Every week brings its own stresses. This week we were trying to write all the new-year cards to friends, family, and past customers. A few days ago we went to the local paper maker and made our own postcards. While most of them are nothing one would ever pay for, it was a lot of fun. The hard part is writing them and addressing the envelopes - something I have never had a habit to do, but figure that it is something we should start now that our “past customer” base is growing.
The photos are of us making paper. Since we had rented the place out for a half-day anyway, we invited a friend / neighbor to join in the fun and share the costs.
The paper here is famous because of the quality of the water, and bleaching effects of the snow. The water is one of the “100 cleanest” in Japan, which apparently makes it ideal for making high quality paper. The snow in this area is ideal for bleaching the bark that will eventually become pulp. snow reflects certain rays from the sun which can turn a brown bark into a white bark in just as few days. Japanese also use the snow to bleach silk and other woods and materials.
In other news, The challenge has begun. For the next five months or so I will have to find new and exciting ways to photograph snow and not have all my photos turn out just like last years.
There was about 40 cm (16 inches) already on the ground after one day, and it was supposed to snow for the next week. Unfortunately, sunny weather today left us with less than a foot still on the ground. I guess this is good as Tomoe and I will be away for a week, and if it really snowed that whole time we wound not even be able to find our house when we got back.
