another gem

good heavens.

look at the date. it's been over a month this time.

that's because i have been away here

making food influenced by the landscape

and also some big splashes

and revelling in the light

now i am home where between storms and howling winds i am momentarily taking a break from trying to discover why (although the sky has been falling) we have no water in the tanks; to deal with the emails i haven't tackled on my batphone while i was away from the magical all-surrounding wifi.

and in the inbox i found this ::

1. How would you describe your work? 2. What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given? 3. When do you know/decide when a piece of artwork is finished? 4. How do you organise your time, what is a typical day? 5. What kind of environment do you work in? 6. In what way does the natural environment inspire you? 7. What advice would you given aspiring textile artist about to embark on their career? 8. Which artists inspire you, and why? 9. What books have you found useful and would recommend? 10. What would you say is the best natural mordent when eco printing on cotton? 11. I am looking to dye recycle fabrics/clothing what advise do you have?

sic. as in, i have pasted it here, unedited.

i did attempt to write back politely, if briefly...but now, fuelled by caffeine and cold weather and the rage induced by a nameless person stealing a pile of wood (cut laboriously with a chainsaw by my daughter) before it could be gathered in 

i am going to give it a proper go.

1. How would you describe your work? 

 this is copied and pasted from my website. i think it's pretty clear.

i use ecologically sustainable contact print processes from plants and found objects together with walking, drawing, assemblage, mending, stitch and text as a means of mapping country, recoding and recording responses to landscape - working with cloth, paper, stone, windfall biological material, water, minerals, bones, the discarded artefacts and hard detritus of human habitation, the local weed burden. the work has been described as using " the earth as the printing plate and time as the press"

2. What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
 if i may quote Maggie Smith's character from the Second Best Marigold Hotel
"never to give any"
 

3. When do you know/decide when a piece of artwork is finished? 

 if i had the answer to that i would have become a successful painter

instead of working into my paintings until they became mud and then giving up in disgust

4. How do you organise your time, what is a typical day? 

i wake, gently, in the morning and the housekeeper brings me a cup of tea. the resident masseur rubs my toes with fragrant oils. i luxuriate in a hot bath for a few hours, dress in some romantic and frivolous outfit, pick roses until it's time for lunch and then loll on the porch swing in a pile of cushions working my way through a pile of books. later i put on a freshly starched apron and totter into the kitchen to create a three course meal made from food gathered in my walled garden. 

(much later someone else does the dishes)

5. What kind of environment do you work in? 

everything is perfectly organised and easily found. there is not a speck of dust, no cats have played wildly with my best silk threads and nobody has peed where they should not. the fridge in the studio magically restocks itself, a pile of fresh dry kindling is always to hand and the interns are up before dawn sorting windfall leaves into neat piles, arranged by colour and size.

6. In what way does the natural environment inspire you? 

in every way. 

(today it is mostly inspiring me to go back to bed where it is warm.)

7. What advice would you given aspiring textile artist about to embark on their career? 

 think twice about supplying work on consignment to boutiques in glamorous locations that expect you to post it to them free of any charges, then put 250% commission on the work and when it finally sells, pay you at their leisure up to 12 months later. consider becoming a lawyer. or a gardener. it pays better.

8. Which artists inspire you, and why? 

those who make a living from their work.

9. What books have you found useful and would recommend? 

'Eco Colour' and 'Second Skin'. theOxford English Dictionary. also 'Holidays in Hell' by P.J O'Rourke and pretty much anything by Rebecca Solnit

 10. What would you say is the best natural mordent when eco printing on cotton? 

'mordent' is a musical ornament, a little wiggly thing that indicates the way a note should be played. i think i would find it tricky to use in a dye process 

11. I am looking to dye recycle fabrics/clothing what advise do you have?

hmm. as i understand it that is an acronym for a department in the US Homeland Security division.

if it's advice you're after, then here goes ::

know the plants you are using, and their properties

do not be seduced by toxic adjunct mordants

think carefully about wild harvest and whether it's worth risking a plant population just because you want pink. or some other colour.

do not steal all of the red/gold/purple leaves from underneath trees in public parks in the autumn/fall. they are there for everyone to enjoy (and usually taking leaf matter from a Botanic Garden is illegal anyway)

develop your own style. 

another gem

good heavens.

look at the date. it's been over a month this time.

that's because i have been away here

making food influenced by the landscape

and also some big splashes

and revelling in the light

now i am home where between storms and howling winds i am momentarily taking a break from trying to discover why (although the sky has been falling) we have no water in the tanks to deal with the emails i haven't tackled on my batphone while i was away from the magical surrounding wifi.

and in the inbox i found this ::

