We recently participated in our town’s historical society garden tour fundraiser for the second year. Town residents with beautiful backyard gardens and local farms were invited to be on tour, and we agreed again this year. Paul worked hard all spring pruning, weeding, and rebuilding garden beds. At the same time, I grew plants from seed and shopped for other perennials. My search involved flowers I can use to dye natural fibers such as cotton, silks, wool, yarns (cotton and wool), and handmade papers.

My current thought about the handmade paper is making paper from the lavender stalks. I’ve been researching how to make paper from fiber pulp. It’s not that different from making paper out of junk mail. Only a few more steps are involved in turning a stalk of something into paper pulp.

I envision paper with the delicate scent of lavender embedded into the fibers is a thought that intrigues me. Will it work? Hmmm, I honestly don’t know. In the victorian era, it wasn’t uncommon for a woman to scent her notes with perfume or flower water. Would this be something you would enjoy having today? I could make notecards, and bookmarks, or sell the botanical papers to other artists much more clever than I in the artistic realm of paper artistry.

Please let me know if you are interested in any of these ideas, from purchasing the raw materials for your projects (i.e. dried botanicals for dyeing) , purchasing finished products, or even attending a class, in person or online. I would love to hear about your interests and your projects.

Enjoy the tour of our garden!
Brenda❤️