Monday, September 13, 2010

MY WORLD ~ Enchanted by 'Enfoldments' - Part 3


This place alone took us back to a time when life had a
different pace and did not run away with the speed of a
racing car. Measuring distance by how far a horse could
take one in a day and time by available daylight.
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Working with the concentration of coiled springs on the making
of our books . . . writing with steeped Eucalyptus ink and a handy
stick or brush a single word over and over on a large sheet of
paper. A word that held the meaning of this week of discovery,
that summed up our personal feelings about this particular journey.
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Dyeing in the steaming cauldron . . .
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watching and waiting as our bundles soaked up colour . . .
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letting them cool before opening the surprise in store
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and wonder of wonders, among oohs and aahs, unwrapping
leaf prints of our windfaall gatherings, always under the ever
so gentle guidance of our mentor India Flint, author of
Eco-Colour, botanical alchemist, felt maker, costumiere, her
speech as soft as her imprint on nature. Only use found materials,
windfalls, garden clippings, never robbing living plants unless
they be especially grown for the purpose of gazetted weeds.
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Below, the stitched, over dyed and then cut up paper for our
book covers. Somehow the hours spent in quietly stitching
pieces of cloth, felt, lace, silk or anythng else we shared, the
windfall walks to gather our dye stuff, the wrapping and
bundling using the string we made on the first evening and
then cutting up the created 'art' work grounded us firmly into
our place in the universe, diminishing our ego and letting us
enjoy the process without pre-conceived ideas. It gave us the
freedom to be ourselves.
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Out of this new found freedom grew our books, pages within
pages, pockets of mementos of our rambles, writing of sounds
and impressions of our surroundings and a sense of cohesive
togetherness of these 18 women from disperate walks of life
intent on the same purpose.
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Truly a week of learning, wonder and enchantment as the
individual beads strung themselves into a shining necklace
each one of us carried away in our hearts.
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Thank you India for being our guide and mentor, a keeper
of the world and most of all for being my precious daughter.
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29 comments:

  1. This post simply simmers with creativity. Time like this stays with one forever.

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  2. aloha,

    these are so beautiful scenes, what a fascinating process to making your own covers and filling them up with exciting experiences ;)


    my tuesday tour of a hike to the lava on my sari blog.

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  3. Beautiful! I enjoyed seeing this intriguing process unfold.

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  4. Sounds like you had a wonderful creative week, Arija! I feel inspired by what you've posted.

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  5. Sounds like balm to the soul. I need it this week.
    Thank you so much for your lovely descriptions,
    More rain in the night, at last the sub soil is filling, a wonderful start to Spring here.

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  6. That looks amazing, I've never heard of anything like it.

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  7. Amazing and gorgeous.. I love this so much.. each one looks a Masterpiece...

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  8. what an amazing experience! so interesting...

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  9. Thank you for sharing this intriguing process and the resulting book. It's something you will never part with.

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  10. What a wonderful experience you had!

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  11. Wonderful post. The art is so simple yet beautiful. It is not mechanical as today.

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  12. Interessante esperienza.
    Mi è piaciuto molto ciò che descritto :)
    Ciao

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  13. What a creative and intimate process you describe so well!

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  14. Thank you for sharing these beautiful photos

    Have a nice week,
    Greetings, Bram

    My Word Tuesday post

    Seen on My World Tuesday

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  15. Thanks for sharing your creative moments and thoughts. This is so important for people to do. Thank you , Arija!

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  16. I loved this post. Looks like a great workshop to participate in and the way you wrote about it was very creative and artistic.

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  17. As a kid, my grandfather taught me how to write on palm leaves. I haven't done it in a long while. We used to prepare the palm leaves by steaming and then drying it. The pen was a little heavy (for my hands then), long iron piece called Naraayam (in my language).

    Great pictures and thank you for bringing those memories back.

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  18. I've so enjoyed reading this account of all the retreat happenings ~ thank you for posting ~ made all the better and more enticing by the ONEDERFULL photography...that steaming cauldron just rocks!!!

    What a lovely thing to spend such time with ones daughter...

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  19. quite an interesting process. this is the first time i've seen or read about this. great post.

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  20. What a wonderfully creative few days you had Arija - I am sure you came back home bursting with ideas.

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  21. Joyful has left a new comment on your post "MY WORLD ~ Enchanted by 'Enfoldments' - Part 3":

    Marvellous! Now I have to check out the other parts of your series :-)

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  22. This sounds like a week of total creativity and enchantment. These are beautiful books your daughter guided you all in making.

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  23. Fascinating series of posts on your trip back in time! The Kindle and iPad generation will never experience such joy of creating ar.

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  24. Although I love the projects and the place, I think best of all spending this precious time with your daughter.

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  25. I guess the books smell of Eucalyptus.

    Once when I was teaching pirates, I had children write a runaway note, and brush tea bags over them. The kids loved it.

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  26. You certain do have a creative daughter, Arija... how wonderful that she is also your mentor. You both are lucky to have a beautiful relationship.

    be well, be happy and have a delightful week, Arija.

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  27. What a wonderful way for your creative self to get poured out and what a lovely gift you have made yourself and later for others to treasure. I think this is an outstanding thing to have learned and so wish that we had such creative workshops here. I may just look up the info you mentioned~

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  28. Incredibly inspiring as it is beautiful! I've never witnessed this process before, and I am captivated. "Keeper of the world," what a beautiful title.

    Hope you are doing well, dearest Arija. You live in my thoughts and heart.

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