Head Scratching Time

Head Scratching Time - and no, I don't have lice!

During my days as a school teacher, that was a real concern, but those days are long gone. 

Yet, like in those days, I'm still planning excursions. I aim for them to be fun, educational, embody positive attitudes and values, and be cost-effective in terms of funds and time.

As mentioned in our recent newsletter, Creative Arts Safaris is expanding.

We're thrilled to welcome a new tour host on board! If you have a better title than "Fellow Fun Wrangler" or "Coordinator of Fun and Adventures," please share your ideas. 😜 We're all about keeping things lively!

While we stick to our itinerary, we're always open to squeezing in a little something extra whenever the opportunity arises. Our tours are packed full of interesting and inspiring people, wonderful artistic and craft practices and beautiful locations. 

Hand Crafted Tours- how does that sound? I am looking for words to use in Marketing- they call them key words or key phrases.... they need to accurately and clearly let search engines know what you do to match you with searches. OH boy! it is hard work to sift through possibilities.

Carefully Curated- does that sound better? I laugh because actually I have a huge pile of possibilities and cram in as much as I can whilst saying to myself- "Don't forget to give them time to breath and soak it all up"

On a personal note, my eldest son David is ready for a career change. With a passion for cooking, good food, and travel, he's currently a head chef. However, the demanding hours aren't ideal for him with two young children. David excels under pressure and manages countless details effortlessly - qualities that will make him an excellent Chief Office Coordinator for us.

There are countless wonderful places and people we've visited, with many more yet to explore (but let's stay focused for now - that excitement is for another day!).

Now, it's time to buckle down and take on some serious tasks—developing a marketing strategy, documenting all my research, and organizing it into clear, actionable paths for others to follow. While I have a million and one lists and plans, many are in shorthand or even just in my head! To collaborate effectively, they need to be visible, open to questions, and easy to follow for everyone involved.

You know, I'm taking a moment to chat with you—I was knee-deep in drafting a formal marketing strategy- I had to Google what to do by the way and sorting through its thousand and one questions that need clarifying. Quite the task, I must say! Distractions are easy. 

What do I have in my favour?

• Run a darn good excursion 
• PHD level of research- I explored the idea of Sustainable Tourism Practices as a topic- but don't have time! - you should see my lists and notes that I need to organize to make accessible for others
• Experience developing a Social Enterprise, working as a social entrepreneur 
• Focus of The Stitching Project was social development - it was exciting to be designer. 
•  I like a friendly day out to look, learn and see something amazing.

Distraction and whinge! I bought a new dell xps13 computer- it looks a beauty. thin and light - able to go anywhere. So happy until I started typing. the @ and " are back to front..... I contact support and have been given the run around for days- go and buy a flash drive, reinstall the OS !!! oh it didn't work properly, do it again.

Glad you are so far away- there might be a few bad words floating around. I paid a lot of money for a tool to use, not rubbish I have to fix myself.

Oh dear.

hard to focus when that needs to be fiddled with.

I am working on a survey to work out how you found Creative Arts Safaris, and ask if you have any suggestions for its future. I want to find more guests to share our tours with but I don't know if I believe everything marketing gurus say.... 

Most of our gang of travellers are 50+ the ones I have asked hate the ads on Instagram or FB, never click on a Sponsored link when they search. Any suggestions on how to contact people like us who are irritated with the suggestions marketing experts have? Haha Oh a conundrum.

I hope many of you will indulge me by adding your insights to the survey.

I know I can't remain a complete Luddite forever, but I want to spend our funds carefully. I'd rather see you with more bucks in your pocket to "Help the Local Economy" when we travel.

Check out our website for all the improvements we have made and most importantly some fabulous adventures we would like to share with you.

 

20 years ago...

My bucket list always has had Paris and Rajasthan at the top 

[ I must admit I have become a bit of a tart and truly have now given my heart to quite a few places] 

but 20 + years ago they were the ones.

I was a Waldorf Steiner Teacher- you stay with the same class through primary school, so when that journey draws to a close it is quite a big letting go.

I had been a single mother for many years and my boys liked to know I was at home when they were with their father, just in case they needed me. For the first time, at end of September school holidays, one said - "You know Mum, we're big enough now, we'll be OK if you want to do something while we are away. You don't have to sit near the phone" 

No mobiles back then- did he imagine I stayed within hearing of the phone? What ever made him feel safe I guess.

Well what a shocker!

So much was changing all at once. 

An important part of parenting is to step back and let them mature but what was I supposed to do? Forever I had been the class teacher and the Mum.

So, you know, freaking out as one might - I thought "Right, DO Something"  and made a mad dash to get a passport, ticket and visa and head off to Rajasthan.

For the first time I had a little money in the bank, couldn't afford Paris but Rajasthan was a possibility.

I really did not have time to draw breath until I sat on the plane in Sydney heading to Delhi. Then I started to cry. 

"What was I thinking?"

No time to plan it all out, I had 3 nights accommodation and lots of time in front of my until I had to be in Mumbai to catch my flight home.

