leaf love and a month-long magical mystery tour

Would you like to join me for a workshop?

A long one that lasts a month?

Want to learn different ways of bundling to

let those lovely string marks shine on your work?

Want to know to bring saved dried leaves back to life?

Would you like to ease into a daily morning writing practice,

connect with a whirled-wide community and

dance your way through February?

Why February?

It might be the shortest month but in the North,

though we all know that the earth needs a rest before

the abundance of spring, the long hours of dark together

with driech weather can get to your soul.

And not in a good way.

Here in the South we just feel the roasting

heat of summer will never end.

So once again I have dreamed up an adventure

that can be enjoyed from wherever you are in the whirled.

It begins now, with a wee bit of prep, then goes to sleep

while you deal with whatever

the Festive Season is throwing at you 😉.

Late in January I'll send a wakey-wakey email

to remind you that the fun is about to begin,

and then every day in February

an email will fly in from me, with instructions

for the mystery project that we are making together. 

All I will tell you now is that it is both beautiful and useful,

and that we will be using cloth from your stash

and your ragbag along with whatever threads

you want to stitch with,

and all of the beads and buttons your heart desires.

You'll begin each day with quiet moments of grounding,

light a candle, do a little writing and then work on your project,

step by step until it all comes together

and you take it out into the light of day

at the end of the month.

And did I mention pie?

There will be pie.

Want to know more ?

Please click on the heart below.

still breathing

I apologise for the decreasing frequency

or

perhaps that is

increasing infrequency

of postings here.

blogger makes it tricky to interact with the readership, you see.

I can't respond to your questions, the platform simply won't allow it.

but I can still tell a few stories.

 

it's been an extraordinary year

(they all are, really) with wanderings that have included exhibitions in one of the busiest locations in the UK, as well as one of the more remote (but seemingly with lots of lovely visitors).

a day after 'leafpoems :: treeclooties from here and (t)here' concluded at the Inverewe Gardens in Scotland,   'incomplete journeys' opened at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham ... truly two extremes!

and presently I have work in 'borderline' at Fabrik, in South Australia,
as well as a chapter on my work in a beautiful new book

'True Colors'
by
Keith Recker

most of next year's workshops are up on my website

and I am very happy to say that the 

School of Nomad Arts

is blooming beautifully.

thanks for hanging in here.

if you have something that needs an answer, drop me a line.

there's a wee icon at the foot of my website

that will let you send me a message.

cheerie,

India

celebrating both collaboration and compromise

it's been a while since I had anything really interesting to tell y'all but today I have two things to talk about.
one is the fabulous scarf I was gifted when I visited the Netherlands last (northern) summer, woven from her own exquisite handspun yarns by Caitlin Bongers (she's the one with the voice of the angels who started us all singing by the River Tay a couple of years back).
the other can wait for a moment.

the scarf waited patiently while I sailed in and out of home, emptying suitcases and refilling them, patting the dog, grubbing a few thistles and explaining to my cat just why I had to leave again. it was a busy year. so much so that I consciously cleared my dance card for the first three months of this one, so that I could find some space to breathe, to prepare for the next lot of teaching and to think about what my part of the collab might entail.

I should explain that when I received this gorgeous armful of softness I was quite overwhelmed. I know what it takes to warp up and weave something, and this piece is especially beautiful. I asked Caitlin if she would mind me dyeing it, and being given permission I suggested we regard it as a collaboration.

so this week, in between working on the "other thing" that I will shortly reveal, I sat in the armchair, dogs at my feet, cats and kittens disporting themselves over my shoulders, and decided that I would knot the fringe of the scarf. such gentle repetitive work is good for quieting the mind. while working I listened to a podcast from On Being, John O'Donohue discoursing gently on beauty. it was perfect.

then I was moved to take my needle and do just a little stitching into the piece. just a little.

I soaked it in a diluted iron brew (students may remember it as 'magic potion', made by soaking rusty things in vinegar, and heavily diluted for use otherwise everything can turn black)

it was firmly bundled with Eucalyptus scoparia windfall, and then cooked in a pre-loved dark brew. (it doesn't matter what your bundle is cooked in, it's what's inside the bundle that's important)

when it cooled, I unrolled it, and it just took my breath away.  THANK YOU Caitlin, for entrusting this treasure to me. it will be joining the "essential travel kit".

and the other thing?  that belongs to the 'compromise' part of the title of this post. various people had been kindly urging me to consider making an e-course, but I simply couldn't come at standing and talking into a camera. I'm not good at doing and talking at the same time. something to do with the cerebral hemispheres.

but I do like making books. so the compromise is that I have made a wee book that is a kind of workshop-in-your-pocket (or on your screen if you take the PDF version). it's mostly handwritten rather than typed but I wanted it to feel as though you were looking over my shoulder into a notebook.

what's in it? it contains the secrets of the tsunobukuro, that magical bias stitched bag of Japan that I so frequently share with students. (little ones are perfect for buying vegetables, the in-between sizes brilliant for gathering leaves, twigs or keeping your clothes sorted in a suitcase...and I always carry an extra-large one in case I run out of luggage space.)

it is available at blurb.com and if you send me proof of purchase (via the contact form on my website) I shall invite you to the 'secret' Facebook group where, for the month of February, I shall be posting tips and tricks and one or three "how to's", and where you can post images of the bags that you make, and have conversations with fellow 'baggers' around this marvellous whirled.

thank you for staying with me and for reading thus far. 

here are some related links to explore.

