apron and pockets

I really really need to remember to take before pictures!!

I started this apron in 2010 after the workshop with India Flint in Switzerland. It was a way to mark the stepping into the botanical dyeing world. I would adorn this while doing any dye work. Its kind of my uniform I suppose. It is also my first, very experimental piece of a completely handmade garment.

Last year, I made a few changes to it buy adding an opening to tie up where previously there was none. (Excitement of the making can often distract from thinking of functionality).

Recently I have felt the need for more pockets and again a better, easier way of wearing it.
So. I added extra panels on the sides, strips to tie at the back nicely, an extra length on the back for not particular reason, and of course, pockets. And although I am sure it will keep evolving, I am quite pleased with it as it is now.

It seemed appropriate to add a piece from the workshop that inspired the apron. This one is a grape leaf I think.

Wool pocket with Eucalyptus and plum cherry print. 

The shirt I am wearing underneath is one of my favourite plain tunic shirts. Last December it started to look a little too plain. And extreme boredom caused me to pick it up and add some stitched details to it as well as darts on the front and back. How the fact that it was one size too big, had eluded me, I have no idea.

pointy pencils

I havent owned a pencil sharpener in.... I don't even remember how long!
And I have been thinking of and forgetting to buy one for the last few weeks.
Finally fed up of blunt pencils, I decide to go old school. Sharpening pencils with a cutter blade!
Aah! The joy of pointy pencil leads!

(I really should have taken a 'before' picture, shouldn't I?)

This activity is henceforth added to my list of calming, meditative things to do.

tales of the cloth crazy

Earlier in the year, I had realised that I wanted to incorporate more fabrics found, saved, pre-owned or waste thus up-cycling them, especially cloths with stories, into Entanglewood's products. As much as I love making my own eco-printed ones, I have always loved cloth. Considering the issues with textile waste and also the amazing fabrics already out there, this seems like a sensible step to me. I hope my application of such fabrics encourages others to consider the potential in textiles found, passed on or even lying dormant in one's wardrobe. Those that hold a memory or tell a story are especially worth salvaging.

Needless to say I am going a little Cloth Crazy, searching for used fabrics, offcuts, old garments etc. Which, by the way, is kind-of amazing! Although a few days ago while 'playing around with ideas, I had fabrics coming out of my ears!

 I found a source for to-be-recycled fabrics and oh, how could I resist these...

Quite delightfully, I discovered Orimono Blue at the Selvedge Spring Fair. Orimono Blue sells fabric pieces, kimonos, boro-boro textiles and beautiful objects thoughtfully sourced at Japan's flea markets.
And again, I could not resist the beautiful indigo piece and this gorgeous silk in rusty colour, all naturally dyed and complete with the Japanese newspaper wrapping!

www.orimonoblue.com

Others of my kind, the fabric lovers, will know that a good bargain on off-cuts and good cloth cannot be resisted. These days linen is having an effect on me. The bottom fabric is beautiful linen-wool end-of-roll piece, the middle is a linen off-cut. But the top fabric here is not a linen nor an off-cut though it deceptively looks like it. 

It is indeed Horse Hair! And I am so pleasantly surprised and glad to have found it, I just had to get it. Cannot wait to experiment on it! I wonder if it will behave like wool?

A small collection is slowly building up of old saris from my mum and aunts, fabrics I had purchased when studying Fashion in India since 2002 (see, this goes back a long time), also borders I have collected over the years. In the image here is a silk with elephant print bought from Rajasthan 2010, and the lilac satin from Mumbai 2005(?). Just because I liked them. 

And I have been working on incorporating these. Here's a sneak peek at the experiment for a new product.

 

Perhaps you would like to see the real thing at one of my events in the next few weeks...

I am back at Spitalfields market, London on 20th April, 2013

But the one I am really looking forward to is the Morden Hall Country Show, 4, 5, 6th May, 2013. This is my first country show and there seem to be exciting entertaining events like birds of prey, re-enactments and craft demonstrations. 

http://www.oakleighfairs.co.uk/morden/

And I will be returning for Made in Clerkenwell Summer from May16-19, 2013 at Craft Central, London

http://craftcentral.org.uk/summer2013

You can keep up to date by following my Facebook Page,
www.facebook.com/Entanglewood

so many books....

I recently indulged in some books from the internet. I must say the feeling of a bookstore filled with the smell of the pages and these days also accompanied by the aroma of coffee is unbeatable. However, I do relish the surprise and exhilaration of opening a package, much awaited and finally being able to hold the book only seen in pictures before, in a physical form and that feeling of content when the condition of the books is indeed 'very good'.