Ohh boy, Delhi was shrouded in winter fog, all dug up putting the metro in- it smelt so different, it was so busy and foreign and such a buzz.

Poking around an amazing 3 weeks unfolded.... the wealth of crafts had me gobsmacked. Wooden blocks and block printing - ohhh wow. I had carved lino to make blocks for years, didn't realise there was a whole world of printing in India- I was in heaven.....

Long story cut short, I met Praveen that trip too.

I decided to base my Masters Exhibition on my experience of India in relationship to Far West NSW....

I won a textile award out of the UK and started travelling to teach textiles, 

I never went back to school teaching....

I regularly exhibited my art

and a group at the textile guild I was a member of said that wanted to come to India and poke around getting their hands on things just like I did.

Well I had always enjoyed excursions as a teacher- loved working out adventures for my class, I could relate to that idea. 

An exciting excursion, get your hands dirty doing things, see some amazing places, eat good food.

Creative Arts Safaris was born and our first tour took off in Feb 2006. 

Rajasthan- A Tactile Textile Tour had all the things I loved in it.... lots of doing stuff- block print, tie and dye.... places, artisans/crafts have been added in, taken out over time.

I moved to India and eventually we had The Stitching Project Workshop... so hands on could get even bigger...

The excursion idea grew, I like the name excursion it suggests you want to learn something, ... old school teachers never die, they just head out on adventures!

Adventures- yes. Step off the edge, live a little.... yes you might want to freak out a little along the way.

I was so surprised when I burst out crying on that first flight thinking

 "OMG what have I done?"

Shake yourself off  and get on with it. 

It will be fine.

Fine and Dandy from my experiences.

 

Travelling Workshops

 

Travelling Workshops

My usual textile & craft tours are full of inspiration and opportunity and hands-on experiences for my guests to take home and utilize in their creative endeavours.

Travelling workshops are building on the that idea and offering a tutor and specialised tuition as we travel.

As a tutor in a studio or presenting an online course you know where you are and the time available each day and plan your offering to suit; your space is part of your teaching tools, hopefully quiet, organized, and conducive to concentration on the topic at hand.

Travelling Workshops have planned content to share set against a constantly changing background full of wonderful inspiration and/or distractions, so the delivery needs to be a little different.

Your tutor still has a well thought out plan of what they want to share; teaching moments will be woven into all the glorious experiences of the day.

The first day session will start with an overview of what to look for, techniques we will be exploring and suggestions on how you might use it yourself. Times is put aside along the way to build on techniques and ideas.

We are travelling, we need to embrace that as well and just take time to enjoy Being There, take a deep breath , soak in how amazing it is…. as we add to our stash of ideas and inspirations.

Before the evening meal is a good time to gather with your tutor to develop ideas and techniques. Remember during shared meals it may feel like the perfect time to quiz your tutor, but they do need a moment to eat as well. Let’s make a pact that during the meal we have general chitchat so everyone can enjoy their meal- 😊

What set the seeds for this idea- create as you go?

I often make as I go.... before The Stitching Project absorbed so much of my creative energy I used to do tours and make exhibitions- here are a few images of that time 

Particularly the Exhibition "Leaf, Leaves, Leaving..." I set out on my travels with the intention to capture it in my artwork during my travels and finish up upon my return.

I lived in Australia, you can not bring plant matter back into the country yet that is the part of the natural world I always take time to look at when I go somewhere new.

So I had a pile of A4 sized pieces of silk organza and a bottle of fabric ink and I made impressions of leaves where ever I travelled. 

When I worked my pieces I also included something inspiring I heard in that location. Each piece was a Journal Page, recoding part of the natural environment and a breath of wisdom I caught during my time there. I liked the image of the wisdom wafting on the breeze as leaves do when they fall. 

Travelling alone on an around-the-world ticket you do have a lot of weird and wonderful conversations with yourself.

My friends Gillian and Jo also often work as they travel and/or later build work from their travels.

It is something we talk about when we have time together- the love of travel and how to find ways to work creatively at the same time.

We have set out to share and facilitate this experience with others.

Jo Beal Travel Journal

Jo Beal Travel journal

Gillian Travis- quilts inspired by Indian travels

Gillian Travis- quilts of Indian ladies, with cloth and block print sourced on her travels

Jo Beal travelling in Vietnam

Rajasthan-A Tactile Textile Tour will wander, make and gather inspiration whilst visiting might forts and palaces, chasing tigers and visiting remote indigo villages

Travel to Quilt- Rajasthan - takes a slower pace visiting some spectacular locations and immersing yourself at The Stitching Project workshop to develop textile art inspired by travel.

Create a Travel Journal- Rajasthan- is again a slower pace, visiting magnificent painted mansions [beautiful with painted images completely covering all walls- really] a magnificent palace by the lake and an elephant sanctuary with plenty of time to sit, breath and draw.

Soap box Sunday

 Hiya, 

I used to sit many Sundays and write to you....

Lockdown depleted my wells of hope there for a while, and now I am back in form and Life is rather busy.

I have always put in the hard yards to promote both Creative Arts Safaris and The Stitching Project organically.

