August TIF

The August TIF and just in the nick of time. The challenge posed for August was Balance.
I think one is constantly challenged by the need to balance things and there are no formulas.
In my explorations this month I've represented the fact that images which are symmetrical like the form on the right hand page are more easily balanced and symmetry is what we gravitate towards whereas asymmetry balance is more difficult to achieve- the image on the left hand page is an attempt at achieving asymmetrical balance.

Retail Therapy of the Crafty kind

Working on various projects had me cooped up in the house for too long and I needed a change of surroundings to simply chill out for a bit and the Dastkar Nature Bazaar provided just that.
A society for crafts and craftspeople Dastkar is a registered society that aims at improving the economic status of craftspeople, thereby promoting the survival of traditional crafts. It was founded in 1981 by six women, who had worked in the craft and development sector.
Some of what caught my eye.


Dried gourds as lampshades. Quite pretty when lit up.

Some crafts people I was seeing for the first time like this stall which had masses of oxidised silver charms and beads wrapped and macramed into jewellery. I saw some girls getting their hair twined with thread. Wonder if they got bells and charms dangling at the end.

Mirror work embroidery from western India.

Colied grass baskets and containers from Bihar

Applique from Orissa.This was a fairly large hanging.

I go each year to buy sarees for my mother and I bought a little elephant wind chime/hanging/bell thingy, very cute. Incidentally the theme for the bazaar this year was the elephant.

The bazaar is on until the 1st of Sep, 10am to 7pm. The Naga lady has some bead necklaces which are very tempting, maybe I'll go back and go overboard and give Visa/Mastercard some copy for their next priceless advertisement.

Jewellery, sarees, & everything in sight - Rs.75,000

Twined and charm laden extreme hairdo - Rs.5,000

Expression on husband's face - Priceless

(The joke would be on me if R didn't recognise me with my extreme hippy hairdo but then again...)

The Idan Raichel Project "Out of the Depths" & Architecture in Helsinki - Like it or Not

Thank-you Sophie for the youtube link.Wonderful music to start the week with.Wonder what the effect of such soulful music will have on my work?



Architecture in Helsinki - Like It Or Not from helsinkids on Vimeo.

Now this one is more relevant to my blog - visually speaking.Came across it on Tonya's blog and like she suggests I turned down the volume to mute because Architecture in Helsinki by Helsinkids is not my type of music but the animated embroidery is fantastic.

Lambanification of the Biscornu

In March this year I conducted a workshop "Folk Expressions" in Lambani embroidery at NIFT Bangalore for their cluster developement project and the form of the biscornu became central to my explorations in product diversification.
I got some pictures a couple of days back so I thought I'd share them with you.(Yeah, yeah I know its August).


That's a decorative hanging. Decorated with tassels and cowrie shells, so typical of Lambani embroidery.

Biscornu in different sizes.Filled with polyfil they make soft, beautiful cushions and conversation pieces.

The Lambani favour bright colours and high contrast.The women who embroidered these pieces were pretty much given a free hand in the choice of colours and they did a great job. They have a great instinct for colour.

Here's one intended as a floor cushion. I could do with a couple.

Have a super weekend.

TAST - Cross stitch

Web Wanderings # 3 - Flag Book

Instead of working on the August TIF and TAST -Cross stitch I have been wandering the web and I've been wowed, I think that's a word - in any case it describes my awe when I discovered a Flag Book and thanks to Google( what would we do without google - no I'm getting paid for this line) I was further shocked and awed by all the creativity shown with Flag Books.

This fabulous example of a flag book by Cristina Montejo - Alligator Hunt is her first attempt at a flag book!

Now if you want to make a flag book , you'll find instructions here.

Mera Bharath Mahan

Happy Independence Day.

Web Wanderings # 2 - Tifaifai

I'd seen visuals of Hawaian quilts but I wasn't aware of the term Tifaifai. While perusing blogs this afternoon I came across the Pomegranate Tifaifai which Dijanne Cevaal is in the process of creating, this prompted me to wander the web in search of Tifaifai.

This is some of what I found.

A “tifaifai” (pronounced: tea-fae-fae) is the Tahitian version of a quilt and is an integral part of Polynesia's home and heritage. The tifaifai is similar to a quilt in that the patterns are appliquéd to a background fabric. Since the climate in Tahiti remains temperate year round, tifaifai are made from lightweight fabric (as opposed to heavy quilt designs) that is intricately appliquéd and hemmed around the edges.

The history of the tifaifai is not entirely clear, but its roots have been traced to the arrival of missionaries in the late 1700's. During that time, sailors from the Dutch East India Company allegedly wooed young Tahitian women with Scherenschnitte, a signature pattern made by folding paper in eighths, then diagonally to make a triangle. Next, certain areas of the triangle would be cut (or torn) to create a snowflake pattern when unfolded, and given to the young girl as a memento. It is believed that the snowflake pattern design now seen on Tahitian tifaifai was influenced by these early Dutch sailors' gifts. Tahitians began creating colorful tifaifai designs based on the snowflake design.

