loose ends

even though i keep a calendar things do get lost
so today

[after a quick pootle to the seaside to meet and exchange dye stories with Latvian master weaver Maris Manins who is visiting the annual summer school at Dzintari , a place i've long thought would make a fine retreat location]

i came home and made a list for this year
and added it to my website

that way, if i fall out of the sky at some point
at least someone in my family has access to the people that will need to be contacted
so it's an insurance policy
as much as a running sheet

it's a surprisingly long list.
but idle hands are the devil's playground.

it's hot and there is smoke on the horizon

and a bit closer, a funny shape

no, not a Pushmi-pulyu
just two friends having a scratch

 while Kelpie gives an excellent impression of a Stubbs painting

there is packing to do for a hop across the ditch and this year i do hope to travel a bit lighter than in recent months

 it mightn't be quite as light as this, but i'm working on it.
my back isn't what it used to be since the stair-tumble in Portland.

i'm also working on this dress
loving the way the shapes are forming
pondering which trees i'll be asking for donations
and wandering over the surface with needle and thread
drawing lines and making marks

and am thrilled to bits that people have begun to send me images of their stuffed, steeped and stored jars
to add to the virtual pantry

this jar holds the remnants of the bunch of roses Ma gave me for my birthday in December
together with a handful of copper nails i found on Granville Island
when i was visiting Maiwa last September

to be : and a bit of roll-up-and-dye

somehow one year has rolled into another

it seems timely to look at what lies ahead

and to try and think about living a better life.

not that my life is bad, far from it...i just happen to think that it should get better with each passing year

and by better

i don't necessarily mean financially [although it's pleasant to have "enough"]

my hope [ambition is too strong a word for me] is to do and be the best i can each day

so that when it comes time to lay my head on my pillow [that my grandmother made for me fifty years ago*] at night

i can feel comfortable about how the day rolled out

making New Year's resolutions hasn't worked well in the past and i think it's likely because they seemed to be quite negative

"i will not...."

"i will give up...."

this year i'm proposing a more joyful approach

some of which began when i returned home from my recent visit to the US.

i arrived on my birthday and decided to mark the occasion by taking up running again.

well, more of a fast shuffle

but i'm pleased to say i've only missed three days [on which i substituted a walk]

so this year i hope to

be kinder

be healthier

play more

listen more deeply

and find more space

that seems a nice list to be working on.

here's another person who makes nice lists

[i wanted to embed the video but it wasn't cooperating, just click on the coloured words to be inspired]

and in the interests of kindliness i thought i'd share a recent playtime with y'all

my friend Lindy had sent me this lovely linen shirt

i've worn it quite a lot [because i love dust colours] but decided to celebrate my return home

by wandering about the farm and seeing it with fresh eyes

and taking the shirt out to one of the dams, where there is much to play with

i tossed on whatever was within reach

laid a dogspike at the cuff of each sleeve

and rolled inwards

then i rolled from tail to top

and needed a foot as well as a hand [because the other hand had the camera]

a lovely tight bundle

the beautiful trunk of Corymbia citriodora

leaves and bark from the tree above, crumbled into my yabby pot

after boiling [there was a bit more old iron involved to get that black]

i wanted to leave the bundle for longer

to take advantage of the alchemy of archaeology

but it was way too big for a jar

i guess i could have tossed it into the dam

 tied to a long piece of string

but somehow it didn't feel right

so

it's sitting at the bottom of the studio "sink" instead

[water is delivered to my workspace from a tank outside]

which is a beautiful blue bowl

 

as long as i keep that topped up

- which mostly happens as i'm filling other vessels -

that shirt should be ok for a while

dreaming that it is at the bottom of some deep, far off lake

it won't be coming out for a while yet

but

be sure i'll post pics when it does

it will be very slow[dyed]cloth[ing]

Happy New Year.

* yes it is getting a bit lumpy but i love it very much.

i made y'all something special for Christmas...

back in January of 2011 i set up a few experiments in order to test a theory about the alchemy of archaeology. the first results were unpacked in the middle of 2012
and now
right at the end of 2013
i've put together a book.

quite a few of you have asked for online classes
but somehow i couldn't yet bring myself to do that
so, being a little old-fashioned, i've written this little book instead.

it contains a technique you can do even in the smallest of apartments
and that i think you will want to do over and over again.

i was thinking about the mould problem that occurs while we wait patiently for bundles to ripen
and about the chewing-and-running-away-with problem that has popped up when certain puppies decide to play
and about how hard it is to wait
unless
we secure our bundles in such a way that they look so gorgeous we will be able to resist
and the good thing is that this process produces brighter results from those delicate anthocyanin-rich leaves

stuff, steep + store
is 48 pages, 10 x 8 inches so it fits easily in a bag
costs a good deal less than it does to attend a workshop and you can read it in the bath.

found something

pootling about in the studio

i found some things that were forgotten

and 

out of curiosity

opened one of them

it had been forgotten since January

and the contents were quite exciting

i found a few favourite bolts and stones

and 

discovered a means of colouring alfoil yellow

although at first the cloth looked quite black

it turned out to be green

reputedly the hardest colour to dye using natural dyes

[the jar in the middle of the image is where all the pieces had been stuffed]

and then a little later on

The Precious came indoors, to report that she had found

this

an extraordinary fungus growing on a fallen piece of bluegum [Eucalyptus leucoxylon]