Elements 4: Earth
It’s taken a while, but I’ve finally finished the final element of the four: Earth. To be honest, I found this the trickiest one to conceptualise. My first idea was of a snow-capped volcano (think Mount Fuji), but that didn’t seem very challenging in terms of coiling structure, though I could have added folds and […]
Elements 3: Fire
Of the elements I’ve made so far, Fire has had the most conventional start – a circular bowl starting from the centre. When I felt that the base was big enough I started creating protrusions that would become the flames. I wanted there to be further spaces in each flame on each round, so the […]
Polish coiled straw basket workshop
A couple of weeks ago I went on a one-day workshop with Anna Niedzielska, a visiting Polish basketmaker. The workshop was organised by Halina Ward, a current student on the two-year City Lit basketry course who is half Polish and also acted as (excellent) interpreter for the day. Anna teaches both willow and straw basketry […]
Elements 2: Air
After the easy flow of Water, Air was always going to be more challenging. After all, it’s invisible most of the time, which makes it a bit tricky to visualise! My first thought was of isobars – those lines you see on weather maps connecting points of equal air pressure (like contour lines connect points […]
Elements 1: Water
This didn’t start out as a series. I just wanted to refire my making mojo after six weeks of lacking the energy even to read or watch TV, let alone make anything. I’d been looking at some of the wonderful Japanese wave and ripple designs published by the Public Domain Review. So I picked a […]
Pine needle baskets in Guatemala
Well, my last post turned out to be a little optimistic! After my bout of flu before Christmas I went down with another respiratory infection (possibly Covid, given how long it took to recover), followed by a urinary tract infection. But finally, after six weeks or so, I feel more like my normal self and […]
Bindweed (again!) and cordyline inflorescence
We recently had the fence between our front garden and that of our neighbour replaced, as it was in a sorry state. Sadly, many of the climbers and plants close to the fence did not survive the operation, but it also turned out that our neighbour’s garden was home to an incredible amount of bindweed, […]
Baskets in Madrid museums
I’m just back from a week’s holiday in Spain, starting in Bilbao and working my way down to Madrid by train and bus. I had less than a day in Madrid, arriving by train in the morning and flying home in the evening, but I managed to visit two museums with interesting baskets in that […]
London Craft Week 2023
London Craft Week is a great opportunity to see wonderful makers from further afield as well as the UK, but the brochure and website are tricky to navigate, and some “events” seem to be simply plugs for luxury brands. This year I made it to three venues. There was lots to see, but here I […]
Warped exhibition by Prism Textiles
The Warped exhibition by Prism Textiles is now in full swing at the Art Pavilion in Mile End, London. At the private view last Wednesday evening Sumi Perera gave the opening speech, dressed in an outfit that most of us instantly coveted! Some of my stitching friends (Carol and Jane) turned up wearing shibori indigo […]
