Presents, papermaking, dyeing

Musing about the iris foliage from this year, drying in a bag in the outside storage, now joined by daylily flowers and harvested lavender, all for future papermaking raw material.  I noticed that the iris foliage started to develop a bit of mold, so the paper bag was not quite doing the job.  And I suddenly remembered the fullsize screen door up in the studio, which belongs to the front door. I never use it, preferring to keep the storm door in place so that I can have the ac on in summer without shutting the door and making the place dark.

No sooner said than did.  Here's all the material, up on the big worktop in the studio, drying happily in a dry environment with a fan working above them, and they can be undisturbed as long as it takes. Background iris foliage, left front daylily flowers, right front lavender, but you guessed that. Also the air smells of lavender now.  Under the screen I slid a couple of plastic frames to hold it up off the worktop and get some air circulating under it.  I'll let you know how this goes.  It may be that the daylily flowers will give me dye material as well as paper material.  The lavender I haven't decided about yet.

This worktop is a great favorite. It's a huge piece of pine, finished on one side, which I found at the dumpster many years ago.  It's worked as a headboard, a desk, a dining table, and, for many years now a worktop. Talk about moneysworth.

And I went to wear a rayon top this morning, a favorite, and found a mysterious and huge pale stain on it, no idea where it came from. 

Clearly couldn't wash out, since it was there after laundering.  Sooooo, I thawed out a couple of containers of the liquid from making the iris paper 

and put the soaked top in to simmer for a couple of hours, and now it's sitting till tomorrow, to see if it takes up a bit of color. Just a delicate shade, probably, but it will be interesting to see how this works. 

If the papermaking water can be used again as a dye or ink, that's a bonus. And if I can wear this top in a new delicate color, good too.

Speaking of a bonus, in the mail today came a lovely set of presents from Cynthia, a laser-cut card of a Maine scene, a letter and some birch bark, which could have come from the scene on the card.  Each would have been a complete present, and I got a trifecta. 

Thank you!  I'll enjoy all of them. The card gives me many ideas, as you probably guessed it would.  Involving stenciling on iris paper, among others.  In gold.  I was feeling a bit tired today before the mail came, and now it's all different. Power mail!