dear Viola

dear Viola von Hohenzollern

in case you were watching from your island yesterday
and wondering what on earth was going on
let me explain.

a group of fabulous women spent five days working together in a beautiful garden, being fed simply wonderful food, sewing zero-waste nightgowns [some of which are seeing daylight instead] and celebration dresses, making string and writing poetic words about how a dress should make you feel

on the last day, they came to Cable Bay
to unbundle their handsewn, bio-regionally dyed dresses
and to celebrate the joy of being together
- you may have heard a lot of laughter
and a bit of splashing.

the pictures below will explain all.

i am the lucky soul who was tending the cauldrons.
if you ever feel inclined to have an artist reside on your island for a while, to make you something beautiful using the plants and the wool that grow there, do let me know. i'd be delighted.
warmly,

India

heel Toto, we're not going to be in Kansas much longer

i had a bunch of fabulous students

who made beautiful work

and survived my soup-cooking

[i had a stern talking to because apparently their insurance

does not cover witches cooking soup after hours]

heh heh.

we made books, dyed and stitched cloth 

cackled uncontrollably when we discovered the

Haigh's chocolate frogs

had [after the warmth of New York] fused 'in flagrante delicto'

[best not to post an image in case of blushes] 

 

watched ducks watching people

and now it's time to sail away

sometimes i'm a bit of a SanFranpsycho

and

i like to be a New Orleanian

wherever

i

am

+

+

+

mild deflation

ah well, ya try to hand on an award and what happens? deafening silence, for the most part (but thanks anyway, to those who responded). the black dog looms...we're not in Kansas any more, Toto...

on the other hand, workwise things are looking up. The Kapiti Summer School (run by Whitireia Polytechnic near Paraparaumu, Aotearoa) has asked me to teach for two weeks rather than just one, in January next year.



dates will be :

first session Friday16th January- Wednesday 21st January 6 days "introduction to Eco Colour"

second session Monday 26th January - Friday 30th January 5 days "mapping country"

email bloxham {at} clear {dot} net {dot}nz for details....

summertime

way back in January (when this blog was first unleashed) i was teaching at the Kapiti Summer School, run by Whitireia Polytechnic. i'm delighted to say i'll be back again in 2009.

not only is Aotearoa one of my favourite places, the region around the summer school campus is blessed with an abundance of flora suitable for botanical alchemy in the dyepot. it's also blessed with beautiful rivers, beaches and woods - with a magical patch of original Nikau forest

and next year will be special indeed, with a day trip to Kapiti Island (pictured above)

highly strung

i think it can be reasonably hypothesized that string is one of the most important inventions. how else did that piece of stone embrace the stick and become the axe? how did paleolithic princesses make their tantalizing aprons or neanderthal man keep his trousies up?

we spin ourselves a yarn, making string from rag waste, trimmed edges of cloth and those wee scruffles of thread that blossom on a cut edge of silk cloth. i have Nalda Searles to thank for giving me the gift of this technique, it is a soothing and practical occupation, and one of the few textile crafts one is still permitted to practise while in international transit - as knitting, stitching and crochet require the use of 'lethal' weapons.

the photo below shows a length by John Parkes, evoking flame trees....



this talk of string reminds me of a story about my grandmother whose mother died having just given birth to her. grandmother was farmed out to be cared for by others and consequently did not have as happy a childhood as she might have had in the event her mother had survived. be that as it may, one Christmas Eve at the local vicarage, when presents were being handed out in the traditional manner - one for each child - grandmother was handed a large ball of wool, together with a small crochet hook. being an industrious child she set about crocheting a scarf...and as she worked her way through the ball of yarn, surprises began to appear. first a hairclip, then a ribbon, further in a small comb and gradually as the scarf grew, so did the collection of pretty objects that had been carefully wound into a beautiful bundle of surprises by the Pastor's two daughters (grown women who also ran the village school), not wishing to single out the motherless child at the moment of gifting by giving her more than the others; clearly aware of grandmother's interest in making things but also thoughtfully extending her pleasure in the gift of wool and hook with the unexpected appearance of treasures...

edgewater

the Waikane river beckons on this perfect day...rather like Goldilocks' porridge, not too hot, not too cold, but just right. yesterday's wild winds have blown away and blue skies smile. we wade barelegged into the water, trailing lengths of silk like seaweed over the stones. later, armed with our bundles, riverwetsilk wrapped around found spontaneous plants (more prosaically described as weeds), riverstones at the core we wend our way back to the studio, an aromatic haven full of steaming dyepots, perfumed leaves and jewel-like samples.

into the wild

today a wander in the Nikau bush, a rainforest remnant on the Kapiti coast. birds drop pure notes from the canopy, ferns and epiphytes wander skyward. tiny striped fungi cluster on fallen logs. we walk mindfully. at predetermined 'trig' points each person gathers a windfall leaf to add to their 'walking bundle'. these become cloth documents, coded maps of the path each person has taken. mementos of a memento of time past.