Hyde Park Parrots

In my Chicago neighborhood there is a year round population of Monk Parakeets. Their beautiful blue/green and yellow plumage is almost as loud as their squawk. It is still amazes me to see these tropical looking birds perched in a bare tree in the middle of winter. The mottled green and yellow paper that comes in so handy for a dandelion studded lawn works well for these birds.

I ★ Chicago Envelope

I love Chicago, my home town. I also love the Chicago flag.

 For a special birthday gift -- a Chicago flag lapel pin --I needed the perfect envelope. With the help of the Arnold Grummer square envelope template, and a tiny star-shaped cookie cutter, the perfect envelope was born.

I started with a white envelope. While the envelope was still wet and on the papermaking screen, I used a squeeze bottle full of light blue pulp to form two blue stripes on the large-holed black  mesh screen, then placed the two blue stripes on to the envelope. Then I poured red pulp into  the star cookie cutter set on the  black mesh screen and placed those stars between the stripes.
This is the same pulp paiting method I used to make the birch trees in an older post