Paper Bliss

I’ve been busy in the basement for the last few days. Thursday night I idly checked Craig’s List for flat files and found two at an amazing price, “available to the first person who comes to pick them up.” My very kind neighbor (also known as DPL) was happy to drive his van over the next morning and help me haul the files up a steep set of stairs and then wrestle them down my own basement steps. They have been just the inspiration I needed to continue with the cleaning I’d started downstairs. Here’s a shot of the workbench, possibly the first time it’s been clear of junk since I moved into the house six years ago. (And it’s a very cool workbench… probably built in the 1930’s.)


What is it about getting things in the right place that is so ultimately relaxing? I always feel such a deep sense of calm after a session like this. It’s like an annoying noise that I didn’t even know was there has gone away and I can hear everything else so much more clearly. It’s more fun to be in the space and creative work is so much easier.
And now the flat files. I got up the morning after the files got into place and brought a good cup of coffee to the studio for the delicious process of sorting my paper into the appropriate drawers. (The larger file is big enough to hold my Japanese papers without folding them!) For years I used cardboard portfolios stacked flat on a card table…which meant I had no real idea of what I owned because the whole stack was too heavy to lift, much less see what was in the folders. I’ve decided to sort them by type of paper (I was thinking about sorting by color)…such bliss to open a drawer and see all the lokta prints in one place and the lovely moriki in another.

At the same time, there has been a bit of a reckoning as I sort. Paper is the one place where I over-indulge and seeing all of the paper I own in one place has made me gulp a bit. It does feel like there might be too much.
I don’t feel too concerned about the Japanese paper. Since first finding the beautiful Katazome papers of the Japanese Paper Place and discovering how lovely they are to use in boxmaking, I’ve worried that they may disappear or become less available. The number of people in Japan who make these hand screened marvels are getting fewer and fewer simply because the technique is so labor intensive and the demand is small. When a new pattern shows up and it resonates with me, I’ll bring it home. I know it may not be back again.
As for the rest, I remember many days when I was so stressed over my job that a trip to Wet Paint was the highlight of my week and it felt like there might be the possibility of happiness in the purchase of a new sheet of paper. So I look at these sheets kindly but also with the sense that their purpose may be outdated. They were bought with a hunger for something richer in my life…and the good news is that I’m no longer in a place where paper has to carry my hope for happiness!
As a result I’m thinking about a garage sale for my excess paper purchases. Maybe 3 hours on a Saturday morning in September? If you live in the Twin Cities and love paper, watch this space for some great deals!