Photo Album: Hello, Paperworld.
Hello, Paperworld. How ya doing? It’s been a long time.
Eight months and some change. . .
And I’ve missed you!
Reasons for my prolonged absence? The start of a new job – a wedding (my own!) – and a three-week long honeymoon to The Land Down Under. To reactivate things, this post will be a photo album recapping my blog sabbatical. I hope that you enjoy and I look forward to being around more often!
A NEW JOB
In August 2015 I officially graduated and now work as a research and development technician at a specialty paper mill, 56 miles northeast of where I live. Luckily the winter has been mild and the commuting not too wild an adventure. The mill, Knowlton Technologies, was founded in 1808 as a handmade paper mill and in 1832 was the first mill to operate a Fourdrinier in Jefferson County, NY. That pioneering spirit is still manifest in the mill’s mission where the focus now is wet-laid nonwovens in filtration, friction, and custom designed composites. It’s exciting to work at a place that is on the cutting edge and, as a cellulose gal, it is a fascinating challenge to learn about carbon, glass, and ceramic fibers and the hundreds of other fillers and materials that go into manufacturing specialty papers. There’s a hush-hush nature surrounding the work – what with proprietary information and all – but I will be checking with my bosses and sharing what I can with you as I continue in my career!
A WEDDING (MY OWN!)
On October 10th my best friend, Judd, and I got married. Writing this now I’m reminded to update my ‘about page’ with my new last name! It was a morning wedding (9:30am) followed by a brunch reception with a live jazz band. The big laugh during my sister’s maid-of-honor speech followed the statement:
When Judd came around we knew it was serious because Genevieve was talking about something other than paper.
Talking about paper . . . the invitations took FOREVER and I have so many people to thank:
- Jeff Schoenfeld and team at Ansun Graphics, who agreed to the work involved when printing on handmade paper (and the patience involved when working with a perfectionist).
- My sister, for agreeing to lining envelopes by hand (because we fell in love with a certain Chiyogami paper).
- My mother, for addressing all the return envelopes and all the inner envelopes by hand
- The papermakers at Twinrocker for their excellent customer service and for keeping this craft alive.
- To my now-husband, for understanding that the paper for the invitations was my non-negotiable, and for working together to have the end product be something that reflected us as a couple.
#PAPERDOWNUNDER
In January we spent three weeks in Australia on honeymoon – a time filled with inspiring experiences, gorgeous food, and some of the most genuine and friendly people we’ve ever met. During our travels there were, of course, paper sightings and happenings. A highlight was the invitation to papermaker Gail Stiffe‘s home for an Australia Day BBQ, where we had our first Pavlova. Gail and I were in the same bookarts exchange group for BookArtObject Edition Four and later met in person at the 2012 joint IAPMA/Friends of Dard Hunter conference in Cleveland. It was a treat to see her studio, talk paper and spend the evening with her and her friends! Another papery moment was meeting Di Turner of Plane Tree Studio in Hobart, Tasmania. I bought a set of handmade paper notecards in the gift shop of a resort we were staying at and realized the cards were made locally. We popped in to the studio a few days later and found out that the mill employs ten papermakers! Look for an interview with Di in the future!