What does that mean? Whilst I am a bit of a greenie and have an organic garden it has nothing ecological about it, nor is it exciting like gardening....

It means I have attracted awareness to our businesses through being active at marketing [FB, Inst, Pinterest, blogs.... and any other chance I spot] and making sure my websites are good quality and up to date. 

I know I might pack them rather solid with information too, but I want you to KNOW!

When I registered Creative Arts Safaris website on 2 Aug, 2007 to get notice all you had to do was write good copy, and label photos well, keep you blog up to date and I managed to rank very well in Textile tours, Indian tours and Craft tours enquiries.

At that time most marketing was through print media- websites were quite new. 

I would ask guests where they heard about me and it was more often word of mouth- I travelled and taught all around the globe at that time- textiles stuff... then it moved onto be internet and word of mouth. I used to have pretty postcards I gave out in classes and anywhere else I popped up - often someone would say I have had your postcard on my fridge for ages.

Rarely did anyone say they responded to an ad in a magazine [yet initially I spent a lot of money on ads like that]. That annoyed me too, the cost of the advertising had to be added onto tours costs but you and I did not get anything for it really..... yes it was supposed to let people know about us but did it really?

So here I am in a world that is ruled by the ALLGORISM, social media can do a lot to restrict who sees your posts [ and the posts I get to see- I follow pages because I like what they are doing- why is it so hard to see them and I only get a million adds???]

When I am looking for something- I google. I try to not use the SPONSERED LINKS- even if they are what I am looking for I try and find the direct link to the website [save the company having to pay for a click on a sponsored link]

I have watched as The Stitching Project clients use FB ads to promote their page- whilst there was an initial surge in reach, if they stopped paying they completely bombed of the radar. Nasty FB.

It made me wary about using them and keep to the organic approach.

Post Covid and trying to get going again and reaching out and making contact - letting prospective guests know I am here is even more difficult.

I have taken a few marketing seminars and they suggest 10 to 25% of your budget should be spent on marketing to grow your business!!!

!!! I can't exclaim enough- does that mean I add 25% to my tours to make FB richer?- it does not benefit you nor more importantly the people we visit where our buck does make a difference.

The marketing experts are suggesting expenditure to make BIG BUSINESS richer. Crikey!!

This is my shock horror lately- still trying to digest it.

In my last CAS newsletter I asked if people might like to follow, like, or comment, save or share my posts as a way to building reach organically- watching the REACH statistics I think it is having an impact.

Apparently Google reviews can help as well. They control the most commonly used search engine so please add your two bobs worth if you feel inclined XX.

 Why am I writing all this? 

1. Well I am shocked or horrified at the way social media is going- it not not social for us to connect up it has all become a MARKETING TOOL and us little folk at being manipulated and BIG BUSINESS is making a huge profit.

[By the way did you catch in the news -Australia has crazy inflation and 2/3 of it is driven by big business making monster profits]

2. I am asking for you help- follow, like, comment, save and share for any business you would like to support it does help them and keep profit out of the pockets of big business.

Soap box Sunday- it has been a while since I climbed up and I do feel better for having a rank. Thanks for listening 😜

Nudge, nudge This is CAS on FaceBook and Instagram

Life is Sweet

Note to self:
Life is sweet. Full stop.
We are lucky to be alive and life deserves to be LIVED.
Easy to dream of faraway sweets- especially something as divine as these Moroccan pastries, the challenge is to find the sweet in the here and now.
There will be plenty of those pastries next year 2021 during “Moorish Delights of Andalusia and Morocco”
More of the Bon Mots!!
It is the journey not the destination…. Find all the little moments of sweet along the way 😊
Ya know, there are some days where I have to give myself a good shake and talking to.
Haha.
Have a great day.

What to do? Feel bold!

This rather dramatic sky got to me this morning.

No filter and camera colour is not as scintillating as the actual view.... but I am sure you get the idea.

Actually I have had 4 days in bed this week with the worst bout of asthma EVER. Usually it is Spring pollen that gets me, but this time I think it was a chill from an unexpected thunderstorm and all the dust it blew up.

Still managed to jump off the side of Jodhpur Fort for my birthday but I did a lot of wheezing walking between jump points.

I organized it to stir Praveen up, I knew he would HAVE to do it if I said it was my birthday wish....

It is actually a great way to feel bold, I discovered.

You are completely strapped in, so even if you loose the plot, you won't fall out.

You are in a harness, they attach it to the line, 

the guy says sit down into it....

you fly feet first,

then when you are ready, you just lift your feet and slowly start to glide.

No having to throw yourself out of a plane or off a mountain.

Lift your feet and glide....

then deal with it speeding up and you are flying high in the sky.

IT IS BRILLIANT!!

A real Buzz!

It is good to feel BOLD, it spreads around in your life and helps you take on other challenges.

It was so lovely to visit Jodhpur simply as tourists, we visit regularly but in the guise of group leaders and so have a pre-planned agenda. 

We had time to check out new hotels, new development work in Jodhpur- the cleaned up Step Well Area is brilliant and we found a fabulous rooftop restaurant for dinner.

