Oh, what fun today!
I was teaching recycled papermaking at the downtown main library this morning. Sunny skies, cool temps, the birds chirping and traffic noise were all a part of the outdoor garden area in which we were working. About 20 kids showed up for the program (a relief from the zero amount for yesterday’s program and the 60 that we set as maximum!)
Well, I have to tell you, we have some pretty good junior papermakers out there! Once they got their hands wet, they were unstoppable! I think we used just about every available paper towel in the library (those were the ‘felts’ that the sheets were couched onto so the kids could take them home). We had stacks of paper everywhere. I think some of the kids decided they were in a race with their friends to see who could make the most sheets.
Very well behaved and very few spills. And very little pulp left!
The clean-up was nice, too, as I was able to take my time getting things emptied, strained and dried before heading home. That’s the part I always dread, having to clean it all up when I get home. This afternoon I was able to just bring it all into the house and head it to the studio. Very little needed to be rewiped or redried. Ah, nice!
Yesterday I had just about the same number of children in a day care center north of Hamilton working with mudcloth. A few of the kids remembered me from last year, which was nice. One boy even remembered that I had my glasses on when we did the mud dance – wish my memory was still that good!
Now that the local classes are over, I can concentrate on packing for the Tampa conference – Convergence 2008 Tampa Bay. And, another pile for the trip to Papua New Guinea almost as soon as I get back from Florida.
I may not be very ‘talkative’ in the next several weeks. I hope to give some updates while in PNG since they have internet access, but I know I’ll be too busy in Florida. Will plan on doing an after-report for that – and before I head off again.