wet

Things to do when you've got rainy weather on your hands:

1. Make a cushion cover. This one is screen printed and sewn by me. You can't tell in my hopeless photograph but it has a black cotton back to it which gives it a nicer balance than just the all-over natural cotton look.

2. Make a pear tart. With pastry from scratch (I think it's a first for me). We used a combo of the pastry recipe from here and the pear and fragipane tart filling from here. This would be one of my last meals/things to eat on earth if I had to choose. Tons of butter but as we all know that's why it tastes so good.

repeat

The resulting print: 3 colour repeat screen print on calico of my slightly deco influenced flower motif. Do I have table envy of what after using that lovely long one again at I&S? Try as I might I can't replicate this amazing set up at home.

Thanks again to the lovely women of Harvest Textiles - the workshop was fab. There was such a lovely buzz around the studio yesterday. Very inspiring!

a little bit deco

My design prep for a 3-colour repeat screen printing workshop with Harvest Textiles at I&S studios tomorrow. I think I'm going to use this motif I designed and put together using luscious black sumi ink. The repeat you can see in the background is what it looked like once I scanned it into Photoshop and played with the colour. I wanted to get an idea of how it might look in repeat before I committed to it big time on fabric. I'll be adding one more colour to the mix. Should be so much fun!

all things blossom-like

And this is what the block printed succulent blossom fabric was used for - pajama pants. And not even for me I might add.

Speaking of succulents, I was mezmerised by the light and shadow play on my living room wall a few mornings ago. Dried succulent flowers (a different kind to those in the pjs) were responsible for the lovely shadows. Don't you just love autumn light?

succulent blossom en masse

It's really interesting how doing something repetitive for a long period of time can be strangely meditative. And I think it has to do with your frame of mind at the time and how you choose to see the task. This 1.7 x 1.2m piece of light-weight cotton fabric took me hours to block print my succulent blossom design yesterday afternoon, but oddly enough I enjoyed it. I didn't focus on my aching arms or the time. Instead I just went with the flow. I thought I might stop half way through and do the rest today but once I got into the rhythm it was strangely addictive. And moving about the fabric also kept me warm when I knew the room was becoming chilly. The hardest part was navigating a hungry cat who kept getting under foot for about the last 40 mins.

Then I baked an apple cake and had a glass of red as a little reward.

a womb/kyoto loveliness

I'm starting to make a list of my favourite places to visit when I go back to Kyoto later this year. One place I adored and became a regular of was A Womb on the north eastern side of the city. It's incredible and not at all womb-like. In fact the interior is stark and modern but at the same time also incredibly serene. They serve sushi like you've never ever experienced anywhere else. It's so gorgeous to look at and presented like artwork. One time they made me and my guest a special dessert that was a landscape of the most incredibly delicious and beautiful sweet morsels.

I'll be heading there for the sushi kaiseki.

They also have a blog.

iro iro

The paper art animation in this video for Regina Spektor's song Samson is so exquisite it makes my eyes hurt.


reading: Colum McCann's collection of short stories - Fishing in the Sloe-Black River (1998)

doing: sumi ink drawings; planting out the autumn vegie patch; early morning walks; planning a trip to Kyoto

seeing: the BSG Works on Paper exhibition

watching: Grand Designs; Who do you think you are; The Good Wife

listening: everything but the girl - And I miss you (Like the deserts miss the rain) And I miss you (Like the deserts miss the rain)

eating: slow cooked lamb stews; savoury tarts; blue brie

drinking: sangiovese; hot chocolate

thinking about: wallpapering the wall behind our bed and putting in a pretty pendant light