I guess that sounds a little CAS  work orientated.... but really it was us doing what we like to do EXPLORE and it was really satisfying to find a new side to an old friend.

What to do? Is where I started.... the asthma was scary. I have been on an intense course of Homeopathics and responded well and back on track again. I love the clinic I use, they are in Kolkata but can be contacted anytime via email and phone and respond quickly. I have a kit at home, all the remedies numbered and just need to follow instructions.

It is a God send, allopathic medication for asthma mucks me up a lot I have palpitations and weird reactions.... Finding this clinic a few years ago has changed my life.

Any way.... much better.

and onto what to do?

Burning....

I have watched in horror all week as Australia burned... here in India poor farmers can't afford to plow crop stubble back into the fields so they burn it off and that along with winter conditions means the north of the country is shrouded in smoke and pollution. Our government can do many things to help big business but the poor farmer gets very little assistance at all. We have SOOOO many farmer suicides....

I can't fix that but here we can do our little bit....

As one little person.... 

I CAN
-Plant more trees on my place
- our workshop and home are going solar
-we  gave out cloth bags to all our people and will continue the mantra SAY NO TO PLASTIC
- making cloth bags for vegetable shopping

 ..... come up with more ideas

 SMILE AND HAVE HOPE WE CAN FIX THIS TOGETHER

HOPE + ACTION = SUCCESSFUL OUTCOMES.

Craft Tours

Had an interesting interaction yesterday.
Kevin Murray of Garland Magazine hosted an online discussion about the blossoming field of craft tours. "To meet the Makers in Distant Lands"

It was very interesting, more as a starting point rather than anything conclusive.
Kevin did suggest brainstorming a guideline or BEST PRACTICE for ethical interaction with markers- a guideline for craft tourism.

Sounds like a good idea.

Our last Rajasthan trip left me all nostalgic a few times...
we have been visiting some of these people for so many years now.

OK super nostalgic- that is Raja in the middle of the first tour group we took to his Papa's workshop, I'd met the family 2 years before on my first trip to India in 2003 and visited a few times since.
We met because I was asking questions of one of Yaqob's sons who was looking after their craft stall. He said you must meet my father and so I did.

Yaqob-ji has 4 sons, the older ones got jobs in banks and such, Raja was still at school and undecided and then just after this he decided he wanted to follow his father into the family work of Bandhani or tie and dye.
How proud Yaqob was.
When we visited this year, Yaqob was in Delhi with his wife Hambiba teaching at a Government College and young Raja had to look after our group.
Standing there watching him teach I felt so proud to see what a sincere man he has become, I wished Yaqob could have seen how carefully he covered everything his father shares with classes, how very sweet he is.

Raja was a high school kid when we first met his family. 

His Papa Yaqob-ji taught me and later my friend Anne and I much about their work. 10 day of tying tighter and smaller knots.... Anne was a model student I got a bit wimpy as my fingers started to bruise but spending each day in the workshop and time with the whole family was magic.

Later as an older teenager there was a little tut tutting, Raja had met a girl he was desperately in love with..... after some time a love match was allowed and here they are today a great team Raja and his Robina looking after the family business and lined up to take it into the future.

What a great experience we had with them.

This is craft or textile or cultural tourism at its best I think.

• Long term relationship, 
• together we have developed an experience to suit our guests, 
• we are careful to compensate them for their time 
• and our guests also often happily raid their stash of products, purchasing directly from the makers.

"Helping the local economy" is a catch phrase our guests seem to love to embrace.

• They meet the maker,
•  experience all the work going into the items- this is something we end up having many conversations about in our travels. Until you try yourself you don't appreciate the skill and time embedded in objects. MADE BY HAND is something in the fast first world we have little experience of understanding of these days.
• this is FAIR TRADE and a great education to take home about why the whole fair trade movement is relevant. We have always had a mention of fair trade and its impact on our website and in our notes and our tour parameters from the start. IT DOES MAKE A  DIFFERENCE
• a piece you have made yourself or seen being made will hopefully stay on your shelf longer, be appreciated more.... not just more fast fashion.
• Connection to people in other places makes them real as people to the guest.... appreciation we are all the same- all want very similar things.... a fairer bite of the apple is a reasonable exception of everyone in our world.

Yesterday's talk the question of flying arose.

Googling it it says flying is about 2% of world emissions...something to think about for sure.

and in  some ways this all gets so complicated.

I work on the theory I am helping develop connections and understanding in the world and that is a good thing.

The first thing we give our guests is a cloth carry bag block printed with SAY NO TO PLASTICS.... 

little things build to big things is my hope.

I take DA's lead to heart.

Don't waste... appreciate

and try to foster that in our journeys.

I do hope yesterday's interaction was the start of a bigger conversation.
It is important to look at what you do and why.
it is positive for your life and the greater whole?
Can you make little changes that male positive impacts?

obsessing over things...

Getting there, getting there...
it really helps the days when I can escape computer/ office stuff and play in the workshop.

I have always obsessed over the way things are made, what to do with wastage... like since I was a kid and and started learning to make things.... so a 54+ year obsession.
Who imagines they would ever say that one day?

