I left Cleveland on Tuesday and was sad to say goodbye, but am happy to have such good new friends and a beautiful new studio to return to in the future. Here are pictures from the workshop: http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonaimee/sets/72157624572262839/

All of the pictures of the studio building and process are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonaimee/sets/72157624331964611/

I want to post a big thank you to everyone who made the studio possible (besides all of you!):

Lead donors:

Anne F. Eiben
Robert M. Eiben, MD

Donors of time, money, energy, expertise, tools, supplies, rides, and big love:

Eleanor Anderson
Thomas Balbo
Stephanie Brewer
Marcus Brathwaite
Spencer Cowan
Melissa Jay Craig
Jim Eiben
John Entsminger
Kevin Kelley
Susan Kelley
Bo Kyung Kim
Cameron Kowall
Emma Pavlik
Andrea Peterson
Steve Prokandt
Lauren Sammon
Bruce Taylor
Jon Thompson (T&T Tools)
Tony Trausch
Robert and Susan Zimmer

This weekend's workshop went really well--everyone seemed to be happy with what they got out of it. I keep forgetting that it wasn't my job to impart the ENTIRETY of my Fulbright research to them, and I am so utterly spent that I can't see straight, but this has been an incredible experience. Everyone at the Morgan is amazing, and I don't think I could have done this project anywhere else. The amount of support they gave me and continue to give me is remarkable.

More pictures to come, but I need a little breather first. For those of you awaiting rewards, hang tight! I will be making hanji for another week to fulfill those promises and also for my own work. Then I'll leave Cleveland, hopefully to return in the dead of winter to make hanji in cold, cold weather, the way it's supposed to be done!

We have five days left until I teach my hanji workshop, and there is a lot to do, but also a lot already done. The days will be full, making new student moulds and screens, testing the vat (as of today, it's nearly done--just four lines of caulk and it's good to go), cooking on the new gas stove w/a new stainless pot, finalizing the couching tools and station, dealing with press boards and drying boards and testing drying brushes, and so on. I'm feeling great about it, especially the more that I realize that we are truly making history.

Here is Tom, the ED, gleefully pretending to mimic hanji sheet formation (minus screen), and him sealing the drain while I hold it from above.

Things are busy, humming, rich, fun, and nervewracking here in Cleveland. My interns are fantastic, and we've finished sealing the entire vat. It's gorgeous. We'll get the framework on soon, as well as the drain and plumbing. Then we can finally do some test batches: testing the cooking, beating, and pulling. In the meantime, we're preparing test screens. It's all over the place and exciting and deeply fulfilling. If you want daily updates, just visit my blog: http://moonaimee.blogspot.com/

I got a new intern today, Cameron, who is super. He did insane amounts of sanding by hand since our orbital sander doesn't really work. The office manager's husband came in this weekend to drill the hole for the drain and I did the last coat of varnish on Sunday, so the outside is looking fabulous. The inside will be the big challenge. But hopefully tomorrow we will find a guard for our router to carve out a lip in the front of the vat, and then start marine epoxy at the hottest part of the day.

Meanwhile, I've been teaching the interns bookbinding skills and bindings and tricks during 'lunchtime tutorials.' Today was a big one: four interns and three structures. I'm hoping for good epoxy mojo tomorrow.

Minus the blue tape (protecting the maple trim, which will be finished in marine epoxy instead of varnish), the bottom view is beautiful. Today we put down the first coat of polyurethane. Tomorrow we finish that. Next week we move to the inside coats, which are the most crucial. The weekend I'll move into sewing a screen. My interns are fabulous!

We are moving along! The vat is coming together slowly--after three intense days in a row with Tom, I took a couple days off. Today I got back to work in 90% humidity with Emma and Stephanie, my fabulous Kent State interns who only come in once a week, so I squeezed as much out of them as I could. We used epoxy and wood filler to patch little bits and glued and clamped the maple trim onto the top lip. I also added 1x6s to the sides to prep for the framework to hold the mould and screen. I'll clean up more tomorrow since there are a lot of pieces that don't quite fit perfectly, but I got to pick up both polyurethane and marine epoxy to finish the outside and inside of the vat. Hopefully by the time Tom gets back next week, we should be ready to drill and construct a drain and build the top framework. The bottom is the most beautiful part of it, but no one will ever know.

