Birch Bark (2)

I had a look at the birch bark after 24 hours of clamping. Quite nicely flattened but still very wet. I blotted the excess off with household tissue but don't like the idea of sandwiching that in the clamp for fear it sticks onto the bark when the bark dries out. I have reclamped the bark . It may be several days before it is completely dry. I will look at it every day. I don't know why I did not think of using this technique for bookbinding instead of four bricks. The pressure must be far higher.

My table came yesterday and is in the garage. So I spent some time weaving on the Fan reed. The result was 15 inches of impeccable cloth. I hope I can keep it up. The secret is to screw up the warp tension as hard as possible and to wind on after two inches of weaving. I am now hoping I can finish by Sunday and get Ruth to help me shift everything round. Some of today will have to be spent thinking about meals for the weekend and buying the ingredients. Since Michael has not been well, we have survived this week on what is in the house /freezer. It turns out it was all just a reaction to antibiotics.

I have ordered some smashing marbled paper through etsy from mymarbledpapers.

I am making up some ivory silk (woven by me) into a coat and decided I need some high class wide ribbon to trim it. A lot of the last two days has been spent searching the web - with no success. I remembered vaguely coming across an American weaver who did Jacquard ribbon. And sure enough there she was with a wonderful collection of ribbon. So I have ordered 4 yards of ribbon as well. Her name is Laura Foster Nicholson. Well worth gawping at.