Cooking the barks

The Kozo white barks harvested in 2016.

As it’s been stored dry,

I soak it in water a day before cooking to soften it.

 

I finally split the logs that had been sitting inside the house to dry, in one go.

Cooking’s done

I leave it like this till tomorrow

The volume decreased a lot.

I found this in the sky

I need a flashlight

As it’s already dark around the time I fire the bath

The day is obviously getting shorter each day towards the winter solstice.

Next morning

I rinse it with running mountain stream water

Gradually the fibers become visible

So I observe it thoroughly.

Anytime I do paper-related works, I’m blessed with nice weather!

Water is good, too!

In each process I found a joy.

What is left is final cleaning,

loosening the fiber and making it a form of sheet