1. How would you describe your work? 2. What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given? 3. When do you know/decide when a piece of artwork is finished? 4. How do you organise your time, what is a typical day? 5. What kind of environment do you work in? 6. In what way does the natural environment inspire you? 7. What advice would you given aspiring textile artist about to embark on their career? 8. Which artists inspire you, and why? 9. What books have you found useful and would recommend? 10. What would you say is the best natural mordent when eco printing on cotton? 11. I am looking to dye recycle fabrics/clothing what advise do you have?

sic. as in, i have pasted it here, unedited.

i did attempt to write back politely, if briefly...but now, fuelled by caffeine and cold weather and the rage induced by a nameless person stealing a pile of wood (cut laboriously with a chainsaw by my daughter) before it could be gathered in 

i am going to give it a proper go.

1. How would you describe your work? 

 this is copied and pasted from my website. i think it's pretty clear.

i use ecologically sustainable contact print processes from plants and found objects together with walking, drawing, assemblage, mending, stitch and text as a means of mapping country, recoding and recording responses to landscape - working with cloth, paper, stone, windfall biological material, water, minerals, bones, the discarded artefacts and hard detritus of human habitation, the local weed burden. the work has been described as using " the earth as the printing plate and time as the press"

2. What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
 if i may quote Maggie Smith's character from the Second Best Marigold Hotel
"never to give any"
 

3. When do you know/decide when a piece of artwork is finished? 

 if i had the answer to that i would have become a successful painter

instead of working into my paintings until they became mud and then giving up in disgust

4. How do you organise your time, what is a typical day? 

i wake, gently, in the morning and the housekeeper brings me a cup of tea. the resident masseur rubs my toes with fragrant oils. i luxuriate in a hot bath for a few hours, dress in some romantic and frivolous outfit, pick roses until it's time for lunch and then loll on the porch swing in a pile of cushions working my way through a pile of books. later i put on a freshly starched apron and totter into the kitchen to create a three course meal made from food gathered in my walled garden. 

(much later someone else does the dishes)

5. What kind of environment do you work in? 

everything is perfectly organised and easily found. there is not a speck of dust, no cats have played wildly with my best silk threads and nobody has peed where they should not. the fridge in the studio magically restocks itself, a pile of fresh dry kindling is always to hand and the interns are up before dawn sorting windfall leaves into neat piles, arranged by colour and size.

6. In what way does the natural environment inspire you? 

in every way. 

(today it is mostly inspiring me to go back to bed where it is warm.)

7. What advice would you given aspiring textile artist about to embark on their career? 

 think twice about supplying work on commission to boutiques in glamorous locations that expect you to post it to them free of any charges, then put 250% on the work and when it finally sells, pay you at their leisure up to 12 months later. consider becoming a lawyer. or a gardener. it pays better.

8. Which artists inspire you, and why? 

those who make a living from their work.

9. What books have you found useful and would recommend? 

'Eco Colour' and 'Second Skin'. theOxford English Dictionary. also 'Holidays in Hell' by P.J O'Rourke and pretty much anything by Rebecca Solnit

 10. What would you say is the best natural mordent when eco printing on cotton? 

'mordent' is a musical ornament, a little wiggly thing that indicates the way a note should be played. i think i would find it tricky to use in a dye process 

11. I am looking to dye recycle fabrics/clothing what advise do you have?

hmm. as i understand it that is an acronym for a department in the US Homeland Security division.

if it's advice you're after, then here goes ::

know the plants you are using, and their properties

do not be seduced by toxic adjunct mordants

think carefully about wild harvest and whether it's worth risking a plant population just because you want pink. or some other colour.

do not steal all of the red/gold/purple leaves from underneath trees in public parks in the autumn/fall. they are there for everyone to enjoy (and usually taking leaf matter from a Botanic Garden is illegal anyway)

develop your own style. 

please put your tea down before you read this

or you might have a nasty accident.

my lovely agent Jen alerted me to this

and after i mopped up the spilled tea

i thought i'd share the giggle with my gentle readers

do read the fine print, it's so funny!

   

in the words of the immortal Darryl Kerrigan

"tell him he's dreaming"

now had i been a business person

i could have been flogging ecoprint franchises...

just think of the forests i could save

if i were able to earn sums like that

and think of the headaches i would have had

doing my tax.

thanking goodness for small mercies

and Amazon for the laugh

and

if you're looking a copy of Second Skin

it's being reprinted and on the way

+

the Book Depository will let you know when it's in.