I am also pleasantly feeling smug about my steadily growing book collection regarding plants and happy to report that some of them are surprise charity shop finds.

And this one has been lurking around in my 'Wish list' for quite some time. I am so excited to finally get  it. Cannot wait to read through it. A quick flick has revealed intriguing paragraph tittles like Druid tree lore, Herbcraft, Alchemy as medicine... Oh my!

And in the meanwhile, I still need to read through my bedside pile... 

found old words

I used to write in a diary regularly. And then not so regularly. And then rarely.
The other day I was going through my diary and, mixed with some nostalgia, experiencing the strange sense of a third person's perspective that comes when one looks back on one's own thought in the past and wonders 'what was I thinking?' in not just a rhetorical way. I thought it would be interesting to share some diary entries when I am struggling for blogging topics. This is the one that fascinated me the most. It took me a while to remember what I was writing about. Anyone want to take any guesses?

June 8, 2012
"When one is tiny, miniscule in the greater scale of things, what moves immensely fast seems slow. Great distances covered by mighty things appear very close. When one is so tiny, far away things are invisible, out of sight. such is the delusion of reality, of perception."

Wishes, Resolutions, Plans

Today, finally, feels like the day to gear up and get on with it. Holidays, celebrations, rest, laziness, New year's blues and procrastinations are over. Today is the first constructive day in attempting to get back some normality and routine. I have been been in a contemplating mode and have decided on things I need to work on. And the new years just happened to be around.  So I thought I'd start with listing down some of the  wishes, resolutions, plans and hopes I have for this year.

Blog More.
Previously I would keep waiting for something wise and meaningful to spring to mind or something I could label worthwhile. But this meant I wouldn't blog for months and some potential amazing thoughts were never shared. This year I want to be more willing to share the mundane. I'll try to keep it short, don't worry.

Follow my heart and open my mind.
Lately I have been struggling to come up with ideas and feel like me creative box is empty. But I realised that
this is because I am trying to focus so hard with squinted eyes that my vision is narrowed preventing me from seeing whats around and enjoying it. So step 1 to correct this - open my eyes, heart and mind.
 Bringing back the creative sparkle is a healing process. It takes time.

Do more.
So many things I think of doing but don't. For reasons un-understood and probably not worth mentioning. I hope to do more of the things I think to do.

Plan my time better.

Find ways to keep up a creative stimulus. And keep it up.

Use the things I have first before buying new ones.

Exercise. Really.

Try more plants to dye.

Keep a sketchbook and/or journal and actually use them.

Write more.

See the Northern Lights.

Mend and sew and make.

Give myself at least 2 project/challenges and see them through.

Get my driver's license. 

I think that is quite enough for the time being although there are more. Looks like a busy year ahead of me.
Happy 2013!

Wovember

This Month people are talking about Movember (a month for mustaches) but not many people know that it is also Wovember. A month to show appreciation and celebrate wool and all its awesome qualities. Don't believe me? check http://wovember.com/about/
I have no intention what-soever of growing a mustache but for someone who has been consistently falling in love with wool this year, it just seems wrong to not mark this month with something woolly. So I have given myself a little project. I bought 2 jumpers. 1 from a high street shop and the other from a vintage stall at Spitalfields Market. Both 100% wool of course.

 My project, the vintage jumper has been used before obviously, and came with some holes. It is a beautiful aran style chunky knit (made in Scotland) and had sleeves much too large for me, probably being a Mens jumper.

So I first narrowed the sleeves, with woolen thread, all the while being very skeptical of the knitted edges coming loose once trimmed. I had ordered my first felting needle and it arrived just in time for me to embrace the most amazing quality of wool! I felted the loose ends into the new seam with the needle which worked beautifully.

The holes were mended with Rowan Tweed yarn which I am absolutely in love with at the moment. Bonus points for being 100% wool and having some lovely colours!

I also have ordered various wool fleece to finally try my hand at proper (or experimental) felting. What better time to do so then Wovember! In the meanwhile I spotted a tiny hole in my hat.  Can you spot it?

It was promptly and elaborately dealt with. With Rowan Tweed yarn again. I already have 8 colours and I don't even knit! I find other uses for it.

And finally, to end Wovember, I am looking forward to exhibiting again at Made in Clerkenwell Open Studios this weekend. 2 buildings, 100 designers, 22-25th November 2012! Pop by to see some amazing handmade products and meeting some very talented Designers-makers. And not to mention a brilliant place for Christmas shopping! 

I will be in unit 211, 2nd Floor in the Clerkenwell Green building, EC1R 0DX.