I was just talking to my niece, Rhiannon  she is such a vibrant young thing [ although I heard her saying something about being 30 and time passing] still a young thing to me.

We were talking about slow making, seasonality and the feel you put into your work.
Years ago I used to paint shirts and then my mate Dawn would stitch them and I would sell them in a gallery.
I was generally in a good mood when I worked as I loved playing with colour and creating.
I had very small children and was a single mother, so I worked from home.... some days were not so nice. I had a dear ex-husband who used to make life so difficult so there were moments I felt like death warmed over but a lot sadder.
To pick myself out of that I used to load the kids into the stroller and walk until I  could see sunshine and play in the park with them.
It worked, I did not have the option of rolling into a small ball which would have been my first choice and going mouldy.

Anyway one day I must have painted a shirt in this low mood, it was quite beautiful in a lovely red colour way.
I sent if off to my mate to stitch with others, it did not come back....nor did it come the next time...so I asked where was it?
She said that every time she picked it up, she felt really off and so put it back in the work basket.

HMMM so interesting.
From that point on I have been so careful of the frame of mind I make things in and when I was doing exhibition work I would lay my intent into pieces just as carefully as was laying in the materials I was using.

The whole ideas of affirmations and Positive thoughts was starting to be talked about way back then. It is good.... fake it until you make it.

Those days your mind wants to go round in thoughts that will take you down the drain,  Better to choose something positive and substitute everytime you catch yourself with a yukky thought cycling.
Might not fix a problem but does keep you in a better frame of mind, which I guess gives you a better chance of working through the problem in a constructive way.

Ahhhh, some days.
A bit of doing SOMETHING, anything really and the more physical the better is a great remedy.

 Yes I do love a good obsession.... making quilts and cosy jackets are up on the top of the list of things I like to make.
One of the few down sides about living in India is that it is rarely the weather for such things, but you out there might like them.

 I am not a hoarder, I can easily throw out rubbish but I am frugal and won't throw out stuff that can be used.
IT does call really loudly to me if it is sitting there to be used...I don't want to hoard.
That was fine in a 1 person studio, having a workshop where we produce mountains of work and so mountains of off-cuts that compulsion to be in "WASTE NOT, WANT NOT" mode all the time can cause a bit of pressure.
Today working through some samples in madder
a pillow, a quilt, a comfortable snugly Kimono shape jacket.....
We have one Ladies who also weaves- keep meaning to track her down and see if we can commission he to do some mats for us out of khadi waste.... like this one I have at home.

Happy days when I can work on using the scraps up.

Internation Women's Day

People are people the world over... We all have our foibles and most of us could leave more s**t behind, be a little kinder, a little more forgiving, a little less self centred, have a little empathy.
Society certainly has stacked the odds in favour of one of the sexes and the rest of us have had to struggle to balance the picture.
Come visit the developing world.... It is like stepping back in time many of the advances of the developed world have yet to hit
If you are reading this you probably live a long, long way from these backward places and may well think "What can I do?"
What happened in the developed world? As women went to work power slowly changed hands.
Look for fair trade, look for ethical production....
From where we sit we can see slow and steady change especially with our home based Stitching Ladies as over the years their regular work has become a stable component part of the family income.
Living in the village we have noticed a small but obvious increase in people's livelihoods and hand in hand with kids stay longer at school.
Government making more water outlets means women and girls need to spend less time carrying water,  affordable gas for cooking means less long hot hours collecting fuel to cook..... led need to bring girls out of school simply to adds hands to family survival.
A fairer wage for people, looking to pay the value for what you buy so that who made it have a livable income makes a huge difference.
When people have no opportunity to be treated fairly they have to take what they can get to try and feed themselves.... and spiral into debt and hardship.
Choose fair trade
Choose ethical production
Ask questions about anything you purchase is produced.
BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD.

I have been a bit rough since I got back from Oz, just exhaustion really but left me feeling flat.

The last 5 months building have been so hard- the noise. I have never been a fan of loud music back in the day when my mates and I went to see bands I would often end up outside across the road waiting from everyone as I could not stand the feel of the loud music in my chest. So building with its constant noise and banging and grinding etc nearly killed me. Dramatic but that is what it felt like.

Then my quick trip to Oz was great to see my peeps but being all running, running and running it was also exhausting, I really only just arrived when I was leaving again.

Arriving home we have so much on, so much to think through, new clients and new opportunities opening up and it all felt a bit much. My head filled up with a tired fog and hard to get going.

Slowly catching up, ticking something off a list does perk me up, making new list as we start to see which way our plans are moving.

Yesterday we had a staff party at our place- we cooked up a feast and everyone brought along a plate to contribute.

The day was brilliant, sun shone and we all enjoyed the opportunity to hang out.

 We are really blessed we have such a good team now….it has taken a lot of learning on our part and weeding and it is really paying off.

Feel very fond of our gang and proud of how they are developing in themselves and as a team.