Tradition held that once a tifaifai pattern was used, that pattern was to either be destroyed or passed on to a family member. That family member could only use the design if he or she added a signature design to it and gave it a new name.Overtime, Tahitian tifaifai evolved and the designs became larger in physical size, yet the process of folding into eighths was abandoned for folding into fourths. (By contrast, Hawaiians still fold fabric into eights when making Hawaiian quilts.) This difference in design is key in determining the origin of a particular tifaifai.

Night Sky

www.thatperfectstitch.com

Breadfruit

www.earlywomenmasters.net

Butterflies
www.thatperfectstitch.com

Click here to view some beautiful Tifaifai.

I've been inspired to work with the tifaifai concept for the August TIF.Watch this space.

TAST - Fly Stitch

I have been working on Jungle and planning work on an ATC and a postcard which I need to send out soon, so TAST - Fly Stitch this week got delayed.
No progress on the August TIF and I'm seriously considering participating in the Bead Journal Project (BJP) 2008.
I'm hoping involvement in all these various projects ( and I haven't listed everything, not even half) will make me more efficient,better at managing my time and somewhere along the way I'll learn to be able to say "No" to some things however exciting and fantastic they may be, but then again you don't always get a second chance so I think I'll have to improve my instincts to recognise a once in a life time opportunity and go ahead and take the plunge and simply follow my bliss.

Jungle

Feather stitch growing organically on this piece. It will be reversible and the two and a half metres makes it versatile - dupatta, stole or sarong.Three bands of colour - black, blue and brown. Soft cotton silk which drapes like a dream.

TAST - Feather Stitch

My second favourite stitch is Feather stitch.The little plant like forms on the left of the sample are reminiscent of block prints from Gujarat and Rajasthan. I particularly like the enmeshed rows of feather stitch at the top right corner which seem to grow organically in all directions. I've begun embroidering a dupatta - two and a half metres long and forty four inches wide, haven't decided or planned the outcome just organically growing feather stitch.
Go over to Stitchin Fingers to view all the explorations other people have done with Feather Stitch. Have a great weekend.Sharon has posted the TIF challenge for August. The colour palette is quite nice and different from what came up in previous months. Will be thinking of the challenge and figuring out how to tackle it as I go through the weekend.

Something to Crow about

Vineeta of Artnlight saw it fit to publish a post on her blog of my work.
Extremely thrilled to be recognised for my "KICKASS"creativity.Thank-you Vineeta for turning the spotlight on me. Shall unashamedly wallow in all the publicity & glory Vineeta's post is going to generate, modesty be damned!!! Bring it on.(All the bragging is the small bar of Toblerone speaking)

Pond

I've begun work on a series of scarves for a show in the middle of November with Plantation House. Quite excited and I have new ideas to try out.My scarves are all one of a kind and entirely made and finished by hand ( my hands I might add). Currently working on a scarf called Pond. My signature stitch is running stitch which is being worked on cotton silk fabric. Pond is more of a dupatta or a stole. Two and a half metres long and twenty two inches wide. There are circles of running stitch scattered at random along the length of the stole in dull pink ( water lilies), dark brown (dried leaves), green ( lily pads) and blue ( sky reflected in the water)


I have two done, this is the third and about fifteen more to go. I'm considering making two to three sarees this time, would like to see what the response will be. The saree is forty four inches wide and five and a half metres long. It will be a new format and layout I'll be working with.

July TIF completed

Detail of the page on the leftDetail of the page on the right

The double spread. This month the samplers I'm creating for TAST ( Take a Stitch Tuesday) have influnced my work.

Read about my interpretation of the challenge this month - The Half-way Mark here .

Pachyderm

We didn't spot a tiger but we did see this splendid herd of seventeen elephants. Can you spot the teeny tiny calf in the photographs? My little point and shoot could not do justice to the magnificence of these grand beasts but we've been promised pictures from the lot which Thomas and Shilpi shot.

It was a wonderful change. We stayed at the Jungle Lodges & Resorts property in Bandipur.

The safaris into the jungle twice a day in open jeeps were great lessons in observation and the amazement at how well camouflaged the animals are in the jungle.

Bomma our driver and spotter did a great job and we got to see Wild Dog or Dhole, Gaur, a couple of Mongoose on two occasions who put on a great show for us rooting around the ground for food,Sambhar and huge herds of Spotted Deer. Thomas and Shilpi are keen bird watchers and photographers so we got a couple of lessons in ornithology as well when we spotted the Serpent Eagle, Changing Hawk Eagle, Green Bee Eater and a wild fig tree full of Copper Heads feasting on the ripe fruit.

Back and firmly ensconced in the urban jungle I have urban jungle matters to deal with.More tomorrow.

TAST - Algerian Eye Stitch

As promised here is my page for Algerian Eye Stitch. I now have three double spreads done so next week I'll start assembling the pages together. 6 stitches done, 46 more to go.

This weekend its to the jungle. I hope we'll be lucky enough to sight a Tiger.We're going with friends who are wildlife enthusiasts.Have a great weekend.

Wednesday

Priya arrived around noon bearing gifts of food. Homemade Oatmeal raisin muffins and a tiny bun. (I'm calling it a bun Priya).

