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!

Eastside Culture Crawl Commission

In November, my Saori Wind Chime travelled to the Eastside Culture Crawl, and this month - by means of this wonderful event - I have the pleasure of weaving a commissioned piece rich in colours.

Thank you Stu for displaying my window above your wood work and for sharing this photo of our combined creations.

A Colourful Thrum Project

" Painting with Thrums " is my latest piece of weaving and the inspiration for this project came from the desire of exploring what it would be like to weave an entire piece of fabric with mostly thrums of different lengths and colours.

In my post Treasuring Thrums, I touched on colours and textures with a couple of photos: a colourful warp created with the longest lengths of thrums and the weft thrums at the start of my weaving.  I did not have to weave very much to discover that the blending of colours was going to be the true essence of this cloth.

Several more threads of fine silk and silk/wool blend got woven together; nests of tangled yarns found their way into the cloth, and knots from the warp ends were added for texture.

And like watercolours on a painter's palette, a multitude of colours were blended together and woven in the warp.  I nearly made it to the end of the warp before running low on thrums.

A perfect opportunity to explore a different finish. I'm not sure yet what will become of this new piece of cloth, but for the moment - one thing is certain - I keep on treasuring thrums!

Treasuring Thrums

Thrums ... THRUMS ... Thrums
Thrums are full of colours

Thrums offer lots of textures
Thrums are simple treasures

Silk thrums in the warp

 

Silk thrums in the weft

Let's see where those thrums take me and as Misao-sensei would say

"Let's adventure beyond our imagination"

A Saori Wind Chime

My Saori wind chime came together before traveling to the Oregon Coast ... and only recently was it installed outside near by our kitchen window.  In creating this visual display of colors, my desire was to weave several Saori pieces that would dance in the wind.  What I did not expect is the glowing of these colors in the morning sun.

The weaving part of my project was inspired by the Tibetan prayer flags fluttering in the wind, and so I chose to weave with the five colors representing the five elements of nature: blue symbolizing sky/space, followed by white for air/wind, then red for the fire element, green for water, and finally yellow symbolizing earth.


I very much enjoyed creating this piece and really like that it is now part of nature.  The weaving is very colorful when basking in the sun and dancing in the wind ... it is also a gentle reminder for more kindness, compassion and peace for ourselves, others and the earth.

Colours of the Oregon Coast

I treadled a lot in August and September.  However, it wasn't so much while seated at the loom or behind the spinning wheel, but rather from the saddle of my bicycle.  A wonderful cycle touring adventure along the Oregon Coast and through Northern California.  The coast line of Oregon was spectacular, the Redwood Forests majestic, and the pace of cycling ... well, perfect to immerse oneself in the moment and truly enjoy the scenery.  

A pleasant discovery on my way to Cape Blanco was the Wild Rivers Wool Factory in Langlois, South Oregon.  A gem of a store selling and featuring locally produced fibres and finished products from local artists and artisans.  As I walked in, a colorful skein of wool cut my eyes and wanting to know more about my choice,  I asked about the type of wool.  "Well, that would be Romney and the sheep's name is Hyacinth - she lives up the road."  Now, that is 100% local wool!

Another pleasant discovery awaited me in Portland - the annual festival Art In The Pearl.  It is there that I discovered the textile work of Kimberly Morris , a local weaver who crafts amazing rugs with "the belief that all things functional, should be beautiful, easy to care for and last for a long time."  The colours of her hand-dyed, hand-woven wool rugs are absolutely stunning!  Her rugs have a story, watch this segment on Oregon Art Beat.