Catching Up

After the workshop yesterday I went to visit my uncle and aunt who live in the same street as the school where the workshop was held. Naturally they weren't at home (I didn't warn them)

So today I decided to call in again on my way home from my sewing group. This time they were home, along with my cousin Trish and her youngest son.

I had to have the relationships explained. John (aka Boy - only son after 4 girls - my mother was the second one) and Pat will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in August. They had eight children and almost all of them have produced multiple offspring. I don't know how many grandchildren and I suspect the great grandchildren are approaching double figures.

Pat produces lots of photos of gorgeous looking teenagers. My mind is confused: who produced them? It is explained to me, but I don't register much. This is my penalty for limited contact.

We are invited to the anniversary celebration. I guess it is obligatory - sister Dorothy and I were flower girls at the wedding. I am looking forward to it.

Phew!!

The workshop is over and I think it was really successful.



The participants really loved the colouring fabric bit, and there were some spectacular results.


This piece was done with a leaf stencil, then oil crayon rubbing over a leaf texture plate. It will be a fabulous base for further embellishment with machine embroidery. She did not use it for her bag sample - I wouldn't have either.


I thought I took photos of some of the final bags but I obviously didn't. I shall have to request copies from those that did.

Workshop Preparation

I have spent the day doing samples of simple ways to add colour to boring white fabric. This is for the workshop I am teaching on Tuesday. I have also started to write the notes.

These are some of the pieces: stamping, two pieces done by rubbing over texture plates with oil pastels and stencilling and stamping with plastic lace.


Tomorrow we are giving blood first thing in the morning. I then plan to go and buy the materials the participants will need. I spoke to the organiser last night and it seems easier if I go and get them. After that I will spend the rest of the day sewing more samples.

A bit of fibre today

I succumbed and went shopping today. It is really difficult when you are by yourself – the sellers only have you to focus on. There don’t seem to be many tourists looking in the stalls, though there seem to be lots around in the restaurants and bars. The market parking areas are crowded, but these bikes belong to locals.

The stalls are rather boring. They all seem to have the same merchandise: tacky (sometimes very tacky) Tshirts, batik shirts, bags and sarongs, glitzy lacy tops and bling covered shoes. Not much I liked.

I finally gave in and bought two sarongs at different stalls. The red one is silk batik done using a traditional style copper stamp, the other is cotton (or rayon, I’m not quite sure which) on which the wax motif has been applied with a more contemporary looking stamp.



Neither is “real” Indonesian batik, but I think I will be able to use them later. And they were inexpensive.

I continued walking along the beach and eventually traversed the gardens of the Besahki hotel to reach the main road. A short walk and I was at Nogo. I was really disappointed. The shop didn’t seem to have changed at all since three visits ago. I looked at both garments and fabric, but nothing appealed. By this time I was hot and bothered so I took a blue (metered) taxi back to the hotel. It cost 7800 rupiah – less than a dollar – and no bargaining needed. Way to go!

A dearth of fibre

We have been in Bali 5 days and I haven’t had a fibre fix. I did have a look in the Animale dress shops in both Kuta and Sanur. Some interesting design details as usual. I haven’t managed to get to Nogo Ikat as yet – it is right outside the Griya Santrian which is quite a walk from where we are staying, but I may yet make it.

I am avoiding the market stalls clustered near the hotel.

Today we went to the Bird and Reptile Park which we really enjoyed. Some fabulous birds, including a larrikin sulphur crested cockatoo who put on his own performance while the bird show was on. He stayed in the same tree, but did not show off again. He had obviously wanted to upstage the stars. Kevin made a short video on my camera and has uploaded it to the family blog.

This is perhaps the closest to fibre I have been for days. The skin of these iguanas looks like soft velour and their bodies like a softly stuffed bean bag.


The texture of this riverstone paving is quite wonderful.

