Productive Waiting & Textile Design Inspiration from Nature

If you are a follower of my Instagram feed, you may already have seen the creative flurry happening at our house this week. I'm not sure if I've mentioned that NP and I are expecting our first child - in fact the mystery person was due last Friday! It's times liked these when I thank my lucky stars that I can fill my time with making and napping very happily. I've even been able to squeeze in some work for my Masters of design remarkably.

The Moreton Bay fig fruit seem to encapsulate the storing of memory, patiently waiting to drop from their home in the sky after a storm or strong wind. Seeds are released and awakened, just as memory can with the right triggers.

So far I have used them to naturally dye silk and wool, resulting in a beautifully soft neutral tones. Their rounded forms have been translated into bulbous felted textile pieces. The magnificent tones are the basis of a new colour palette.

And now a watercolour repeat design has emerged...

Thank you fig fruit - you are marvellous distraction.

 

Dear Plastic's Next Adventure

 

Yumi & Taka from Dear Plastic

Everyone, my dear friends Yumi and Taka from Dear Plastic, are planning their next big project and they need our help!

They have been accepted into The Takehara International Art Exhibition + Residency, taking place in a historic town of Japan. The two week residency is a great opportunity for them to develop new work, hold workshops and participate in the Bamboo Festival for two weeks in April and May this year.

They are amazing an amazing independent team based in Melbourne and are the hardest working and passionate artists I know. We are very lucky to have quite a few of their pieces in our home and I can't wait to see what comes from this next period.

Yumi & Taka have just started a Pozible campaign that will hopefully allow them to get to Japan. You will find out more about their plans at the Pozible site. They have some fantastic rewards to thank their friends for their help. I can't say enough how energized one feels after pledging to such a great project!

Dear Plastic's floating mini crystal mobile.

Dear Plastic's floating mini crystal mobile.

Dear Plastic's Craft Victoria window exhibition Jan 2013: Mountain God + Crystal Queen.

Mountain amulets from our Mountain God + Crystal Queen exhibition, Jan 2013.

Matsuzaka Tei, Japan.

All images from Yumi & Taka's Pozible Campaign Page.

 

Alex Falkiner: Textile Maker and Colour Connoisseur

If you are in Sydney in the coming weeks and require an injection of joyful colour and texture, I prescribe a visit to any of these exhibitions or workshops Alex Falkiner (aka Alfaky) is involved in. Or if in need of a quick top up, go over to her website and Instagram feed as soon as possible!

Alex Falkiner's felt, crochet & grosgrain necklaces. Photo by A. Falkiner.

Alex Falkiner's studio and baskets. Photo by A. Falkiner.

Alex Falkiner's rope and felt necklaces. Photo by A. Falkiner.

Alex Falkiner's Baskets. Photo by A. Falkiner.

Prescriptions can be filled here:

 

The Curio Collectors Cabinent, Gaffa Gallery
281 Clarence St, Sydney, NSW
7th - 18 March 2013

Knit | Knot | Weave, Gallery Lane Cove
164 Longueville Rd, Lane Cove, NSW
4th March - 1st April 2013
* A few of my talented friends - Paula do Prado and Brook Morgan are also in this show!

Workshop: Knot and Twist: Fabric Necklace Creations with Alex at
85 Dunning Ave, Rosebery NSW
Saturday 6th April

 

Coral and Tusk

Good morning friends! This morning is a porridge and chai kind of morning, with rain and wind and heavy skies in Sydney. I have big plans to get some things made today, the weather making it easier to be indoors. However I've just heard that rivers are flooding in other NSW areas, which can never be very good.

Have you seen these little creatures from Coral and Tusk? Quite a few of these are in my virtual shopping cart, with the hope of at least one making it's way to our home!

The way the studio operates reminds me of when I worked as a commercial textile designer - lots of chat and cups of tea... Their video shows how lovely the Coral and Tusk Workroom is...

 

 

 

Coral & Tusk from Coral & Tusk on Vimeo.

Designer Stephanie Housley gives a sneak peek into the delightful world of Coral & Tusk, her line of pillows and accessories. See her imagination come to life as embroidered drawings in her beautiful Brooklyn showroom/production studio.

Drum Roll for the Felt Ball Rug!

Slightly embarrassingly, I started making this Felt Ball Rug two years ago. Two years? Yes. Two years. November 2010. You might remember this post mid-way through the making... No? Well, neither do I... that was one year ago. A lot happens in one year... and a lot of nothing happens in one year, particularly when one has the habit of stopping and starting projects willy-nilly.

When I purchased 8000 felt balls, this kind of rug was a rarity. I think Anthropologie had a nice looking one out last year... but now... I see them everywhere! Not quite the same as mine, but still.

Never-the-less, I am proud to announce that I am literally days away from finishing this guy up. Just a few more stitches and this rug will be ready to adorn our living room. I must admit that it's only two-thirds the size that I had originally planned (thank-you to my sister who pointed out there was no way a bigger rug was going to work in said room). But despite this small change, I'm quite happy with how it is looking.

From the above photo you might thing that Wilton just loves sitting a top of these balls. The reality is, since he ate, digested and pooped one of the balls out, he's steered clear of the rug and was forced to sit on it for the photo shoot.

Speaking of photos, my marvellous sister Hannah took all of the above. She is super talented and very generous to make time to take shots of my work. I'm going to invite her back once it is all done and dusted for a final capture of TWO YEARS of procrastination and a bit of stitching results in.

Treasure...

This bag is my friend Sophie's - her grandma made it. Sophie comes from a long line of very creative people, and she herself is an amazing artist and designer!

Trust the Process

The past couple of months have been ridiculously busy and more seriously, creatively strained.


I've found myself feeling anxious and wrought over things that usually come so easily. Which in turn makes me travel further down the path of feeling quite horrible and not at all myself.


Serendipitously a book called "Trust the Process" by Shan McNiff found me while perusing the shelves of the Berkalouw Book Barn in Berrima.


I don't usually do well with the "self-help" genre... but this one has had me contemplating and pondering on the magic of the creative process. Things like:

"the total process of creation is permeated by hidden turns, elusive searches, and subtle appearances"

and

"It requires an inclination to step into the unknown as well as the ability to persist when there is no end in sight. The ways of creation are often paradoxical. When you think there is nothing going on, something comes to you, and when you want something desperately, it's never there."

Reading this book is helping me enormously to figure out how to get through those times of complete uncertainty, doubt, and negative thinking that often strikes during my making process.


My luck at working in a textile design studio where painting, drawing and other such things are an everyday occurrence has somehow affected my ability to create spontaneously, with abandon. Working to a specific brief within a certain amount of time can be a very satisfying process, but I'm wondering if it's taking its toll?


This blog describes my symptoms perfectly:

"Most projects hit a wall for whatever reason & frustration takes over. Symptoms include, but are not limited to: negativity about self/work/client, general crabbiness and a desire to throw the whole project down the drain. It can be pretty paralyzing.”

I hope this isn't sounding too dire! I'm on the path to getting back my spontanaiety! I wonder if anyone has a similar problem - how do you get through those difficult periods?

Moomah

Simple Song wrote about Moomah recently and reminded me that I'd love to share this beautiful idea with all of you!

This would be a project I'd love to be involved in one day... my mum spent a huge amount of time with me creatively playing and making - I had the advantage of having my mum all to myself until I was 3 and my first sister came along. I think that special time was one of the most formative experiences in my life. I can't imagine not having craft, art and imagination in my world every single day.