Dear Breadfriends (3/6/2014). Music, Art, Celebration! And Thank you for the wood!

Hello Dear Breadfriends and Crustfund Members,

First and foremost: I say THANK YOU! for all the help finding wood! We got lots of responses, and we still have quite a bit of wood to pick up. You got us out of a jam, and for that we are deeply grateful. Thank You.

I want to tell you about a project we're starting up, and about how you can participate. It's simple.

We know as well as anyone that these can be hard, cold, times. Here and all over the world. We think that one good way to respond is to create more joy, more art, and more shared fun in our lives. So.... we're starting this Friday at Ithaca Made. Of course, we'll have lots of bread, pastries, pasta, granola, and whatever other delicious things we can think of and make. But there's more...working in partnership with Gallery Night, we'll have MUSIC at the pickup--Travis Knapp will be playing from 3-6, and Dave Davies will play from 6-8. So come hang with us a little, enjoy some music, and dig the company.

But wait! That's not all! We are also starting an ART PROJECT... with YOU as our PARTNERS. Yes. It's true.

Here's what's up: We will have a display of BREAD STENCILS. And we will have a D.I.Y. BREAD STENCIL TABLE. We'll show you how to make bread stencils, and we'll have pictures of some beautiful stencils to inspire you. YOU make stencils, then WE will take them back to the bakery and we will put YOUR ART on the BREAD! Who knows? Will you get a loaf with YOUR stencil on it? Or will some lucky comrade receive YOUR ART? Whose art will you receive?

What is a BREAD STENCIL? I hear you wonder.

It's a simple thing, easy to make and do, and it makes a beautiful thing!  When we make our breads, we often top them with a light dusting of flour. We slash the bread to help it takes its shape, and to make it more visually arresting--the contrast of the light flower, or dark seeds, with the lighter color of the bread's interior, highlights the shapes we cut into the loaf's skin. Sometimes we may put a stencil, either positive or negative, on the crust before we dust it with flour. The flour, falling through the holes in the stencil, or falling around the solid stencil, leaves an abiding image on the surface of the loaf. It's a fine thing, and full of potential yet only barely realized.

If you'd like to see bread stencils, you can use click HERE to go to a google image search. It'll give you the idea. We'll have some more images for you when we see you Friday. Take the moment, and it needn't take long, to get your PLAY ON!

OK.. I know YOU don't stay up nights thinking about decorating bread, but SOME people do. And.. just in case this is not exactly your thing, know that starting around 6:00, Jan Norman will also be helping folks--yes, including YOU if you like--to make silkscreen prints and shirts. Nice!

So come, hang around a bit. Share the art part of your self. Eat some snacks. See friends. Enjoy music. Shake a leg.

With great affection,

Stef