Acorns and Washi paper - August 11 and August 15, 2020

Acorns and Washi paper don't actually have anything to do with each other. I simply didn't think our Acorn Forest adventure would be interesting enough to fill an entire post so I decided to pair it with our Washi paper experience.

Do you remember my TeamLab Borderless post? If not, you can reread the post here: https://dashandjenn.wixsite.com/website/post/teamlab-borderless-january-4-2020

TeamLab created an outdoor exhibit called "Acorn Forest" in Musashina Woods Park and we were excited to check it out. We drove up on a weeknight and were surprised at how long the lines were. The line wound around the park and there really wasn't any social distancing. Luckily you could see and hear the acorns from a path on the other side of the park. We decided the more prudent option was to see them from the path.

The orbs changed color and emitted noises as people came close to them.

During the daytime the orbs are a metallic silver color.

A few days later we drove out to a craft village to make our own washi paper. Washi is handmade paper. It is made from tree skin fiber rather than the pulp used in western paper. This makes the paper stronger. The technique was developed more than 1200 years ago.

We were sent out to the garden area to pick flowers and leaves for our paper. Then we were each provided with a frame and a waterbath with filled with tree skin fibers.

After stirring the fibers around we submerged our frames. As we brought them back out of the bath we rocked the frames back and forth to create an even layer of fibers.

Finally it was time to decorate our paper. Mine is pictured below. We left our papers there to dry.

Three days later our finished papers arrived via courier. I was so happy with how they turned out. Mine are shown below on the left and D's are on the right.

We have purchased borderless frames to display our handiwork. It was a fun day and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again should the opportunity arise.