12 Days of Bison Day 9: "Dung and Dunger"
Hello and Good Morning to you fine folks,
I hope all is well in your part of the world.
Just want to warn you ahead of time that today's email is going to be crappy for a couple of reasons. First, It is already after 8am and I am just now getting started. We had a pretty decent freeze here last night, and had to do a few things for the critters, AND we have had a plumbing issue that has flooded the laundry room, so had to deal with that.
The second reason this is going to be crappy is because of our friend Victor Bruha. Victor is an artist and a craftsman and works a bit further down the byproduct chain than we do. I know we have talked about him before, but we love him and his stuff, and want to give the guy a little spotlight and exposure for the shit he goes through.
I hope you enjoy the tidbits today.
Ron & T
The Buffalo Wool Co
Best of Bison: Dung and Dunger.
We met Victor when we started making bison yarns, an email came in asking if we could sell him a couple of skeins to use as tie loops on some handmade bison paper bookmarks. Well, of course, my first question was "What the heck is bison paper?"
I guess the place to begin is with the artist himself...
Ok, that is not Victor, I just couldn't resist the chance to put a Jim Carrey pic in the post.
Here is Victor..
And a bit about him from his website. www.Dunganddunger.net:
Born in 1970 and raised in Eastern Idaho, Victor Bruha spent many of his childhood summers living in West Yellowstone, enjoying the vast scenery of both Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. It was here that he developed his great love for the wilderness of the greater Yellowstone region.
By living so close to the park, Victor was also influenced by a number of local artisans and craftsmen that displayed and sold their works in and around the parks to visitors and tourists. Some were collectors, but most simply wished to take home with them a fond memory of the beautiful places they had seen.
"I consider myself to have been very lucky. Most children only have a city park to enjoy...I on the other hand, had Yellowstone in my own back yard. Instead of monkey bars and sand boxes, I had geysers, mountains and wildlife. As much as I enjoyed it, I really had no idea how lucky I was until I was older and had my own children to raise and teach."
Dung and Dunger is the result of Victor's love for the wilderness and natural creative abilities. He also has a strong sense of humor and humility. It is a necessary trait for anyone that could possibly enjoy having their hands deep in dung simply to make beautiful and rustic sheets of hand-made paper. Luckily, childhood friend and fellow artist Dan Hidalgo joined him as his partner and co-developer of the recipe for creating these papers.
"Well, it isn't quite like making lemonade out of lemons, but I guess it's close! My real hope and dream is simply to share a bit of the unique beauty and history of this great wilderness I find so enchanting. For those that buy one of my pieces of art, I wish you a lifetime of enjoyment. And if it forever brings a smile to your soul, I will have considered it a JOB WELL DUNG!"
"Yellowstone and it's bison are a constant inspiration for me. The varied landscape and these magnificent animals that inhabit the area remind us how small and fragile we really are. Creating paper from the dung of bison may seem crazy to some, however I think it is just one more chapter in the big circle of life. Just as the dung beetle collects it for food, and owls and eagles collect it for nest bedding, I had unknowingly become another participant in the grand order of natural recycling.
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