We hang around in the garden, invitation was open to staff and kids [ it was thought we could have more fun if no husbands/wives to be shy in front of] everyone's behavior is above board and we interact like to big friendly group but we do all come from a village background which can quite limit interactions between non blood family members.... didn't want to step on anyone's toes!
The gents played cricket, the ladies went and hassled them for a minute then they end up playing chasing game down the back of our paddock!! so funny.
The Ladies wanted to dance but we didn't have music so Praveen was able to ring and get some guys with huge speakers to turn up in half and hour and we had dancing in the courtyard.

It was a scream.... gents dance together, Bulbir our very quiet cutting master becomes a dancing demon when music starts- we had to remove him from the dance floor a few times so the Ladies could enjoy.

Here you can see our beautiful Ladies and Praveen going around blessing them with money. Indian tradition brings good luck to be generous.

We have decided the Staff Party will be our new Workshop Tradition, it was so much fun. 

and has set the tone for our New Year very well.

Happy New Year to all of you, may it be full of fun, satisfaction, good work and good people.

It has been a while, as you can see from the little snippets on the blog, life is a blur.
It was wonderful to have the week away, a real change a pace and lots of time to talk and dream as well as the stimulation of the workshop and Avani as well.

 We get a bee in our bonnet and boil stuff at home, we lurk around indigo vats a lot getting our work done up in Bagru.
After last years winter season and huge orders and even more huge headaches with timeliness and quality control we have been itching to find a solution.
Earlier this year I went up to Delhi to the AIACA Greenmark launch and after a number on conversations, invitations and arriving home to pass the stories onto to Praveen, he said "Right that's it- we'll make a colour unit"
Only to need to say to once and we are off and running.
we're converting all our mucking around, our research and our new education into a workable system to use natural dye on a production scale for our workshop.
Rather exciting.

 Going to need a bigger tree to hang it all out in,
working on a reed bed water recycling unit for home, been itching to make one of these since Zac was born...28 years or so. In those days illegal I Gresford, now times are different and I live in India it will be the bees' knees!
Next will be working on solar for hot water, and solutions to cut heating costs for our dye pots.
Fun part is samples and experiments.
Why?
Are we nuts? so much effort, and expense getting it up and going...
We have avoided chemical dyes for a long time, the filth we see here just with their dispasal would put anyone off, let alone all you don't see with their manufacture.
we have tried to limit our colours to traditional dyes and block print.
Blockprint uses a synthetic binder, the one we buy is water based and solvent free, but really on the dodgy side if you think about it for too long.
Blockprinting water is minimal for clear up, and residue is little....  it is not good enough but as good as we can do at the moment.
we do have a lead on a binder produced by a GOTS certified group and a few ideas to experiment with for mordents, and resists and over dyeing printing.
Also going to trial a table doing batik....
tricky, want to do better, working on it.

Waste? you've seen my compulsion to stitch waste into things, cotton that is too small to use is going into the compost heap.
Just starting one to see if silk offcuts can be composted as well- they are brightly coloured and I hate to think about the dyes used to do that but good compost is a small miracle and can clean and lock up a lot of nasties and it could go onto shade trees etc.
kitchen scarps go home to the chooks....

We are making all types of cloth bags and trying to get staff to remember them when they go shopping so the can say no to plastic!!
A bit of nagging on my part helps.

A bit of thinking and planning all these things are possible, an effort in your world just working on what is in front of you and think of the major changes it would bring to our world.
Got to give it a go!

This is a random picture from the Alhambra, so looking forward to next year's "Moorish Delights of Andalusia and Morocco" the tiling always makes me gasp and I have been reading a little on how spectacular the maths is that goes with it- patterns and repeating and permutations- nerd stuff but I just want to see if I can spot the myriad of variations.

good excuse to walk around and drool.

 

I am settling down again, old lady insomnia some nights and I can be quite rabid, thinking about how and what to do next.

It is exciting but exhausting...practicing sleeping through the night.

So much to do

such fun to be in that situation.

Sunday again

I think the only way I keep track of time is noticing the Sundays as I  am at the workshop again.
I had a date with indigo, the henna leaves have been cooked but had to put it off until this afternoon....
Workshop again.
We work like crazy but just can't get far enough ahead... So Bulbir my pattern guy and I are in for half day, the builders are here for full day.
I am perched on a stool in the corner of our lovely, freshly renovated cutting room, extra fans installed make a nice breeze and typing on my phone.
If I don't go upstairs and turn the computer on, perhaps I am not so much here.
Samples are for Anjelms... So looking forward to seeing this all come together. It is going to be a strong collection. Keep your eye on her. It is a little last minute but we've got set dates now for next range so there is not the pressure and she will be ready to start chasing wholesale. Contact her if you are interested.
We've stitched for Gaelle for quiet a few years now, really appreciate a kindred soul around fair trade, sustainable production and heritage techniques and her warmth and encouragement. She is such a hard working member of her community. She sets the design agenda... we support with ideas on how to bring it off.
This week has been busy.
Got off the train from holiday.... all 1 free day of it ! At 6.00am and was in the workshop by 8.00am!
My grandmother Chalton was great on bon mot and used to say "no rest for the wicked" wish I could remember what I did, and do hope it was fun because I am certainly running double time now.
NAN C always made things fun. Even as a little kid if she wanted you to stay clean while she got ready to go out, she would challenge you to a statue contest. Just how long before you move?
I really appreciated her kindness in my life ( better than the slap I would have got at home (: ) and it taught me to look for fun as an approach. So we work incredibly hard but Praveen and I have a lot if laughs along the way and generally instil that into our gang. Some days a strict boss needs to growl but generally not often. Yeh

