Well I’m ready and waiting for my next workshop to begin. I’m really looking forward to it and the weather is sunny, beautiful and clear. Mostly Old Bar is a quiet little spot but tomorrow it’s not! The Old Bar Mega Garage Sale coupled with the Australian federal election will have a hive of people and cars. Sort of accidental that the workshop fell on this day. I didn’t let the government know that date didn’t suit me for an election. I will next time. 🙂

Local and overseas participants will be weaving and learning new ways of working with threads for up to three days. To help with choice and colour my new yarn rack has really turned my studio into a yarn haven.  But sadly I still can’t fit all the yarn on the racks so I really need help turning it all into beautiful textiles. We’ll be delving into different ways of weaving, learning techniques, looking at clothing design and dyeing but we’ll also be looking more closely at the Saori philosophy and approach to weaving.

Self expression as it is interpreted in ‘western’ thinking has a different and more narrow emphasis than I think Saori is all about. To unlock some of this see The Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese Insight into Beauty. I have to thank weaver Barbara Osmond for re-acquainting me to this fantastic book. I only read a few sentences and have to lie down to absorb the enormity of it and how it changes my thinking process. I am very drawn to philosophies of inclusion and our shared humanity. Ways of thinking that unite us rather than working to divide.  I think this is a critical element of Misao Jo’s approach by taking a creative, artistic and physical process and weaving it to our human heartbeat.