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Little Alvar Aalto bowls I bought in London a few years ago. Everytime I go back to London I pick up little vessels and bowls from two of my favourite shops, Skandium and Vessel. Someday I intend to have an entire selection of these Aalto vases. There's even a cookie cutter! And, yes, I have the inspired-by wooden trivets as well.
So where was I? Last seen......running around like a madwoman in a couple of weeks in which I have not stopped::The Pea Pod jacket - finished::Sewing machine - bought, but still to be unpacked (I'm a little afraid of it) after weeks of researching, asking, emailing, phoning, attempting to look.
Parents visiting for my beautiful son's 4th birthday::He's 4 - how did that happen? How did he turn into such a beautiful child full of laughter and confidence?::Cake eaten, candles blown out::A party to organise, another cake to decorate::Take home bags to prepare which will be interesting because I haven't got anything to take home in::The largest aeroplane landed in our house to squeals and eyes popping out::Thankgod for large toy boxes to increase the awe::A house to be cleaned.
A social gathering at Prints Charming to launch The Crafter's Companion locally::Meeting amazing people and talking for hours about things I am passionate about, while surrounded by beautiful material::I can't thank Cath and Kirsten enough for their support.
Another social gathering on Tuesday where I hope I can persuade someone to shop.
And then, maybe then, I can take a moment, breathe, and think of some new projects, clear my desk, play with fabric and wool, sort
and plan.
I've just spent a wonderful weekend in Melbourne with wonderful friends Di and Nic, dragging each other from pillar to post, from zakka shops to fabric shops, and back. There is nothing nicer than stash shopping with friends, bouncing ideas off each other, and taking selections in different directions as each person provides input.
Having someone to mind Pia while I grabbed bolts of fabric helped enormously too. Without Nic's help I would never have been able to purchase the following pure wools, and one wool/cashmere mix for winter clothes for Pia.
An afternoon at Amitie was excessive:: How much fabric can 15 women buy? A lot. Not only did we shop for fabric, but 15 bloggers got together for a blogetogether and gift exchange - that's what all the cards in previous posts were for! Quite a wonderful experience meeting bloggers, putting faces and voices to blogs and personality to writings. I had a great time, and I only wish I could have spoken to more people at length. A big thankyou to Justine and Nikki for organising it, and the ladies at Amitie for allowing us to take over their shop. I got into a red neutral and grey obsession with new Amy Butler and Lecien fabrics (and another spotty one from Patchwork On Central).
And last, but not least, my favourite, Patchwork On Central for Liberty fabrics. I love the whispy bits of threads. But all these will go with the wool fabrics above and with linen for next summer.
I'm all fabric shopped out. Now, though, it's time to go sewing machine shopping. And that is an entirely different world all together, and an immensely frustrating one at that.
There is something extraordinary about peripheral landscapes - the nether regions of laneways, back alleys, and the blurred distinctions of city/surburbia/country. I have a complete love of back lanes rich in historic cultures of seediness, disarray, deterioration, the anti:detail. Conveniently forgotten moments of history seen through cracks, drainpipes, and the haphazard collections of outbuildings, wrapped through Deluezian Folds and rich in context. But more exactly, I love the transformation these back alleys take when small parts become re-used - a new cafe, a new clothes shop, a design office. Melbourne, Paris, London all have great alleys rich in life. I find great abstracted excitement in negative spaces - the voids of left over space and what they reveal about a place and it's life - the hidden. So it is no surprise that I find myself drawn time and again to the back alley ways of sewing and knitting. The underside is often far more complex and entwined than the front, far more revealing of intent and process than the pristine fronts will ever encourage. I often stare longingly at seams - the path of travel to complete a whole - and the back side of knitting projects. The Pea Pod Jacket above has a leaf lace insert - I like the bulbous back - rough and gnarly, a starck contrast to the delicate leaf patterned front. I like to think perhaps the leaves are putting down roots...
In the 3 years that I've known M-H I can probably recall the number of times I've seen her actually knitting on one hand. The rest of the time she spends weaving in intricate threads of colourwork, each piece telling it's own little story of the garment. I love those pieces of strangled left over yarns, and that we get to see that stage, rather than just a finished object revealed. Perhaps that is why I love to reveal only snippets of projects :: because the process is better than the finished.
Martha has a blog triptych banner which is derived from photographs of the seams inside a bag she made. I adore these photos, neat seams full of life and movement, and her blog entry for it is just as lovely (and refers back to Carson again). I can only imagine that turning one of her garments inside out would be as pleasurable as seeing it the 'right' way.
And then there is Lisa and her embroidery reversings:: photographs of the backsides of embroidery pieces complete with threads left waving -
- the inner sanctum organs revealed.
It's vessel wednesday again courtesy of Carson.
This week's vessel:: antique japanese (or is it chinese?) earthenware pottery vase - teeny tiny about 10cm high. Rough, worn, a little cracked. Modest.
Vessel Wednesday. A beautiful concept from Carson.
The vessel:: A silver crackle bowl by Emma Johnstone which is raku fired, with the rim often ground back to reveal fine black cracks and then the middle is inlaid with silver leaf. It's one of the few bowls of mine which sit way up high, way, way out of the finger grasp of any little people.
Last week I turned the house into a printing studio.
I cut out beautiful white card into lots of smaller card. And even smaller card. And then again into even smaller cards.
I had spent the previous week getting artwork ready for printing. I photographed Lilly Pilly trees. And I doodled.
I printed on them. And then printed on them again. And then I printed on some of the left over bits.
I will now package them which will involve sewing. And ties. And some more cutting.
This was going to be a post about something completely different. Until events of this morning took this post in a slightly different direction.
This morning I got an email from a friend, directing me to another blog, with the suggestion she had a few concerns about the content of that blog. You can probably guess where this is leading, no?
Now this is a wonderful community. We all share, we all inspire, we all encourage. It is always nice to see that you have in turn inspired someone else, and the response I get from my work warms me beyond belief. I believe though, that we all give credit where credit is due. I take immense pleasure in reading other people's blogs, seeing what they are doing, taking an idea here and an idea there. I will always acknowledge my sources though - books, blogs, posts. The original author deserves it, and it's just the right thing to do. I don't want to have to stamp copyright on everything I do, or post caveats to the use of my work, but recently I have been thinking I should. The blog this morning has convinced me I'm stupid not to.
I don't for one minute suggest I have exclusivity on my work or on my style or my writing. But the whole package together is something I have worked hard on over the years. So it surprises me to see almost verbatim use of my style somewhere else. One project I could perhaps understand. Entire posts, projects, content etc I have to draw the line at. In a few minutes browsing, I came across half a dozen examples. I stopped there. Thinking perhaps I was being over sensitive, I called on others to read, and the general consensus is I should say something. It's not often I get really angry, but for this I am. Perhaps it is coincidence? Perhaps not.
I believe now the person knows who they are. They do read this blog. I am asking them to be a little more aware from now on.
