Break Time!

I'm running vastly behind in posts, as well as in life. The Halifax Crafters was a huge success - so huge i was not mentally prepared for it! I'll try and post about it soon - BUT I've been meaning to post about a much needed break that I took just before the craft fair when the Khyber held its night Flea Market and my room mate and i 'got our nails did'

look how cute those bears are! Susan opted to these cute little guys and a strawberry on her middle finger....cuz she's bad - a$$. While I settled for this sweetly naughty cupcake combination. 

The night was capped off by a much deserved super packed dance party where i finally had a good reason to wear my Goodnight Day halter like it was no big thing. 

*I'm having trouble formatting pictures today!

Granny Power.

I've been making these poaches out of fabric samples I dyed back in school. These are the two prototypes I've made for my own use.  The green one I made while I was still in Ontario and have been toting around with me ever since, its just the right size to keep a knitting or embroidery project from tangling up in my Fieldguided tote that i'm currently inseparable from. 

The pink one is newer and made larger specifically to fit even my largest text book so that i can lug it around without worry of getting the covers bent or dirty. The fabric on that one is dip dyed, a process which I vastly under rated while i was in school and never returned to it after we learnt it. But with the growing amount of skilled hand dyeing out there in the crafting world its exciting to get back into doing something that is so simple and immediately rewarding.

Working in our living room all day makes me so happy. I'm surrounded by the incredible fusion of my roomie's and my most prized possessions. This almost 3x4' poster was made by Allyson Mitchell for a group show i curated while she was putting up her own work at the Khyber. I had the nerve to ask if i could keep it after my show was threw! I'm so glad I did. It's made of MAC TAC and has Sasquatch women on it!! Coming home to Halifax this was one of the things I was the most excited to liberate from stuffy packing and add to the glory that is our modern-granny living-room.

Nice Days.

The weather ing HFX has been kind and inspiring. A light sweater and a sweet blazer will do most days, and since a recent V.V. trip  won me the nicest pair of perfect fitting slacks I've ever owned, I'm pretty excited to continue with light fall attire.

In such a climate its hard to think that winter and Christmas are approaching, BUT 'tis the season and thus I am making a few wee christmas ornaments for the HFX crafters Yule Tide Cheer show.

The nice weather inspired some other projects yesterday as well including lots of baking and soup making (with the bones from a lovely roast chicken dinner - which to date is still my favorite single lady meal....if your going to cook for one you may as well make it last and treat yourself well!)

Care packages were made up in thanks for good deeds done by close friends. And my roommate and i entertained the usual furry guests.

Humble Hunter

First of all: Wow! This, like so many of Kate's projects, blows me away. And second of all: I'm feeling a little famous having a wee creation sneak onto the cover of the beautiful photo look book she featured on her blog today.

Kate has an unbelievable knack for going above and beyond for all assignments school - and life - sends her way.

Via Kate the Hunter

Exhibition: India Flint's "Mapping Country"

Visiting artist India Flint takes the opportunity to show the public some of her work while in Canada to  teach a workshop on natural dyes through NSCAD's Extended Studies.

Mapping Country

November 1 - 12, 2011

Anna Leonowens Gallery1891 Granville Street

Opening Reception Monday October 31st at 5:30PM

Gallery 3 

 "India Flint works with windfall leaves, cloth and stitch to make pieced textile works in which the colour is printed directly onto the cloth from the leaf. Flint explains:

No toxic adjuncts are used in this process that relies on variables such as the water used to make up the dye bath, the composition of the dye vessel, the plant material employed and the responsiveness of the fibre to generate colour on the cloth. Each dyed fragment involves a walk; maybe through woods and forests, fields and paddocks, along rivers and by the sea or through suburbs and cities. Windfall leaves are collected at previously determined trig points such as the call of a bird, the end of a verse of song in my head or the simple counting of steps. The pieces are documents of place; maps and landscape ‘drawings’ formed through the application of colour derived from the land."

Via Anna Leonowens

A Very Kind Morning

A hot bath, the last of the raspberry Jam, a zine picked up at the Zine Fair and City mail dilivered in person to our mailbox. No adress needed.

City Mail is definitely the neatest Halifax born idea since Burrito Bike. (you could order cheap delicious burrito's till 2 am on saturdays delivered on bicycle by dear friends or familiar strangers.) Burrito Bike has since moved on with it's creators to select areas of Toronto. But City mails is still going strong despite its birth mother moving on to Sackville New Brunswick.

You can drop vaguely addressed envelopes off in special post boxes at select locations and a very diligent post lady will get it to the recipient on bicycle, no postage necessary.

Home sweet home

I moved back to Halifax a month and a half ago and had a lovely time scraping wallpaper layered in years of paint from the walls of my new room. I Painted it a bright buttery yellow to make up for the long dark winters I'm so accustomed to here on the east coast.

After  visit to the annual Pop Explosion Zine fair  I was inspired to run home and set up the corner of my room intended for drawing and illustration attempts. Its time to take my self a little more seriously....and designated, inspiring spaces -however small - are a huge help!

Golden Rod from Needham Park.

When i drove from Ontario to Nova Scotia I could see the goldenrod along the highway as it seemed to pass through seasons from summers bright early blooms to falls fading flowers as we got closer to the coast. When i arrived and talked to a few wild flower enthusiasts I found that it had bloomed early and quickly went out to gather what little i could salvage before it was gone entirely.

 I don't know if it was the lackluster blooms or the silks less absorbent qualities but the resulting dye bath was a soft yellow green this time rather than the bright limes i've gotten used to.

but it was beautiful none the less and as always it's part of the magic of natural dying. It might also be that part of the universe that is trying to finally tell me to reign in the bright colors and temper my pallet.

I did a few simple post mordant tests but in the end stuck with the muted yellow-green for the main silk piece. It will likely become a scarf with a simple rolled edge.