What a fantastic day we made of Wednesday. Red Book exchange after months, Mutton biryani at Umerkot, the movie Caramel where we were amongst a handful of people watching the movie.Second time in two weeks we've had at least a hundred seats to choose from, this beats even Gold Class.Believe me it grows on you, now after Persepolis and Caramel I wonder if I'll be able to watch movies with the theatre packed - that's how it is normally in India anyway.

courtsey wikipedia

The discovery of wonderful yummy trays of Baklava in Star Bazaar, straight after a Lebanese movie. Who arranged for that to happen? Star bazaar kept us enthralled for two hours or was it three, R can't figure out what could have kept us there for so long, he asked twice if I had actually spent that long..... men they just don't get it.The joys of trawling the mall or hypermarket.

Priya, the good news is that Goodbye Bafana is releasing tomorrow at PVR and this one is based on the memoirs of Nelson Mandela's prison guard.It should be on for two weeks which is so well timed for another Red Book exchange ( what a fantastic deadline to work towards and I seriously think we need that sort of positive motivation) besides we need to discuss threadbare our next project with the continued exploration of PIN - 560 034.

The muffins were awesome, more power to the baking bug that's bitten you Priya.

Happy Birthday Priya. ( This is another person.Every other girl born during the 70's and 80's was named Priya. Lets see, I must know atleast 7 Priya's) Flying east and crossing the International Date Line means she arrives in San Fransisco on 17th morning to celebrate her birthday all over again - how cool is that!!!

Tomorrow I'll have my explorations of Algerian Eye Stitch to share with you.

TAST - Chevron stitch

Here's the sampler for Chevron stitch.Chevron stitch did not inspire any floral forms but I did enjoy stitching the "windows".
Have a great weekend.R will be home this weekend after being at work for the past four weekends!!! the only good thing was I got to watch all the programmes I'd made a note of and wanted to see on BBC. So there's going to be a lot of catching up with pending chores this weekend. Can't believe I'm looking forward to the mundane but next weekend will be a happening one.

An award and a meme

I've been tagged to participate in a meme by Paula of The Beauty of Life in addition she's given me an award. Thanks Paula your work inspires and your style of writing has me grinning with pleasure most mornings when I see you've updated your blog .Sets the tone for the day better than caffeine.

The rules for receiving this award are:1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog. 2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs. 4. Put links of those blogs on yours. 5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated.

My nominations for Brilliante Weblog Premio -2008 are ......

Art in Stitches

Travel, Fibre and Thread

A Cup of Chai

Crayons

The Plum Tree

Geninne's Art Blog

Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen

On then to the meme.

1. What was I doing ten years ago?

That would make it 1998. I was visiting faculty teaching textile and design courses at NIFT, started embroidering one of a kind scarves and stoles without a clue of how to sell them. It was also the beginning of sorts of my association with the development and NGO sector - I did two projects that year one a design intervention project in Kasuti embroidery for the economic empowerment of women in Karnataka and the second was an enterprise resource development project creating products out of Sisal fibre also for women in rural Karnataka.

2.Five things on my to do list today.

Tag seven people for the Brilliante Weblog award and notify them.

Follow up on the repair of the washing machine the service guys have already been over three times!!!and the problem has not been fixed, heaps of laundry to do.

Mark points on the wall where I want nails so I can finally put up illustrations and photographs which deserve to be viewed at eye level rather than propped up against the wall at floor level.Hopefully get someone to put in the nails as well.

Grind up the rice and lentils left to soak over night and make the batter for adai.We will be having adai for dinner tonight.

Work on the pages of the Little Red Book which has been neglected of late.

3.Snacks that I enjoy

Chocolate

Tea and Marie biscuits to dunk in the tea

All sorts of Chaat

Fruit

4.Things I would do if I were a billionaire

Travel

Give to charity

5.Places I have lived

Assam, Cochin,Ooty,Coonoor,Madras,Calcutta,Ahmedabad,Coimbatore,
Bangalore,New York

Ok got to go and get most of what is on the to do list done. Nails, laundry, red book......

July TIF

What does it mean to be at the Half-Way Mark? that is the TIF challenge for July.

We're half - way through the year and the challenge.

How does one interpret the half-way mark ? The phrase to me means - time to look back and assess the path taken so far, a time for evaluating methods and means to achieve the final goal and there is a sense of achievement to have got thus far. With all that said I've decided to interpret only one word "Way" and the colour palette I'm using is loosely based on the suggested colour palette for the month.

I've cross-stitched a quote by Joseph Campbell on the left hand page using the absolutely cool free online text tool by Stitch Point ( thank-you Sharon for sharing this little gem of information) and the page on the right has a piece of tussar silk with embroidery on it. Take a stitch on Tuesday is certainly influencing the methods I'm employing to complete the July TIF, so much inspiration on Stitchin Fingers.

I think I've come to the half-way mark of the July challenge and I need to contemplate what needs to be done to complete it.Does the page with the quote need anything more or can I leave it as it is? and the page with the Cretan stitch had some detached chain sitches on it which I ripped out so what should it be?