Synesthesia #6 Blue Green

Making another in the Synesthesia series.

The sample looks right though the ground could do with a little more stabilising.

Coming along.

That ground is still wrinkling up a bit with the intensive stitching and changes in direction.

I am using strips cut from my collection of silk blouses. 

Lightweight silks can be warmed with the fingers and easily manipulated.

Sampling

While spring cleaning I gathered up all of the wool threads from pre-owned kits I had collected, having taken the fabric out for other projects.

I also looked again at a collection of fulled knit fabric that has been waiting patiently for me.

Donna Clement  http://donnaclement.blogspot.ca/ and I had dyed then knit then fulled bags of chunky yarns then we split up the results.

Several months ago I had bought Gail Callahan's Color Grid http://colorgrid.net/ and wanted to try it.

I put all 3 things together with scissors and a needle and stuffed them into a bag for a 'To Go' project.

While on a road trip I stitched.

It has possibilities.

Donna, have you done anything with your half?

The Spring Clean Continues

Sorting threads and yarns into 24 colour hues. Each pile gets put in its own bin.

The stage where things look worse before they start looking better.

I kept pinning pieces to my design wall to give me time to think about them.

A few new projects came out of this airing.

Sorting all of my precious laundered domestic linens.

There was great satisfaction in getting this resource shelf reorganised.

After I had washed the floor, I felt the spring-cleaning urge subside.

Now back to work.

Back to Spring Cleaning

The last bit of machine sewing resulted in a satisfying number of empty spools.

I do enjoy using my stash of resources.

I sent a swatch sample to the SDA Swatch Collection.

It is a piece of bed-sheet that was wrapped around a maple tree for over a year. I stitched it with the colours I observed on the tree during the February new moon.

Then I  went back to getting my studio in order.

 It was only while following this urge to clean up that it hit me  - I have spring-fever.

Amber, our son's girlfriend, gave me this delicious yarn last Christmas. She bought it in a Melbourne market cause it looked like me, she said.

Hand spun, hand dyed, chunky Australian merino wool by Hawthorne Cottage - hawthornecottage.com.au

I wound it into a ball and put it out to wait for it to tell me what it wants to be.

While cleaning up I came across this piece of light-weight silk. 

It said it wanted to be with Amber's yarn.

Now they sit there together - waiting.

Synesthesia #23 Orange-yellow #2

I had to make another #23 because a friend bought the 1st one I made.

This time I used the cut-back applique technique.

I like using worn clothing in my work.

My old brown linen pants are just the right colour.

I am waiting for the day when I cut out a piece of fabric from the garment I am wearing because it is just what I am looking for.

Here are the fabrics I selected.

Ooooooow - Goggle's 'auto correct' makes them look off.

This is the 2nd go, I must confess. The first one had to be rejected because I stacked the fabrics in the reverse order. Am I making these mistakes because I didn't stitch much while I was studying and I have to get my brain up and firing in a different way again?

Viola - Synesthesia # 23 Orange-yellow, again.

It is hanging in the Tulista Gallery in Sidney, in the Small Expressions exhibitions, on until the end of March.

Synesthesia #22 Yellow-orange

After completing my studies and starting to cleaning up my studio I was keen to get back to making.

I decided to take a break and make a couple more in the Synesthesia series - a collection of  24 small works about how I feel about different colours - what their individual energies feel like.

#22 Yellow-orange was next. I knew the feeling I wanted to evoke so assembled the threads and fabrics.

I made a quick sample...

...and started. But I was fighting fires the whole time. The first mistake was laying down too much 'dark'. Working over it with a lighter thread turned it a greeny colour. The circles persisted in forming straight lines...

Eventually I gave up and started again. I took the time to establish the values and their range then made decisions within those parameters to get the right feeling/energy.

Finished.

I think of a fermenting, bubbling energy when I see this colour.

Mending, Shovelling, Putting Away

In between sorting and putting away resources I would go out and shovel.

One time, after coming back inside, I found the mending pile had grown to toppling height.

I dealt with it.

More shovelling but the sun is helping.

Awkward Selfie: I found this carpenter-type apron and have been wearing it to see if it would be useful.

It is. I could make one in an interesting fabric.

Studio Tidy-up Time Continues

I am taking my time cleaning up my studio because it is giving me time to think - the type of thinking that goes on when my hands are busy and the music is up loud. The ideas just rise to the surface and all I have to do is jot them down for later contemplation.

One of my recent treasures a friend picked up for me is an old Gray & Dunn biscuit tin full of silk threads...

...on wooden cotton reels.

I will wait to see what they want to become.

Done & have the paper to prove it!

My drawing desk. 

Notice the drafting board is empty.

 I completed the final assignment, presented it....

...and graduated.

For the past couple of months I put everything else more or less on hold and focused on this program. 

I feel a great sense of achievement and also pleased I am able to return to my 'normal'.

I took the following week off to do nothing in particular - sleep, read, sleep, eat.

This week I am back in my studio.

 First I want to put away an accumulation of materials: project left-overs, acquisitions, gifts. 

While doing this annual task I enjoy getting reacquainted with my resources. I keep a pen and paper handy because the activity always generates a heap of ideas.

More Christmas Knitting Completed

Amber's Christmas knitting is finished - for the 2nd time. I guessed her head size and made it too small the first time round.

It is Fleece Artist's Ana Bandana in their luscious Woolie Silk (65% wool/35% silk).

Amber lives in New Zealand and there is no rush to send it to her because it is summer there. I am sure she doesn't want to be reminded winter is coming, just yet.

I was successful with an auction bid for this copper kettle and tankard.

Now I am set to do some natural dyeing with a copper mordant.

Composting Up Close ....

We make compost in wire sleeves held together with twist ties - real simple

But in our winter-wet climate the pile gets a little too wet.

I need to make some winter hats for the piles.

We took 1 pile apart to feed the camellia at the front door.

 It is having a rough time this winter. With the 1st lot of heavy wet snow it had fallen over.

Luckily there is a sailor in the house who knows knots.

I think it is the engineer who added the containers full of water as a counterweight.

Its not pretty at the front door but it appears to be working.

The camellia needed compost & mulch because it has woken up already and is working on its flowers.

Once it has finished blooming we can prune it back so it can stand up on its own again.

Ready To Make Compost

Ever since Ron & I did the Gaia College Organic Master Gardener course we have made compost together - not the most romantic of dates but always most interesting.

The key is to have the materials on hand before a compost-making session.

We have been collecting and will be ready to make compost once things warm up a bit.

Above is a pile of our wood chips produced when we had a pile of small branches shredded.

A pile of horse manure that is maturing nicely.

I collect it in my car, not Ron's, from a nearby stable.

The reason why I have to visit coffee shops is to collect their grounds.

All of our 'non-shiny' waste paper gets collected in a pile outside to start decomposing.

As does all of our 'non-shiny' cardboard.

I have been know to raid our neighbour's when they put it out on recycling day.

And most valuable of all, our raked up leaves.

Now if it would just warm up a few degrees so we can use the compost we have and start making some more.

We know how to have a good time together.