Beginning the Wheat Dress

Mmmm. Okay here’s a process.

You wait for a sunny day when God fills you with inspiration and energy and then you go to the park and steal deciduous leaves. You do it discreetly, less so if you are harvesting off the ground. I chose Aspen leaves but Magnolia leaves are the best. Then you boil them in washing soda (or baking soda plus some salt). That rots the leaf material off and when they are cooled, you blast any remaining residue off with a water spritzer.

You dry them on cotton paper and then, once they are dry, you bleach them and lay them out to dry flat again on more paper. Then you dip them in water saturated with potato starch and then dry them a third time. Then, when they are dry, you glue them to tissue paper, trim off the excess paper and voila: Paper leaves with lovely white skeletons.

So the bodice of the wheat dress is now coming together. I am underway again and it feels good. Perhaps my speech will improve as I do this work I love to do so much.