Koha

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when my friend Rachelle decided to leave the land of clouds

for the West Island [usually somewhat dustier pastures]

she kindly left a treasure parcel behind

for me to collect the next time i drifted into the city of winds and waters

i arrived in Welly to find that our mutual friend Caroline

[who had been the guardian of the treasure in the months since Rachelle departed]

had kindly delivered it to my helltell.

there were many treasures

including things found, stitched and dyed

gathered by Rachelle over years

[her gathering skills are legendary]

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had it been a weekday i would have been tempted to ship my Koha south to await my next visit to the Lud Valley

but

it wasn't, so i unpacked and repacked.

fortunately i had been travelling relatively lightly 

[bar feeding the book addiction with acquisitions]

in the end i was left with the empty red suitcase

[i did try fitting it inside my bigger one]

and the question of what to do with it.

giving it to the Sallies was a possibility

but i was sure there was a more amusing solution

so

i decided to step out into the whirled 

and see where the colour red might lead

maybe the red suitcase could follow red markers and

find a new home

drifting along my trail

i found myself on Cuba Street

then wandered a little sideways

through a park with red gates

and saw Global Fabrics in the distance

upon which it occurred to me that quite often [on a Sunday]

there are students and other young folk working in the store

who might be able to use a suitcase

and

i

was

right

 

 

Brooke Barrett 

was very happy to give the suitcase a home

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after which i followed some more red marks

and went home myself

ka kite ano

time moves strangely in this precious green valley

it felt like our few days were weeks

and yet

they passed so very quickly

am packing my bags once again

for the hop homeward

but

with a warm feeling in my heart.

yesterday i was handed this

which made me very happy

so

over delicious scrambled eggs this morning

Judy and i decided we should take the suggestion seriously.

and

i'll be back next summer, to lead a 'shapeshifter' class

in which

we will be re-constructing worn out favourites from the wardrobe

into a new and lovely garment

embellished with dyed silks and wools and lots of handstitching

to sew and dye

something beautiful to wear on special occasions

[standing up and breathing is special enough for me!]

and

of course we shall also make a gorgeous bag

in which to keep the dress when it isn't being worn

so for now it isn't goodbye, but

arohanui, ka kite ano

re-polishing the rose-tinted spectacles

Moana unbundling...

Aotearoa may be considered [by some]

to be at the ends of the earth

but

i suspect that's actually an attraction

last week we had folk from the Cook Islands and from Australia

this week

we have more West Islanders [see the 'A' word above]

from both extremes of east [QLD] and west [WA]

as well as participants from Scotland, the east coast of America

and from all over New Zealand 

when it came to the crunch

we had more applicants that we could comfortably accommodate.

it's been a wonderful journey.

full of intriguing signs and waymarkers

and serendipitous moments, such as

on one of the days at Titirangi

when i murmured something about needing to choose a poem for our morning reading

and Heidi [our gracious and graceful host] slipped a page into my hand

which turned out to be exactly the 'randomly selected'  poem i had read for myself at dawn.

[and then read it to us exquisitely]

 

here in the green heart of the Lud Valley

we revel in simple pleasures

balmy breezes, songs of beeses

exquisitely prepared and indescribably wonderful food   

[mostly grown here]

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once again our pots are heated by fire

and while we work at coaxing local colour

into cloth and paper the days pass far too quickly

this evening i too was permitted to play at the kitchen stove

and to harvest the ingredients from the garden

[for those of us of Latvian descent there are few greater pleasures

than being allowed to seek for potatoes in soft earth with our hands] 

flotsam, jetsam, froth and bubble

-->

The internet is rather like the ocean. A lot of stuff floats about in it that we might never see, hear or know of – but thanks to a clever bit of programming called ‘google alerts’ you can cast a net on an ongoing basis and regularly have an interesting kettle of fish delivered right to your lap[top]

I have a google alert on my name and on a few key phrases. It brings things I want to learn more about to my attention and sooner or later it also tells me whenever my name is mentioned and in what context. It’s how I discovered that the phrase eco-dye had been trademarked and where I read that a person I have never [consciously] met is giving masterclasses in ecoprinting. Perhaps I should attend.

A haul this morning revealed several people referencing my work [thank you kindly] along with the virtual version of a newspaper article in which a person not only used my name [without actually bothering to ask] to endorse their new business venture but also claimed they had been “trained by India Flint”. 

The only people I have EVER trained have been horses and Border Collies…and quite frankly I think it was more the other way around.

When things like that wash in on the tide it’s a bit like being thumped by a drifting log that you didn’t realise was floating in behind you on the same wave. In this instance I feel a friendship has been seriously compromised. If it happens again I may even take legal advice, given it’s a matter of intellectual property, blatant mis-representation and [not to put too fine a point on it] openly trades on my ‘good name’.  

