The Wondrous Work of India Flint

Shortly after taking Charllotte Kwon's Natural Dye Workshop at Maiwa, I discovered the stories and tales from the prophet of bloom - the words and muses of India Flint.  It is with great enchantment that I peruse India's blog - always discovering treasures and detours on and off the path of natural dyes.

To put it simply - I absolutely love India's work, especially her eucalyptus dyes and regional approach to dyeing. I can't wait to take a workshop with India one day.  Hopefully down under where the gum trees abound!

But for now, I shall experiment with India's book at my side. A great source of inspiration, Eco colour is full of stunning images and information to guide me through my dyeing adventures - starting with plants and flowers from the garden.

Saori Chime, Design Workshops, Lau Niu Weaving

And what exactly do the chime, workshops and lau niu weaving have in common?  San-gatsu - the month of March.

It all started with the completion of Maddy's Saori Wind Chime - a second window - also inspired by the elements of nature and unique to Maddy's connections to those elements.  Each piece was created in the likeness and reflection of my first Saori Wind Chime, but with colours, thoughts and additional inspirations that resonated with Maddy. Thanks to Maddy for this wonderful opportunity and to Stu for taking such great photos.

In the footsteps of the commission, followed the weaving of 4 meters of cloth for Marie's design classes.  I first met Marie on Salt Spring Island last year.  I fell in love with the garments and designs she presented to the Weaver's guild as part of the "Designing Women" series.  And so with great excitement, I left for Marie's classes at Knotty by Nature in Victoria. 

  

The Saori-kai and design classes were most inspiring and energizing as we all shared our weavings, ideas, and inspirations.  On that weekend, I forgot my camera at home, however Terri has some great photos on her blog of both the Saori-kai and the Saori Design Classes.

 I find the Saori design process to follow hand in hand with Saori weaving.  In all of its creativity, the cloth speaks for itself, and as it gets folded, cut, tucked and sewn, further beauty reveals ... coming together ever so nicely.  My 4 meters of cloth has become a tunic with asymmetrical lines on one side and fringes at the back.  It's nearly finished ... I'll post more pictures soon. Thanks to Terri for this photo.

And from Saori to lau nui weaving, the month ended in Hawaii where I saw this beautiful basket made with a small section of a single coconut leaf. It was a nice traditional ending to a busy weaving month of March!