes all the previous steps... so by the eighth step the first step has been repeated 8 times.. which is about my level of necessary repetition for memory retention.
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| Finished paper flower of the blue roses print |
And finally paper flowers are fluffed out, wrapped onto a wire stem with waxed linen thread and ready for a paper vase!
Inspiration comes in many forms.
Kathy
