mechanism · 04 · leather · pleated · hearth-stained
two paddles of pear-wood with a length of leather between them. the leather has been pleated by a patient hand so that the bellows can breathe like a sleeping animal: in slowly, out with a small directed wind toward the dying coals.
the nozzle is dark at the lip where it has spoken to the kitchen fire for many winters. air leaves only when squeezed. between uses, the bellows is at full extension on a nail above the hearth, holding its breath against the cold.
field-note · close it slowly the first time. a hard pump sends a year of ash into the room.
pulley · lever · kitchen fire · furnace