an interesting life

i lead an interesting life
and
because i find endless fascination in the wonderments of the whirled
am delighted to be able to assure my readers that
boredom is not something that afflicts me.
ever.
it can be a life of extremes
i hang out with fascinating people
like
Bumble and Felix [while pruning roses]

as well as with my No1 son-in-law [an excellent shearer and generally very helpful chap]

you can't really see him...he's standing behind that pile of wool that somehow hid in the woods and escaped shearing last year

and at the end of the day
Johnniecat is always happy to discuss philosophies

in between writing and teaching
weaving, dyeing, stitching and dreaming
there isn't much spare time

that said,
i made time a while ago
to sew/dye/embellish a frock for someone
who said they wanted it for a red carpet event
and in rather a hurry
it involved several fittings [with long drives back and forth to town]
and some extended nights of handstitching
no payment was offered
and [yes, silly me] i was too shy to ask
sadly i cannot find any images of it being worn anywhere
[and none have been sent]
so the only pictures i have of it
are blurry phone-snaps.

i hope it doesn't end up in an op-shop somewhere.

it was an interesting experience
that momentarily left me feeling not quite "the lucky one"

[altgough other recent life events have reminded me just how lucky i really am]

anyways


the next special frock i make
will be for me
for an event at the Art Gallery of New South Wales
where I have been asked to come and tell stories
as part of the events arranged for a spectacular exhibition

Kamisaka Sekka - dawn of modern Japanese Design

maybe i will see some of you there?

by request

firstly this is for Samm cos she asked how the flotsam dress worked [see previous post]
hope the scribbles make sense, adjust sizes of bits to fit own body
[hint - measuring with a piece of string much better than using a tape-measure]


and then in answer to another request which arrived as follows [published with original spelling but name removed] :

...I am about to graduate from college and I was hoping that I could email you a few questions because I am really interesting in your chosen occupation and want to know what to expect...

 to which i initially responded :

To be honest I never had a career plan other than architecture but shall do best to answer queries as long as you don't expect an essay! 

I'm curious about the phrase "what to expect". I have few expectations and so find that I go through life being pleasantly surprised. 

and then came the reply [my answers are in green]

I was just wondering about simple questions like what do you do on a typical day at work. Do you find the work repetitive or is it different every day. it is different every day. thank goodness.  

How long does it take you to die [um i'm hoping you mean "dye"] the material [oh thank goodness, you were referring to cloth. i'm not ready for the other yet] and then begin designing your clothing? i make the object first and then dye it. it could take a couple of days, or six months or a year  

What kind of work can I do beforehand to be successful at finding sustainable plant dyes and making clothing designs? be curious about everything. it helps if you treat it as play rather than work 

Would you recommend any type of classes or something that will make a person ready to start creating dyes besides reading your book? yes, mine. or Tracy Willans'. or Roz Hawker's. or Nalda Searles'. 

Do you plan out your own designs before you begin with the dye or is it purely experimental? depends on the project  

What kind of salary do you make if you are just beginning in your field. wondering if this question is a joke. i have never had a salary in this field. even now after over twenty-five years professional experience i barely end up with a profit. but i have enough and that is all that matters 

Is there anything really good or bad about your job that persuaded you to start besides being really good for the environment? i didn't choose my field of work just for the environment. i do this because i cannot "not" do it. it's called a passion. if you don't have it, don't do it. that goes for anything.  

Do you have any advice for people that want to follow in your footsteps? see previous answer. and it's better to make your own footsteps [people walk at different rhythms. try walking in someone's footprints on the beach sometime. can be tricky.] 

 Is there a lot of demand in what you do or is it very difficult to start? it takes 100% of me and then some. that's what makes it fun.

just for the record

each week i get at least 2 emails from people who want to come and stay with me and "help in the studio"

i'm sure they mean well, but my studio is quite messy and a little erratic and the rare occasions i'm home all i want to do is be alone and think and play and sew and brew cauldrons and draw
and make noises on the saxophone
and stand quite still
practicing my tarasana pose

so
i'm afraid i've been writing these sorts of letters....[warning to the kind-hearted, i do sound a bit mean]

..."touched as I am by your youthful enthusiasm, the sad reality of the matter is this. I am rarely, if ever, home for more than three weeks at any time and when I am at home...it is my sanctuary where I work ridiculous and slightly erratic hours, very much as a lone wolf. 

Also I live in a most impractical location; the nearest village is an hour away on foot [ie you would need a car or bicycle] and is not on public transport routes [well, there is a bus but it's once a day in the afternoon and only goes to a shopping mall in the north of the Adelaide metropolitan area] nor is there any short-term rental accommodation other than a rather unpleasant hotel. my house is lived in by more than just me and we do not offer  homestays other than to really close friends 

So while I thank you for your interesting proposal, my answer is no, I do not [ever] take apprentices or interns or workers-for-free. I do however teach workshops at many locations around the world where you would be most welcome to sign up if you were interested in learning sustainable dye techniques"...