Fortunately today I am by the blessed sea, which has washed away the cares of the whirled and let me float like a leaf adrift on the waters, gazing down through the crystal clear blue to the rocks and sand drawings below.

So many mixed metaphors. 

happily the internet also brought me these lovely words

“Somehow it doesn’t matter that I’m not in the Lud Valley – it

feels good that you and your group are working with leafage

while some children at Otaki Kindergarten look at leaves differently and

sip berry tea from agee jars before painting it onto fabric.  Energy travels.”

as well as a link to an article about the workshop this week

and

my horoscope  [fellow Sagittarians will enjoy this]

Well folks, thanks for reading, have a truly splendiferous day wherever you are…and before you go do please take a moment to swing by Lotta Helleberg’s blog. She has written a wonderful story about sustainability and clothing [and very kindly mentioned me]. and she makes gorgeous ecoprinted paper journals that are well worth your investment...

looking south

i had some time out

while travelling southward

dyed [and lived]

learned [and made] something new

stacked a rock or nine

and

 after various adventures

i am now on the South Island

very happily settled in with the lovely Keylock family

in their green and gorgeous valley

where class begins again in the morning

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because the workshops in Scotland [August 2013] have very nearly filled

i am now able to announce

there will be a three-day class in Gloucestershire, UK

August 7,8,9 [please visit the workshops page at my website for contact details]

it had been discussed some while back however as the Textile Centre at Newburgh had asked me first i agreed they should also have first opportunity to publicise their classes

i'm particularly pleased that all is going to plan

because it means i can stay on and be a student in my friend Sandra Brownlee's class

KiaOra

each stick+bundle is balanced carefully on the next

 and we managed to take them one by one without having anything fall over

i really like the trans-Tasman flight

it's just the right length for dinner and a movie

along with a little string-making

i made a small vessel [to hold water] from a Qantas sickbag

and

when i arrived in Auckland

a very nice gentleman wished me a welcome home

what more could i want?

we are now two days into class

and it's a joy

at the end of last year i felt a bit tired and wobbly

but so far this week has felt like a kind of reaffirmation of faith

of course it helps that i love being in New Zealand

[Auckland has a gently humid climate much like New Orleans

and i can feel my wrinkles melting away] 

but also

the class is already becoming a kind of "loaves and fishes" event

one participant is married to a patissier...and 

brought exquisite tiny lemon meringue pies today

another brought muka, which she allowed me to soak in a leftover dye bath

tomorrow we will twine some string from it

someone else brought walnuts, a fourth gathered seaweed for class

as for me?

i'm in love. something i didn't think could happen again at my age

meet my new best friend, tanekaha

Haystack open studio

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts is a unique and wonderful institute 

situated in a breathtakingly beautiful part of the United States

rummaging around in the studio yesterday chasing a few last minute necessaries

i happened upon this page from last Fall's 'Gateway' publication and thought it worth sharing.

sadly my schedule precludes me applying this year

but then that might be greedy anyway, seeing as i had the good fortune to participate in a New Works session there last September

where i worked with paper and meditative repetition

Haystack 

is one of those places that 

[to put it simply]

changes your life.

i'm grateful to have been asked to teach there

and even more so for the quiet five days spent there

devoted to new work

and

i very much hope they'll have me back some time.

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literally the last chance

this summer i've been deluged by emails enquiring about classes

so at the risk of becoming overly repetitive

wanted to remind my gentle reader that in order

to attend a class with me in the Deep South this year

you'll have to be quick,

the class in Brisbane has been full for some time 

and rumour has it that the one in the West has also filled

and

while i will be cooking for Roz Hawker's class in Goolwa

it won't be dyes

and

i will not be teaching. 

my lips will be sealed [unless i'm adjusting seasonings]

so

if you live in the Deep South

and would like to take a class

this is literally your last chance

"the wayfarer's wanderbook, looking into the heart"

a retreat that will take us via windfalls and dye cauldrons

into the realms of poetry [as well as stitching and book forms]

- fear not, sharing your writing with the class will be entirely voluntary - 

in the Lud Valley near Nelson on New Zealand's lovely south island

beginning January 20th

contact details here [please scroll down until you find Judy Keylock mentioned]

[i'm very curious to see if Griselinia littoralis 

will print pink on paper

as well as on cloth...]

and while on the subject of workshops
i've just heard that at least 6 really nice people [who have become my friends
since we met in workshops] have signed up for Sandra Brownlee's class
'Tactile Notebooks and the Written Word'
that will be held in Scotland in August this year.
i'm particularly pleased about this because
Alison and Jeanette [who run the Textile Centre at Newburgh]
took a leap and booked Sandra at my suggestion
and
even better
timed her workshop for the week after my artist residency there
[which follows on from my workshops]
so that i could be a student as well.

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