Creating rubbings of plants and found objects along Limekiln Lake
In the summer of 1974 I had started a collection of rubbings of the flora I found growing in the woods around Limekiln Lake.
As a boy of 10, I would stick a leaf or flower between the pages of my sketch book and rub them over with a pencil to make a perfect copy of their edges and ridges.
At the time I didn’t realize that the practice was called frottage.
I simply enjoyed bringing the images to life when I put graphite to paper.
I would wander around the shores of Limekiln Lake collecting anything I could and filled hundreds of pages with the rubbings and noted their names and where I found them.
The discovery of an unusually textured plant made me feel as if I found a bit of gold. I could barely wait to add it to the pages of my book.
One morning, I equipped myself with three colored pencils and a beat up spiral notebook, and with my dog Mutt, we set off on an adventure to find some new plants to rub.
Our first find was a small white flower that was growing in the ditch along the road.
I decided that it would be enhanced if I rubbed it with blue pencil.
I picked up a small piece of discarded metal screen and rubbed that as well. It had a million little squares which made for a very cool rubbing.
Mutt took short naps or chomped away at the deer flies circling our heads as I rubbed away.
We eventually came upon an old building and shed. I rubbed the shingles of the wood siding and the end of an old boat with a flaking paint job.
Late in the day we came across an abandoned shopping cart under the footbridge across the inlet of the lake.
I stopped to rub the open webbed metal while Mutt laid in the creek lapping up the water
After I recorded the find as “Abandoned shopping cart in woods rub” I swung my legs over the edge of the bridge to watch the water course around the rocks as it made its way to Limekiln Lake.
I pondered the thought of what a rubbing of the moving water would look like, though I knew an attempt at the process would only ruin my paper.
Mutt bounced out of the creek and shook her fur all over me and my rubbing notes. An hour later, as if by magic, I had an dry image of water droplets.
