This week I spent creative time in the shed, making color and paper.
It began when I took a walk and gathered dandelions on the roadside of the route between home and Tod’s office. When foraging, I never take everything I see. I am not the only entity using these resources; there are bees, butterflies and people, too. Even so, I plucked enough dandelions to make a batch of color.
Before starting the color making, the dandelion petals have to be separated from their green parts. I learned a lot about dandelion anatomy as I picked them apart. I found the beginnings of fluffy seed heads in the older blossoms, sticky yellow pollen in the fresh ones, and observed the way some of the flowers shriveled quickly while others stayed perky in their pile.
As I sat picking petals, I had the British hymn, Jerusalem, stuck in my head (why?), so I cued up my favorite version to listen to. Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s Brain Salad Surgery from 1972 starts with Jerusalem and it was my introduction to the song as a child. The music of that album feels like how my brain works – seemingly chaotic but with underlying intention that makes sense if you pay attention. Brain Salad Surgery is my musical DNA. I am sure Mom put this album on while she made dinner and my sister and I danced and played “mousey piano.” I have heard these songs scores of time. Listening to the album from start to end yesterday brought back deep childhood memories, and after 50+ years, I just realised that the song Karn Evil 9 is “carnival”. Huh/doh. Is this why Jenny and I both ended up as circus-y performers?
Anyway, once I got the petals separated, the color extraction was a simple simmer and lake process. In Joanne Green’s book, Natural Watercolor Paint Making she suggests blending the simmered material to extract any additional color. Clever. I popped it all into the blender before straining the color tea.
That left me with ball of dandelion pulp so I used it to make paper. I added in a bit of packing paper for bulk and the sheets turned out so beautifully! Little flecks of yellow and green show on the surface of the dried paper. I adore the translucence of the pulled sheets drying on the windows in the shed.
Now that spring has reawakened the colormaking urge, I expect to be collecting flowers, singing childhood anthems, and producing art materials more frequently. Next up…vinca?
