two months is a long time to be out in the sun, given that 2 weeks in Australian sunshine is reputedly equivalent to about 25 years under museum conditions
so
as i'm away from home again [soon] for a while
and therefore shall not be able to sneekpeek inside the metal box
it seemed a good time to [once again] put some cloth to the test
the two pieces on the left are commercially produced cottons, the third from left is eucalyptus-dyed milkymerino, the four on the right snippets of silk dyed using the more delicate 'northern' plants

they are half in, half out of the box

assuming no birds try to steal them
or helpful family members decide to move them under cover

i shall open the box when i return home in November
and publish the results on these pages

this is quite funny [thanks Asa]
and my French friends may find themselves scratching their heads
as
according to the Sydney Morning Herald
La Rochelle is now in Paris
and apparently i was doing some "launching".

not exactly...
just showing some frocks
which featured Milkymerino
along with beautiful silk

off to Switzerland now
i'll leave you with this lovely cauldron
found at the British Museum

i pasted this image together from 3 taken in the gloom of the wee small hours last night
freshly dyed cloth [milkymerino TM]
for extensions to parts of the mens costumes for 'breathe'
one of the hardest things for me is to cut into a piece of cloth like this
because
for me it's a kind of map
of the day
of the plants
of the bio-region where i gathered the windfalls
[or, in this instance, did some community pruning
to save pedestrians from getting wet hair while pootling along the sidewalk
under a low-hanging eucalypt]

which is why i prefer to make things in white/greige and dye them after the last stitch has been inserted
although
since attending a Dorothy Caldwell masterclass some years back
i have also been piecing smaller cloths together
[but i still can't bring myself to cut or shape them]

the mention of maps brings me to thoughts of Orange
as in the Orange Fibre Forum
where i will be giving a class next month

Janet de Boer [the creator of TAFTA, editor of 100 issues of its splendid magazine and fearless leader of over 20 years' worth of Fibre Forums]
kindly paved the way for me to show an exhibition of my work at the Orange Regional Gallery
which will open on April 1 and run to May 6

the exhibition is called
the windFallMaps
[which will also travel to Surface Design this year to be shown at their conference]


so
i'd like to publicly thank Janet for her support, enthusiasm and mentorship over the years.
she was one of the first to publish my writing
gave me my first 'big' teaching opportunities
and has been hugely generous in drawing attention to my various activities

her creation of the amazing textile community that has met through Forums
along with her boundless pastoral care [i'm but one of the many who has benefited]
is just astonishing.

Janet dear, i dips me lid.

it's good to be back in the dance studio
working on 'breathe' for Leigh Warren & Dancers
with Frances Rings as choreographer

the costumes will be made from silk and wool and Milkymerino TM

if you're in Adelaide for Womad on the second weekend of March
you can see the production at 9 pm on the Saturday
8.30 on the Sunday

while most folks are having a bit of a rest i'm enjoying being at home for a change