translucence

It was a satisfying way to begin.

More than satisfying—it was a delight.

I didn’t even need to finish unpacking.¹

The paper yarn was in a clearly marked box (much of it already spun), and my sewing machine required no unpacking at all.

I had only to lift the lid and start treadling.

The project even had a purpose .

Not that a purpose is necessary to begin something. Far from it. Nor does a purpose makes ideas more fun (or, heaven forbid, valid).

But after months of list overload and object overwhelm it was amazing to have the time and head space make a thing I need for the place I actually am with stuff I already have.

Well, mostly have. Because for all its loveliness, freshly washed linen/paper cloth sorely needs to be pressed before sewing, and I no longer own an iron.²

Except—I do.

Not a proper flatiron of course,³ but for these swaths of rectangular fabric any hot, heavy, smooth, flat object will do.

And this one even has a handle.

Of course it wasn’t hot when I plucked it from a recently organized cabinet (safety first), but the house has a stove, and a damp dish towel makes steam,⁴ so all too soon I had exactly what I wanted: deliciously translucent street-side North window privacy, and a custom hand made present for the new house.⁵

So now you can picture me—right here—typing away in the lovely light of a March morning—

—quite content.

What’s next?

1. As shown in the loom-with-pile-o-boxes photo in last week’s Gusset.

2. My leaky but still vaguely functional iron did not make the cut in my last frenzy of thing-thinning

3. I do have a proper flatiron at our cabin and perhaps one of these days I’ll bring it here. I don’t, after all, do much ironing there, it always works perfectly, and best of all it’ll never leak.

4. My dish towel drawer is full to bursting, so I was spoiled for choice.

5. Who needs fancy blinds when backstrap paper cloth will provide an almost perfect level of luminous translucency?

Actually paper/linen cloth: singles line linen warp and used coffee filter weft. Some swaths are more translucent than others to be sure (there were experiments involved)—but could store-bought blinds have provided such pleasure?

In case you’re interested, the techniques are in my comic guides: Backstrap Dialogues, and Of Coffee Filters and Rabbit Holes.