I have been sort of vague for a while over enquiries for workshops with us, interest is increasing so we spent time this week writing up some offerings.
Look at the studio link on our websites.  Got a few more ideas to add in as I sort out photos and info sheets.... must have been so, so wicked haha!
Pricing it is so hard... there are materials to cover, easy enough but I also have to allow for my time and staff time pulled from other jobs.... It adds up a bit but I think it is fair.
I know we offer a good experience to people and they are welcome to hang around and soak up the ambience. Our workshop is a great place to sit in the corner and fiddle and watch everything happening.
I hope to have more time for that one day. Haha.

Machine Lady

We just sent our second machine home with a woman yesterday.
In the middle of a very busy day
And a lot of stress due to the cutting guy not keeping his pattern info up to date so a few random things cropping up on work... indigo people running late.... Weaver going a bit rogue with two and a half thousand metres of cloth...leaving us scrambling to see if we can make it suit. Gggggrrrrrrr in other words

There was this gem

So I am taking a moment to re-live it.
Mrs L  spent 2 weeks in the workshop training on the machine a while ago.... then we were away.. she was sick... we were away... yesterday was the first day our stars aligned and we could hand the machine over and send her home with a big bag of sari yarn to assemble.
She is a little shy and always quiet when at the workshop, sweet though.
Yesterday she was bold and grabbed our hand to say thank you for the opportunity.
I almost cried. I am relieved to have another person on machine, elated it is a woman but really was just rushing through a busy day.
I didn't really ever think about how it might be at the other end.
Think if you become a widow with 3 kids... you have a supportive family and roof over your head but there is no government help for you, your in laws work like crazy to keep their kids in school etc.... how difficult to make ends meet.
3 small kids, needing to be at home to look after then and so few job opportunities especially home based.
I've been there but had the back up of a meagre govt pension ....
Anyway I think it brought a bright light to her day. It definitely did for Praveen and I. 
Happy days.
Makes me hope we may have participated in a butterfly effect moment.

Actually if you move past the stress factors and just use them as opportunities to improve the system ( might need to suggest this to myself a number more times yet!)

It was a pretty amazing day really.
--Our wonderful volunteer was creating more order and wonderfulness and then was like a kid in a chocolate factory raiding the black silk basics we used in our fashion parade.
--Friends visited from France and spent the day playing blockprint and raiding the sari stash....repaid with an impromptu exhibition of the beautiful work created from their last raid of the sari stash.
--Stitching Ladies came through
--Met a woman who has moved into the other end of our village onto her grandma's farm wanting to set up a community centre focusing on sustainable practices and training centre for locals. Float idea of organics, recycling, income generation. How cool is that?
Hmmm mm warm and fuzzies to you.

Back in the fast lane

I hope you can piece together our journey around Ghana from all the pictures from Instagram that pop up... I try to spot the highlights for you.
Obviously there is a lot I miss.... you will find more pictures on our FB page for Creative Arts Safaris and other things you just have to be there. Haha.
I am home and it is crazy again... yet if I take a few moments such lovely memories surface.
The list of wonderful people we met is long.
I was greatly inspired by Ibrahim up towards Bolgatanga. We stayed in his Eco-lodge and learnt about the way he is interacting with his community,  developing market gardening which leads to more nutritional food, bee keeping and job creation at his thatched roof mud houses for guests.
Huge undertaking done with such commitment.
Finally got to meet up with some of the team at Global Mamas another group I have admired from afar for many years.
I realised our tours are so much about fair trade.... why .... well because of the ethics and also generally these places are where the best stuff is to be found. Must be the seasoning it with love. 
Life is as wonderful if you let it be. Open up and embrace new experiences. Support the world you want to live in by making choices that favour it. Be it in your thoughts. Your words or your actions. You might be one small person but the power of your imagination and your dollar is mighty. Vote with it every day.

And now home again and into workshop madness. 
By now you will have noticed our big news. We are part of an exhibition at Mumbai Fashion Week showing our recycled sari garments. Amazing opportunity that was offered to us and so pleased to be lining up with product that ticks the box for fair trade,  social enterprise, sustainable.... you know all the good stuff and I think our stuff is pretty luscious as well... so add esthetically pleasing?
Hmmm some days are amazing.

Happy New Year

2016 was  cracker in many ways.
Some great and some so difficult.
I hope we have passed the testing ones and can just get on with life.
As you know we stitch and we tour.
It started out touring was our bread and butter and stitching a labour of love on the side -a side that took up a huge amount of time !!
This last year has seen that definitely change.
Stitching is still a labour of love but now it is self-supporting and we have high hopes of a proper wage for us... although we can see we need more space so will need to invest in a bigger stitching room or look for a new location altogether. Decisions to agonize over. Aren't we lucky?

and new things are happening....just waiting until we can go crazy and tell everyone!

