Until three days ago, I had never heard of joss paper.  It's a fibrous paper much like think cardboard. It's used--for one thing--to make Buddhist prayer flags.  It's made--I just read on the internet--of bamboo.

Three days ago,  Robyn McClendon, whose work and teaching focus on natural fibers and colors, earthy tones, and tribal images and symbols, mentioned joss Paper.

She also demonstrated what she calls "intuitive scripting"--writing that resembles Asian writing but that is spontaneously made by the maker with no inherent meaning.  It's one of the signature elements of her art work.   She showed how to use feathers and bamboo sticks and other natural markers to make marks with Sumi ink on calligraphy paper from Asia.  (note to self: get these for Nathan for Christmas, along with a book on Japanese writing.)

In Day's birthday present to me, there was a book of stunning Japanese designs and a package of Origami paper--along with other collage elements, like a book of transit maps from all over the world. And on the day it arrived I got two rolls of Asian Washi tape I'd ordered.

I could feel my fingers itching to play with them, but--giving out of time before my departure, with "miles to go before I" drive--I stacked them on my dining room table to take with me on my trip.

Then last night, Pam brought me a birthday bag of similar deliciousness--including several varieties of joss paper.

I had never mentioned this to Pam, nor does she watch Robyn's videos--so this was pure serendipity. She said the word just popped into her mind and she knew I had to have some, so she did a search until she found it at an international market on Bandera Road!

When she left, I gave it a roll on the gel press and loved the results--but what I loved even more was the way she was intuitively led to something I'd never even known existed, something she knew I "needed," and that she had searched all over town until she found it!