500th Post

I have noticed that many bloggers make something of a fanfare when they reach such a milestone. I'm sorry that there is nothing exciting on offer - unless you want this piece of fabric that I coloured today. It is a sample for a workshop that I will be giving on July 7.

I will need to pull my finger out to finish all the samples I need to make, since we are off to Bali for a week on Tuesday. The hotel is supposed to have WiFi, so we may be able to blog.

Two good exhibitions

I took my SiL Shirley, who is visiting us from Esperance, to view 2 art exhibitions. We went first to Mundaring to the "Earth" exhibition (catalogue at left). This is a must see, but finishes this Sunday.

There were some great pieces, and Shirley was really put out that she was unable to purchase Claire Bestow's "Bungle Bungle" felt necklace because it had already sold.

I particularly liked the wall pieces from Liz Odd, Soosie Jobson and LeeAnne Davis. Katrina Virgona's mounted sculptural piece also greatly appealed to me and I was fascinated by the construction technique used for Nancy Ballesteros' nunofelted vest.

I also loved the felted timber installation by Vianne Sleypen. I confess that I was nowhere near as excited by the ceramics as the textiles. Demonstrates my personal bias, doesn't it?

Afterwards we went to the "Head and Shoulders" exhibition at the Old Bakery in Maylands. I confess that I liked this less, maybe because I had been driving for so long. There was a certain sameness to the silk and nuno felted scarves, even if they were by different artists.

I did like Linda's bags though, and Jennie Abbott had a wide variety of work on show. There is a spectacular wrap in the entrance passage way. Go and see the exhibition for yourself and make up your own mind.

Mission accomplished

I have finished my piece for Designing Women's contribution to the WAFTA exhibition. I will give it to Alcira tomorrow, because I won't be at the next planning meeting - I'll be in Bali.

I am very happy with it - I may even rustdye some more cotton and make another piece for myself - I still have lots of the silk left. Here is a photo of the applique side: silk stitched on cotton and cut back.


This is the other side. Reverse applique: cotton cut away to show the silk. It looks even better hanging so the light passes through it.


I also finished the foundation fabric for some more ATCs for the Designing Women swap. While they do not all have to be the same, I liked the idea of mine being instantly recognisable, so I made another fabric piece. I should be able to cut the extra eight I need; I may even be able to do a bit of fussy cutting.

And the fabric shop down the hill is closing down this Sunday - boo hoo! But I went and bought a pile of stuff including some raw silk and some devore (not silk, though) and got it all for half price. Think I may need another visit at least.

Happy Birthday, Joy and Renee

Joy and her husband John are amongst our oldest friends - even more so for Kevin than for me. He and John were in the Rover Scouts as teenagers.

Joy turned 70 today and her 8 kids (she has 5 of her own and 3 of John's brother's that she helped raise after their parents died young) organised a party. Most enjoyable, especially watching the grandkids bashing at a pinata. Isaac, the oldest GK present, did an admirable job of holding it steady for the younger ones to have a bash. Eventually, as frustration became obvious, he took over the bashing and delivered the load of sweets onto the patio floor, much to the delight of the youngsters. Well done, Isaac!

The only shadow on the day was John's absence. He is in a nursing home and is no longer able to leave it.

And Renee, who lives next door to us, turned 21 today. Happy Birthday to you, too.

Silk with the guru

Judith Pinnell ( who is a very well-known artist using silk 'paper' - 2 books and a third at the printers) gave a workshop today to Designing Women. It was great. Even though I have made lots of silk 'paper' before, I still learned heaps. And surely this is the reason you do workshops with different tutors - you can still learn more.

The room was crowded with 20 people all needing work space, but we managed - just. We almost had to push people out the door at the end of the afternoon - they were so involved in the pieces they were making.

Judith also gave a presentation on her trip to Mongolia in 2007. Fascinating, and her example pieces were wonderful.

A good day, but my camera had a hissy fit. Even with new batteries it refused to work. So no photos. And I have threatened the camera that if it doesn't shape up I will buy a new one to take to Bali. That'll larn it!