If I had not seen the Coleus weaving in Sandra Rude's blog and followed it up so that eventually I became its proud owner, I would not have had the courage to write to Velma Bolroyd, she of the Wake Robin Paper Mill and ask if she would sell me some of her handmade paper. I am so pleased she said yes. I have worked out a book design to use it already!! These blog people, they don't mind you writing to them at all. And in passing, a wake robin seemed to be a trillium. I have had some in the garden but they didn't like it and died.
This is a badly focussed photo of a bloom on Magnolia watsonii. All the other flowers had been shrivelled up by the heat of the last few days. It is a small tree and, to me, it seemed a bit short on leaves.
Returning to book binding, my tutor says that wooden covers were the thing in Coptic times and my book with Michael's enamels mounted on sycamore is just right. I am taken with the idea of having book covers of birch bark which I saw used in a purse in Birmingham Museums Warehouse with Margaret Roach Wheeler. I have now read up how to prepare birch bark. I have several birches in our garden and nearby and I was going to visit them with a knife but this is a bad idea. You kill the tree. So you have to buy the bark or find a wood with cut down or dying birches in it and then take a knife to it. These days you could get arrested for that. I have found a supplier in the States but I can see trouble with importing wood into the UK. I once had to oversee the sending of two very large antennas to Canada and there was a major carry-on about the wooden crates which were specially built to fit them into. We had to have a special Certificate - and pay special money too. Anyway if anyone knows of a source of birch bark in the UK, please get in touch. It is used in basket making. I suppose that anywhere in the EU would do. Scandanavia?
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