Week 28: Castor Caster
i have details to complete on several images and writings, but the images won’t change much and the writing is not yet ripe.
Sow, i cast about for something fresh, a new drawing started. Then, a stream write on the word castor came from the drawing.
Castor: A pivoting wheel under a cart caught my eye, one wheel is loose.
Cast about, she’s on the loose! Unrestrained my mind cast for the right word. Can i find it?
Mind roams like a cart on castors on a windy day, incremental bumps… Enough of tiny pivoting wheels!
i want the other, to be a Caster, making spells, wings to carry me to the next perch, perch up on a high spot, cast about looking for the next fish to land. Or instead from lake to sky, fish becomes bird.
Gently lights on a crimson castor bean plant, bright pointed leaves catch my attention, attention goes here and there, i keep moving, to keep moving, even when its just a breath.
The wobble and gaps will fill in when i find my run away caster.
What are you casting for this week?
Castor, castor oil, olive oil, Popeye, spinach, muscle, strength–do I have the strength for what needs to be done? Cast a net, castanet, rhythm, the cadence of the universe, the residual resonance of the Big Bang, the hum of the refrigerator, Philip Glass, broken glass, dashed illusions, picking up the pieces, kintsugi–mending the cracks with gold, stronger than before.
Thank you Kathy for all the wonderful replies! i love that you stream in response and i love the stream, delightful!
Your drawings and musings are incredibly thought-, emotion-, and insight-provoking, Lisa! Such a gift.
Re: oils, I was thinking about linseed oil this morning–a key component in original old-fashioned, color-all-the-way-through linoleum, a throw-back flooring material made with sawdust that’s seeing a low-level renaissance, especially by some people with sensitivities to synthetic chemicals.
Linseed oil (in its edible form, known as flaxseed oil) comes from the same plant that we get linen fibers from.
Lin-en
Lin-seed
Thinking this might be an old, old word–linen–I googled.
Wikipedia, if you can believe at least some of what’s there, says this: “Linen textiles appear to be some of the oldest in the world; their history goes back many thousands of years. Dyed flax fibers found in a cave in Southeastern Europe (present-day Georgia) suggest the use of woven linen fabrics from wild flax may date back over 30,000 years.” Whoa!
Thank you Kathy, i really appreciate your comments and that you find them insight provoking and a gift. It is encouragement for me to share them more widely than simply posting here for folks to find perchance. All in good time…
i enjoyed your oil to linen exploring of words, love the multiple meaning and discoveries of origins of word play, so fun!
Yes! Linen (flax) has quite a history, an incredible paper fiber, very strong and also properties of shrinkage depending on how long it is beaten for and other variations in the process. i did a bit of papermaking back in my Women’s Studio Workshop days, not too much myself with linen but was around it.
i remember one paper-maker excitedly returning from a yard sale outing with a stack of linen table napkins she proceeded to cut up and turn into paper. When the Art Farm part of WSW was started, they grew and still do grow flax and other plants for paper fibers.
The new version of original floor linoleum makes sense to me, why not use renewable (linseed oil) and waist(sawdust) products instead of plastic.