Category: Saori

  • People need people…and looms

    People need people…and looms

    Over the past few months I’ve offered special Saori intro sessions and greeted many new weavers in private workshops. With the new year approaching I feel like it’s a good time to wrap up 2016 and get onto the 2017. There is always a hopeful, new start feel to the new year. I see life…

  • Workshop buzz

    Workshop buzz

    This weekend saw the end of another fantastic workshop in the studio here at Old Bar. It’s always a bit lonely going back to my empty studio after such a flurry of creative energy…but then I have all that yarn to get weaving with! Deb is the co-chair for the Alice Springs Beanie Festival. A…

  • Buttony, wavy, ribby and wide weaves

    Buttony, wavy, ribby and wide weaves

    Yet another magical workshop came to a close too quickly over the weekend.  Several of the participants were Sturtees and returnees. Daisy came to work on a special buttony weave which incorporated her mother’s buttons in a bed runner. Rather than stitch them onto the two metre plus cloth after weaving it, we decided to have…

  • Workshops without work

    Workshops without work

    Another workshop in the weekend inspired fresh ideas in the studio. It’s like ‘there’s nothing new’- but there is, at least to me. Ruth and Anna came equipped with their own yarn ways and ready to re-purpose jewellery in their work. Diane wove a bag textile enhancing the jute textures throughout the cloth featuring pops of colours,…

  • Little big touches of Saori

    Little big touches of Saori

    I wasn’t sure what I would learn at Saori no Mori on this stay. But, as usual, it exceeded my expectations.  The small things here and there at every turn join up into one big joy of ‘what is cloth?’ and what is our role in bringing it to life. This cloth here is bending the…

  • Japan Textiles and Culture

    Japan Textiles and Culture

    “What did you see, what did you do?” Where to start… Probably the best way of describing Japan is the feeling of culture shock when you arrive back in your own country! After about an hour the feeling subsides as you start to slot into the semi disorganisation, and the lack of many things here.…

  • The special cloth

    The special cloth

    Back to it!  Being away with the textile tour group in Japan was fantastic. I always feel like another person when I’m away. Briefly stepping away from worries and the stresses of life, and into another world where I am largely a spectator. However there are many nice things about being home, nearer family and…

  • What are the chances?

    What are the chances?

    Chance. How we doubt its authority. It really is about how to choose.  This Aeon essay portrays choosing as a way of moving forward and as humans do, we crave validation that we are going in the right direction. The Kantu’ of Borneo use a bird to determine the new season’s optimum planting ground in poor soils…

  • Creating cloth and filming cloth making

    Creating cloth and filming cloth making

    I know all of my posts are about cloth and this one won’t be any different. I’ve written before about my luck in the humans coming to my studio, and what I learn from them. Here Mark is filming the weaving process and I’m grateful to him for sharing his expertise and skills. Here you’ll…