Tom (the ED) and I have finally gotten some good time in the wood shop to get this vat up and running. At least, the basic structure has progressed enough so that once he leaves on Sunday for 11 days, I can be on my own and supervise the interns in filling, spackling, sanding, and varnishing the outside. The inside we'll waterproof after taking a trip to the marine supply store once the office manager gets back into town next week. I can also then focus on building screens and testing fibers, as well as shopping around for student screens and good substitutes for dry brushes. One of my very generous backers is getting some metal rods to me to test for screens (a first! I've never used or made metal screens for eastern papermaking but it's worth a shot). Another contact in Korea has sent a shipment of dak (mulberry) bark, and another box is on its way. I like that this one arrived in a box called "Friend Ramen." The garden where the Morgan plants mulberry trees is gorgeous, the vat is coming along, and Tom is doing an amazing job with his insane job while teaching me woodworking stuff, all under time pressure.

If I'm lucky, I'll soon be able to crawl out from underneath my papermaking rock and see a little more of Cleveland, esp now that the heat wave has broken and we can breathe. More pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonaimee/sets/72157624331964611/ and you can always get more detailed daily progress on my blog (link on the bottom of my bio to the right; scroll down).

Getting around without a car has been a big challenge, but I've made it to and from work regardless and may be able to rent a pickup truck in a week. In the meantime, I've been taken care of very well by various interns and volunteers and friends and hosts and have even been outside for three parties with lots of food. The heat and humidity is brutal but the people are fantastic.

I did bracelets for backers on my first day and hopefully will get them out this week if I can make it to the post office without melting. Postcards will be next. Today I floated an idea to the interns about doing some lunchtime technique sessions so that they can learn more about book binding, letterpress printing, and eastern papermaking. Of course, I say this now before the woodworking has begun because I am itching to do something. We'll get lumber this week and then I can see the full woodshop.

Today, I had two great Kent State interns help me out. Emma will eventually be with me in the wood shop and Stephanie did an AMAZING job all afternoon making beautiful drawings of the Korean mould (papermaking frame) I brought so that the Morgan can replicate it. They're good enough for me to use once I publish my book on hanji--much better than anything I'd have the patience to do. She was hilarious at the end (esp since she had been sitting in *sweltering* heat for hours, measuring and drawing patiently): "I don't think I ever need to see that mould again. It's burned into my mind." I love that she is now so intimately familiar with something that very few people in the world even know about.

I landed in Cleveland yesterday evening, got a quick tour of the Morgan w/my hosts, and then got back to my new digs for the next six weeks. It's going to be a lot of work but the people, energy, and possibilities are amazing. I even got leads on possible carpentry help today at a neighborhood gathering. Korean mulberry bark has already landed, and today the first 6 pieces of my frame arrived. Today was my first full day: diagrams, measurements, lists, and making rewards. Tonight I crash, and tomorrow will be a new adventure.

It's a little past 10:30pm in London right now and I still haven't eaten my dinner. But I am humbled: I found out today in a store in Soho that this project has been fully backed! Knowing that makes it easier for me to wait for dinner: my Korean German friend is cooking a Korean meal for me, because I've been homesick for Korean food--I've been in Belfast on an artist residency since April 1 and there is not that much Korean food or culture there (I know, how many times can you say "Korean" in a sentence? Please forgive me b/c I am writing incoherently while on the road). I'm in the middle of a holiday in England, staying with friends that I met in Korea during my Fulbright year in 2009. They inspire me to continue my work.

I've received offers for places to stay and even help with fabricating equipment and tools for Cleveland. I also got great news from my jiseung (paper weaving) teacher in Korea: he has been so inspired by my studies with him that he, too, is writing a book. So many ripples from just one stone.

Time for dinner: bulgogi! THANK YOU to all backers! I am so excited to return home to the US soon and get this project rolling.

I got official word from my hanji teacher in Korea: his father, Jang Yong-hoon, has been selected as the National Intangible Cultural Asset holder in papermaking (that's asset No. 117)! He had been the provincial holder for a long time (in Gyeonggi-do, which is the province that Seoul sits inside of), but the government started a new search last year since the former asset holder had become very ill and unable to make hanji.

For anyone in Korea or going there soon, Jang Ji Bang has moved their Seoul retail shop, but it is still in Insadong, and in a larger space. The mill has already trained three people (one from India, two from the USA) since I left Korea last year, and I hope this new appointment will help the Jang family continue to make high-quality hanji and reward them for their ongoing commitment to this craft form (four generations strong!). The video below is a glimpse of Mr. Jang's mastery.

Hooray!
Aimee

p.s.--a big shout-out to my first bunch of backers; I am so touched by your generosity and am excited to make hanji making in the US a reality with your help!