Refojo!

Dotty bounced back a little joy in her comment on yesterday's post. She was curious about the word discombobulated so looked up the origin....and it's worth going back to read her full comment. Basically the word comes from a trend in the 1820s and 1830s of creating funny, elaborate-sounding words to express simple ideas. 

I loved everything about her comment....and spent some of my day trying to come up with my own elaborate-sounding word. It was harder than I thought.

Refojoputterosity: The ability to refocus my joy while setting aside life's worries and frustrations to putter in my studio. The short version could be refojo! That's what I did last night.

My computer is working today....so I can avoid dealing with it another day or two...or three. Maybe it just needed to refojo a bit too.

So last night with my extra time I played around with something I've wanted to try for a while now....using baby powder on the gelli plate as a resist. 

It works really well...and smells really good too! The prints are full of texture...and are almost a bit grungy. Some of the powder stays on the plate and can be used for several prints. 

Most of these prints...by the way...are double sided. 

And just in case you're curious...this is how I photograph my papers.  (And it gives me a chance to celebrate all the colorful glass in my dining room window.)

I start by folding the bottom one and anchoring it under the salt and pepper shakers. Then I tuck all the others under one at a time. 

These papers sat there all day long...reminding me to refojo...as often as I need to.