Happy 2012! I can’t believe we are already on the ‘other side’ again, with days growing longer and reaching toward spring (while trying to stay warm on these mostly sunny days but near-freezing nights!). I hope that the year has begun well for everyone.

Last month I had explained that, while the tree has always been my favorite tangible symbol of Christmas, we were planning an alternative: to create our ‘tree’ with tissue paper ‘pom poms’. In all honesty, though I loved the concept in theory, I didn’t feel so sure about how it would work out. I wasn’t worried about the poms themselves (we had learned to make them earlier in the year), but it was hard to judge how big they should be, how many we would need—not to mention what form the structure would take.

After finding that we could each make about four in one hour, and calculating that we would need about thirty-five, we saw before us a very long/late evening of pom-making . . . and not much else! But once my daughter climbed up onto the table and started hanging the first ones (she insisted on doing it since I had sprained my wrist after falling off the studio table last October), we were thrilled to see that a mere ten gave the illusion we were after. Unfortunately they are very difficult to photograph . . . the image I’ve chosen for this entry was taken from below, looking up toward the ceiling, and I Photoshopped it into my favorite Christmas colors since the natural lighting is less than ideal at this time of year. It wasn’t easy finding the colors of tissue I had in mind—each one has at least two colors, ranging  from a mix of reds to fuchsia, purple, olive green & ‘regular’ green—but they actually came together really well in the end (just as my daughter told me they would!). The sheer gold organza tree ‘skirt’ that had symbolized ‘under the ‘tree’ during the holidays has been put away, but the poms are still dangling, twirling slowly en masse at the center of the living room.

So, it’s true that we did not have the wonderful scent of a fresh pine tree, but we did find fragrant paperwhites, which I just love, and our gingerbread cookies filled the house with the smell of Christmas. I imagine that most of you have had your fill of gingerbread for the time being, but I will share the new recipe we found in time for the next holiday season. Somehow the whole cookie-making process, just like the poms, seemed so much simpler than what we had anticipated (which is not usually my experience with making anything, whether in the kitchen or the studio). We also enjoyed the hot spiced cider we had been waiting for, only with pear juice instead of apple; apple juice is not that easy to find here, although soon I expect that bottles filled with the ‘first pressing’ will return to our local grocery store, where the selection is nearly as seasonal as the produce shops/markets.

In my last entry I had noted that Arzigogolare would be migrating to a more official ‘blog’ space this year. It can now be found HERE. I am still learning how to make the most of the Blogger platform, and it feels very bare with only a couple of posts, but I think ultimately it will be a better place/way for people to follow my creative journey and stay updated on PaperSynthesis. I am in the process of beginning several new projects, and look forward to introducing and documenting them on the new ‘blog’. (I must admit I don’t care for the word ‘blog’—and this may be yet another reason I have resisted joining the proper blogosphere—but it should be simpler to share the inspiration I find out there, as well as creating a place where everyone can participate/interact/connect more easily.

I am back in the studio again this week, after taking a delightful break during my daughter’s vacation. I spent a lot of time dipping into a huge pile of new books I got for Christmas (ranging from one on the art of collage and another on the art of maps, to others about exploring/writing poetry, working with beads/wire, running a small business and so on). I will be introducing more items in the shop once I finish filling post-holiday orders.

Happy January! I hope to see you over at the new ‘Arzigogolare’.

*****

For photos of the original poms that inspired ours,

please have a look in this etsy shop, where the owner

makes them in all shapes, sizes and colors.