Paper Blossoms

Last week the folks at Two Hands Paperie put our a call for people to help them make paper blossoms for a new window display. I had to respond, of course. I never miss an opportunity to be creative with other people.

It was super fun! They had been inspired by an article in an issue of Kinfolk magazine that came out last spring. They kept it in mind until it was the right season. The people at Peerless Transparent Watercolor were also kind enough to donate some of their great watercolor color sheet for the project. They had also pre-cut a huge stack of special Sumi paper to be folded into the forms that would make the flowers.

Mia explained how to fold the flowers and we set to work.

It took about folding 10 of them to get the hang of it; the folds were very different from the other origami I had done in the past. The biggest challenge was figuring out how to cut them out just right. Next up, we used pieces of the Peerless colorsheets to create colored dipping waters to dye the paper.

With so many of us helping, we had a ton of flowers in no time. We left them on the table so that they would be dry by the morning when the people at Two Hands would begin to flower the branches that had fallen out of a tree during a recent windstorm.

As a token of thanks for helping, Mia created little kits for each of us to take home. It housed squares of paper and a nice selection of the Peerless colorsheets. I picked up some more of the paper and the special waterbrush so that I could make some of my own. I started making the flowers last night. Now I have to find the perfect branch.

In typical Mia fashion, she had used some of the same blossoms to make a new pajaki. (I still have not made one of my own, even though I have created some flowers for it, maybe I will make a spring one.)

In other news, Ethan is now on the Lady Washington and is currently the engineers mate, though he may also become the bosman's mate soon. The engineer works with the mechanics of the ship, while the bosman deals with things like the rope rigging, painting, fixing the sails - keeping the boat in good shape.

His trip back to San Fransico on the train ended up being a great choice for him. It was restful, interesting and fun. By the time Ethan returned to the boat, they had one or two nights left before they headed out. On the first Saturday of the month the Barclutha (a ship in Fisherman's wharf) host a sea shanty singing party that goes on all day and well into the evening. Ethan sang his heart out, introducing them to a new song once the adult hour (11 p.m.) had arrived. One of Ethan's shipmate also shared a new sea shanty that he had written. Ethan loved, "Barnacle Bill" best, though the real version of the song is not for young company. Here is a funny version of it. The song is traditionally done in two parts in a call and response manner.