Caitlin's blog

the riversong

On Being

bagstories (the book)

simple beauty

celebrating the month of twinkle lights and Sagittarian birthdays by giving y'all a present.

leafprinting in a nutshell.

simple is beautiful.

and it's as simple and beautiful as that.

but

if you'd like to go deeper

i would of course be delighted if you'd buy the Bundle Book

or

attend a class sometime

(there's one on Sunday at Poet's Ode)

and while we're on the subject of beautiful

i've gathered together the words you kindly gave

put them in italics and begun to acquaint them with others

there are so many different paths that might be followed,

here is the first one that ensued.

i try for kindness

though i am restless

and would rather meander

through luscious gardens

with time to ponder

the meaning of bespoke

with gratitude

despite confusion

hoping for an epiphany

 with zeal

 and love

never losing hope

for serenity

and connectedness

awaiting the dawning

and the murmur of magic

that particular moment

in which to advocate joy

for now

i fly

mindful

up and beyond

seeking peace

in the precious dusk

fearless 

thank you for sending me these seeds of writing.

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.

bio-regional colour in Newburgh

it seemed we were just getting in to the swing of things at

the wayfarer's wandercloth class [in the Textile Centre, Newburgh]

when suddenly our three days were up.

 + + +

 wonderful food

provided by our thoughtful hosts

gave extra energy to the work of heart and hands

+ + +

all the colours were derived from plants gathered within walking distance

of the studio

plus a few onion skins that had been saved in local kitchens

but

the students came from farther afield

 Denmark : Sweden : California : France : Belgium : Italy : Scotland : England : Germany

here are some of the results

felt like retreating into textiles ???

an Uzbek patchwork fragment. because it's lovely.

i've had a very long association with TAFTA

its fearless leader Janet de Boer O.A.M. was the first to invite me to teach workshops

[outside my long-ago role with the Arts Council of South Australia,

where they were part of my job as Exhibitions Development Officer and my years volunteering as an unpaid art teacher at our local primary school]

as well as being the first to publish my stories

[other than the Heathfield High School Year Book]

Janet kindly let me join Karen Diadick Casselman's class as assistant 

[nearly fifteen years ago if my counting fingers serve me correctly]

and then Karen encouraged me to pursue my study of eucalyptus dyes

in post-graduate studies. she and i may differ on the subject of adjunct mordants 

but Karen was the driving force that brought natural dyeing back into public focus in the 1990s and i have huge respect for her

Janet is also the creative genius behind the original Textile Fibre Forums

and nurtured through them a sense of community

and the opportunity for [primarily] women

to leave their 'normal' lives behind for six days

join the sisterhood, dedicate themselves to the textile arts

be fed and nourished in both body and spirit

dress up and dance wildly at the party at the end of the week

in recent years others have profited by emulated Janet's trailblazing

and similar textile events have popped up all over the country

however forums convened by her remain singular in that Janet makes a point of knowing and remembering the name of each and every person who attends.

and her commitment to pastoral care, as it were, is legendary

given the plethora of offerings available

Janet has once again had a big think

and come up with the notion of a textile retreat

where folks can take classes with tutors of international repute

and participate in a design focus group

or choose to attend an open studio

and spend a week focussing on their own work

with an established artist as mentor 

all the while being well fed, with the option of attending talks in the evenings

and with a splendid selection of traders close by

the textile retreat is held at Geelong Grammar School

in September each year.

i won't be at this one [cos i'll be on an island off the west coast of the United States]

but some very fine people will be teaching

including Pat Hickman [whose company i enjoyed last year at the Haystack New Works Session], Ruth Hadlow [whose class is full],  Ilze Aviks [her class is full too]

and feltmaker Jorie Johnson

need some time out in September?

this would be a good place to take it.

you never know, it might be the beginning of a something amazing

just

as it has been for me.

eco coloured northern wanderings - may 11,12,13 of 2012

an adventure in bio regional dyeing 

with some gentle stitching time

in the subtropics

 

we'll be working in the delightful 2.5 acre garden where the 2010 Fieldwork class was held. [it's on the north western outskirts of Brisbane approx 20 kms from the city centre]

covering an introduction to ecologically sustainable dyeing, the composition of the optimum eucalyptus dyebath and of course ecoprint bundle dyeing...

we'll gather windfalls and weeds, observe the effects of various found metals on colour outcomes and stitch together the samples as they dry to form a beautiful composite cloth which will offer possibilities for ongoing stitching and embellishment

this is a three-day intensive class suitable for all textile lovers; the only skill you really need is the ability to thread a needle.  

dates : 11,12,13 May 2012

for more information or to reserve a place, please contact workshop host Roz Hawker