Sunday, November 02, 2014

welllllll.......

The Story has not changed much....
mad rush here in the studio....good news is our new print person is working out real fine.....learning so much about tweaking the constancy of the ink to improve prints.
Originally block print was done on fine cottons...this week I have been printing onto absorbent cotton knit material...causes a few hiccups- it sops up ink, so is quite wet and takes ages to dry....add that to overcast days and it is a head ache. Slows everything down significantly...
getting there, I have to keep saying to myself....
I'll show you some prints and samples in the next few days- promise.

Today is Sunday and supposedly my day off, I am at the workshop...I have a mountain of saris to keep sorting....but a little time to sit and daydream first.

Our first Indian Inspiration Creative Camp is at the end of February next year....

we intend to create a space for people to come and play- a studio away from your studio type idea, line it with things we can do here in India that are special and create a space and assistance for our guests to work that into what they like or want to do.

So there is pre-planning to do
  • draw up a design to get made into Indian slippers....the village just up the road...very bumpy road to be truthful is home to many skilled shoe makers, so if we take a cartoon to them within a week or so they will be able to return a pair of hand embroidered leather slippers.
  •  I have a trunk of bits and pieces that might be interesting to use in stitching....for myself I am thinking textile broaches...wonder what will inspire others.
  •  we have a weekend planned in Jaipur, based around visiting and experimenting in Rambabu-ji's indigo vat....
  • Part of the Pre-trip planning revolves around designing a block for printing [and taking home later]....we'll get it carved and oiled ready to go. I know if I was a visitor I would jump at being able to print a mountain of cloth...I have always been that type of crazy though
 
 
 

 

  • Our friend Sanju will be joining the group for a few days....she will share ideas/ skills to do with her Sujani embroidery....I want to be able to show her some of my ideas inspired by Toile de Jouy ...I am plan to have made a block based on a machine embroidered sketch I did of Pushkar....it would be cool to stitch back into the print. I tried this out a few years ago now and never had time to follow the idea up...I figure this will be my chance....
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    This is a picture I found on the web [sorry not sure who] I must admit to a small obsession with Toile de Joule for a while and my June visit to Paris just fuelled it!
    • My mate Dawn is coming along to help....she is that type of crazy too, but much more into eco dyeing and journal making....so more skill sets to share. Part of the Jaipur week end will include a visit to a paper mill and supplies for journals, dyeing...we will see where inspiration travels.

    We have some lovely guests signed in and still room for more, you're welcome to join us.
    I will still be at the workshop should they need me but plan to schedule myself off production work altogether so I can work with our visitors and sit around a play on ideas as well.
    Can't wait to get onto that block design, I have more than enough hand embroidered shoes already...it is raaaaaatttthhhhhherrrrrrr exciting commissioning a pair.
    I have a page on Pinterest dedicated to the camp...but a lot of my other boards overlap a lot, the one about indigo, the one about dreaming blocks...our latest print board...lots

    off to sort saris now....
     

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