Don't eat your paper!

So, here's something that concerns me. I see more and more people making plantable paper these days, and many of these papermakers are adding herb seeds and vegetable seeds to their papers. I never have and never will make plantable paper with seeds that grow into edible plants. Here's why. Paper is made with many plant-based materials, mostly trees, that can be recycled back into soil. But paper also has dyes and chemicals, including additives that seal paper, bleach the paper and make the paper smooth. Now add a seed. When your plantable paper first grows, it does so because the recycled paper around it has swelled with water and the seed has enough moisture (and warmth and light) to begin to germinate. As it germinates, it pulls in the water from the paper and everything that is dissolved in the water. These chemicals are taken into the leaves, stems and flowers of the plant and, presumably, remain there until you eat them. I can't be sure of the amount of chemicals that could be ingested or the effects they might have on an individual but since I try to only buy food that has not been treated with pesticides, I wouldn't want to knowingly sell something that didn't have the standards for my customers that I hold for my own diet.

Because many papermakers use post-consumer waste, junk mail and the like, they can’t be sure of the manufacturing process that the paper underwent before it got to them. This means they don’t know what chemicals have been added to the paper they are using. Here are just some of the possible additives:

* Wet strength additives ensure that when the paper becomes wet, it retains its strength. Typical chemicals used are as epichlorohydrin, melamine, urea formaldehyde and polyimines.
* Internal sizing of paper, which seals paper so that it can be printed on, include alkyl ketene dimerand alkenyl succinic anhydride.
* Caustic soda is added to increase the pH in the pulping process of fibers. The higher pH of the paper fiber solution causes the fibers to smoothen and swell, which is important for the grinding process of the fibers.
* Retention agent is added to bind fillers to the paper. Fillers, such as calcium carbonate, usually have a weak charged surface. The retention agent is a polymer with high cationic, positively charged groups. Polyethyleneimine and polyacrylamide are examples of chemicals used.
* Styrene butadiene latex, Styrene acrylic, dextrin, oxidized starch are used in coatings to bind the filler to the paper.
 Co-Binders, such as starch and also Carboxymethyl cellulose, are used along with the synthetic binders, like styrene acrylic or styrene butadiene.

So maybe just save your herbs for those you buy from the farmer's market and plant yourself, and leave your paper to sprout things that you won't be ingesting.

Reindeer droppings

Sometimes, I just crack myself up. These brown balls are called Reindeer droppings.

You have been naughty, not nice at all.
Don’t expect presents or things from the mall.
You won’t find Santa smiling on your stoop
Instead, here’s a bag of reindeer poop.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/65390066

They are really just Seed Bombs, which are plantable paper balls made from recycled paper and wildflower seeds. But potty humor has always tickled my funny bone.

Inspiration

Here's what's inspiring me today: Light and shadow

In my home:

and in art:
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/07/motion-silhouette-an-interactive-shadow-picture-book

Thanksgiving stuffing

I can't wait for Thanksgiving. No, I mean, I literally can't wait. I got such a hankering for stuffing today that I just went ahead and made a big batch of it and stuffed some squash with it for dinner. My family has a tradition of eating James Beard's chestnut stuffing for our Thanksgiving side with the turkey so I will save that tradition for the real day. I made this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink stuffing that is one of my fall favorites. I started making it a decade or so ago when I had some apples (from an over-zealous apple picking season)that were getting soft. They were a firm variety that wouldn't be good for apple sauce so I made various dishes like delicata squash and apple soup, and German apple pancakes. And this recipe. It has onions, celery, apples (bien sur), mushrooms, pine nuts, maple syrup, bread crumbs, chicken broth, fresh rosemary, parmesan cheese, havarti cheese…

It doesn't look very good here in a brown lump in this photo but trust me, it is. Oh lord, it is.

NEW PRODUCT!

OK, I am really obsessed with these little gift tags. They are blank folded gift tags so you can write a note or to/from inside. The outside has a little plantable paper earth on it. LOVE THEM! I think I have a weird obsession with miniature things. I still have my dollhouse from my childhood and have taught summer camps and after-school classes on making dollhouse miniatures. Some of the original furniture from my dollhouse charms me so much — as well as associations with pleasant childhood memories — that I display a few of my favorite pieces on a shelf in my studio.

So these tags charm me also. I actually got the little blank tags at a paper auction and had fun trying to figure out something little to put on them. I love getting paper at auctions because it is cheap enough that I can play around with it and not worry about a new idea not working out quite right. But I also get all kinds of papers and sizes of tags and envelopes that I wouldn't normally invest in, which gets my creative juices percolating. These turned out better than I envisioned in my head. If you like them, you can purchase these (or any amount you would like if you contact me) in my Etsy shop here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/16053953

Christmas ornaments

Every year, my artisans cooperative sets up a big Christmas tree in the front of the market and we all make handmade ornaments to display and sell, while decorating a lovely, festive tree to welcome our customers. Since the cooperative has been in business for more than 30 years, it has become a local tradition that people come in and buy a new ornament for their tree every year. The challenge is that we, the artisans, have to come up with new ideas annually. It gets pretty tricky, especially when every artist is trying to stay within her medium, but it is a challenge that is really stimulating and pushes our creativity. I have been so enchanted by the creations I see every year that I can't help buying them for myself. I so look forward to opening the Christmas boxes and pulling out the ornaments because each one has a memory or story of the person who made it. There are some ornaments that are so pretty and special to me that I display them around my home year-round. Here are two of my favorites.

Mary Muncil made this sweet painted ball with such fine, patient strokes. I love the little details of the night landscape. You can just barely see the dark trees against the deep blue sky. There is a silvery river that snakes its way down to the bottom of the ball and ends in her signature. It is so simple but you can feel the attention to detail that she put into it and how much she cared to make it. It wasn't made quickly to slap on a price tag and turn into cash. It was made for the love of the creation and it so completely shows. I love it so much that it hangs from a sconce just outside my bathroom so I can see all the time.

Karen Koziol is one of my favorite artists. She makes mixed media sculpture that have such humor and wit. She made these little houses that sit on a windowsill next to my dining room table. As I have said in a previous post, there is something about a house that warms the soul. I love how she made them look really old.

I can't wait to open the Christmas boxes and find even more!

Steal like an artist

This is such a thought-provoking poster that, once I found it, I had to trace it back to its creator to find out more. I found this great Ted talk by Austin Kleon, the guy who said it and wrote a book with the same title:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oww7oB9rjgw

He says that all art is imitated and that nothing is original but that we need to make it ours. Steal like an artist doesn't mean an outright theft of something. It means to borrow from many places, and make something your own. He had a great quote about imitation not being flattery, but transformation is. When somebody takes the idea of something you created and elevates it and makes it better but also makes it their own, THAT is flattery. What a boring world it would be if all artists stole and made the exact same thing as the original. I love #5 the best, about how important side projects and hobbies are to art. I had an art teacher who said the same thing to me. She said if you live in a bubble and don't have life experiences, you can't create art. You have to have memories, feelings and stories to draw upon to create something with meaning. Amen!