You get eye candy in the Instagram images that pop up ...so stay tuned.

 

 We were so lucky to have volunteers from the UK join us for a week- as a newish business and growing we are still struggling to create new and useful systems to make everything run smoothly.

We do keep an eye out for our gang like family but in reality we are a business and we have been working very hard to grow our workshop staff up to be professional in looking after their jobs here in the workshop.

We are based in rural Rajasthan, our younger members of staff went to year 10 at school, older had less opportunity in most instances. In our part of India most people grow in a joint family situation- generally the head of the family organizes everything and everyone else just follows along.  It can tend to be that way at the workshop....no one wants to think something through or follow the procedure set down, just go and ask Madame, yet again how to do it!!!

I have been working very carefully to try and document procedures, set up supporting info to help people [recognize not everyone can follow up map so think of creative ways to do this] and then grumble VERY LOUDLY when someone tries to ask yet again something they can look up and confirm. Praveen laughed when I read this to him and got to the very loudly part.

It is starting to work.

Back to our volunteers- Sophie and Owen, it took nearly a week of head scratching and they squeezed this amazing document out of excel that calculates, cross references and updates all this info for production in the machine room end and then a new one that lets us track inventory.

Something that might sound very boring but I know the amount of brain squeezing it would have taken me and it is a thing of beauty.

Thank you very much S & O

Meanwhile Creative Arts Safaris has not taken a backseat.
It is our first baby, we have been a little distracted with the newest one but many of our guests have put up such a squawk on the first child's behalf that we have been paying it plenty of attention too.
I had wondered if perhaps CAS' time was going to pass but since having that thought/question we have had such encouragement to develop new ideas... It seems if you ask a question- just put it out there- the Universe will supply and answer- you just need to take notice and act.

We love our tours, so it has been easy to contemplate new ideas....and at the same time a challenge to fit it all in... I like to do a newsletter for ready over New Year's ... it is the time I like to look forward to what next.

It took a bit of groaning at me on my part, but I got there. Take a look.

Praveen and I had planned to go and do a reccy in Ethiopia at this time but they have been having problems and need to sort out a few things politically. So far my contacts are hopeful it will sort out without going crazy. I hope so.

It seemed frustrating at the time I had to change my mind but with the thing I can't mention cropping up and how busy we are in general I am relieved..... might head that way in May....if we have time.

So tours.... we have a complete and busy lap of Gujarat as our new offering. The far west is where people tend to concentrate and it is ssssoooooo rich but there is a lot more to see than just over there and I think we have a really good mix.

Taking Ahmedabad and Poshina out of our Rajasthan Tour meant we had time to fit other things in.... so excited- we know  a great women's co-op out in the middle of know where north Rajasthan close enough to a lovely old fort we love to visit, so happy to be able to be heading that way...and then there are the felt makers of Tonk again interesting and off the beaten track. We do love a good outing.

 

Much to look forward to in 2017- may yours bring you adventure, joy and satisfaction.

x

 

Udayancare Skill Centre

I am up in Delhi.... paperwork stuff and a day free to visit my friend Isabelle and the girls of Udayancare Skill Centre.
A treat for me to see how Cinderella is going. She is the young women who received training in block printing and now has come home to the Skill Centre to share her skills with the children.
Why teach crafts to children?
Udayancare has worked hard for many years to give orphans a chance at a better life through warm, nurturing homes and quality educational opportunities. 
Not everyone is able to excel educationally.... but they can excel at life.
The Skill Centre is another opportunity.
Arts and crafts are good for
- problem solving
- creative thinking.... coming up with something new
- de-stressing .... don't we need that in this busy world
- income source
- team building... negotiating within the group who does what when working on group projects
- fine motor dexterity.... some of the children have physically disabilities
- helping move forward from the darkness of a hard start in life.
Lots and lots of things.

Udayancare also work with disadvantaged women in the local area teaching machine skills, crafts, Hin did and English language and literacy....many things as a way for them to improve their life and income.

Why am I telling you all this?
Because I would like to encourage anyone coming to India with teaching skills in arts,  crafts , photography.... you get the idea... or are you good on working on writing up a brief detailing the work of the project... helping develop training packages to help older girls and local women get work ready to find decent jobs.... help set up a database of contacts.... the list of jobs is endless anyone wanting to be helpful will find a niche.
So give a day or few and share your skills, teach some kids, help document the project.
Contact me I'll connect you up to a fantastic experience.

Thinking of my gang back home and girls and education in general I visited Udayancare HQ this morning to meet the dynamo Keiren who started the organization... to learn about their Shalini Initiative. It is a programme to foster further education for girls from a disadvantaged background.
They work in a number of locals  with financial assistance for senior school or college fees, monthly seminars for personal development, academic and computer skills development. General support to increase girl's educational opportunities.
There is a lot to look into and one day we hope to open a chapter in our area.
So much to dream about.
So much to do.