Paper Light
This is Day 16 of 25 Days of Paper and Day 85 of my 100 x 100 Paper Weavings Project.
© Helen Hiebert, 100 x 100 Paper Weavings, #85, 18″ x 12″, $150
This background paper is Cave Paper and reminds me of the time I spent in the Southwest – my father was a nuclear physicist conducting research in Los Alamos, NM – we spent summers and a couple of semesters there when I was growing up. Doesn’t that paper look like clay? Cave Paper calls it terra cotta. I wove it with a piece of plastic “paper” that I got years ago from a paper vendor. The colors remind me of the New Mexico sky as well as the colorful painted buildings that blend so nicely with the adobe homes.
I think often of the Southwest during the holidays, because one of my fondest memories is of the luminaria which lined rooftops and driveways during the season. I went to a holiday party last night and lo and behold, the driveway was lined with luminaria: simple brown paper bags filled with 2″ of sand with real candles inside. They were lovely. They were luminous.
As was the moon this morning when I got up to go swimming, it was huge, full and surrounded by a patch of mist.
Vail Village has an annual tree lighting, and yesterday I facilitated a lantern making workshop at the library in Vail. About 40 people showed up to make lanterns, which they’ll bring to the tree lighting ceremony on December 22nd.
There are so many ways that paper and light have been used the enhance each other for centuries! I’ve written about some of these in my book Paper Illuminated. And the Collapsible Lantern project featured in the images above is featured in my book Playing With Paper.
Do you have a favorite way of working with or displaying paper and light? Please leave a comment below.
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About the 25 Days of Paper: I’m going to be a crazy blogger in December, featuring cool paper products, projects, blogs, books, or papers each day. Join in the fun by reading along! I’ll also post links on my FaceBook page. Enjoy the season!
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About 100 x 100 Paper Weavings: On September 23, 2013, I started making 100 daily paper weavings. I’ll finish on New Year’s Eve!
What paper architects do you know about, or how do you build with paper? I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment below.