I submitted my Arts Council Grants for the Arts application 2 weeks ago. I had planned to write weekly posts on this blog, but there was so much writing (and re-writing!) involved that I’m only just ready to get back to composing again.
While I wait for the lovely people in Manchester to make their decision, I’m starting to get my base garden at Art Space Portsmouth ready. I need to take out some of the plants that have grown for years and get the raised beds ready so that I can sow my crops, including flax seeds that have been donated by www.wildfibres.co.uk. I’m also doing research into other unusual plants and I think I’m going to have a go at growing loofah plants in the greenhouse. Yes, that’s right, the rough bath sponge which grows like a cucumber. I’m not sure how I’ll use them yet, whether to make them into paper or to use them in some sculptural way, or maybe both.
As I’m clearing the garden and pruning plants, I would normally just cut up the plant material and put it on the compost heap. However, now I’m looking at everything in a different way, wondering if I can use it to make paper, or in other ways. The greenhouse is slowly filling up with bags of bamboo, ornamental grasses and phormium leaves, waiting to be processed. That will be the next stage of the project, to practise with these leaves, learning how to process them and turn them into fibres, ready to make paper.
