Petrified Paper

Day 38: Quite honestly, people, I am so terrified of what is occurring in this country right now that I can't focus on anything for more than a few minutes at a time. I keep asking myself, "Why am I even DOING projects?" and then my thoughts wander off into dark, spider-filled corners where no one should ever feel the urge to go. Consequently, I've dragged out a lot of crafts I can visit with the attention span of a butterfly, sipping here at the sweet nectar of weaving, flitting there to gather a pollen of tiny beads, resting for a moment to spread my weary wings over paper and glue as if begging to be mounted as a specimen of a free world now on the brink of extinction. But nothing holds me to it; not crochet, not reading, not even sharing quiet time with Tip. I do not have the leisure to pursue science, not with COVID raging outside my door and Proud Boys on three sides of my refuge. I am frightened, and flight is not an option.

So how does this relate to the photo? My paper beads are also "petrified." A single application of a product new to me called "PC-Petrifier," made expressly to preserve rotten wood, has left them firm enough to withstand a substantial squeeze between my fingers without altering the colour of the origami paper I used to create them. Paper, after all, is just wood in another form. A second two-minute dip in the petrifier will give them a slightly glossy appearance and firm them up even more.