wind between the stars

a little bit exciting...

2011-04-19T03:34:00.000-07:00

i know it has been ages since i have been here. i have had limited access to the internet recently, and a bit of trouble getting photos to upload. am working on it. for now, here is a link to la porte peinte in france who will be showing some of my work. oooh i wish i could go!

coming soon...

2010-11-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

its been months i know. i am nearly at the end of my degree. monday is my last day!(i think this is called procrastination)

our whitireia group exhibition Driven will be at Pataka opening on the 19th of November.

a little peek of my piece....

i have many great plans for this blog. i know i have been a sporadic poster, but it doesnt mean i dont think about it. i often find myself taking photos and imagine sharing them here.... i just never seem to get around to it. there are a lot of those things at the moment. after i finish studying i plan to give this blog an overhaul, add to my flickr page, and share some of the lovely things which never quite made it here over the past year.

see you then...

tinctorial treasures. exhibition photos

2010-09-04T02:30:00.000-07:00

if you have been reading my blog for a while you will have noticed the time delay between me saying i will post something, and me getting around to it... the video from the fashion show has not been forgotten (entirely) and will be posted at some time in the near future..... and now... although it has been in the gallery and is now down again.... the exhibition!

this is not every single piece in the exhibition, but i have to give my poor arms a rest. rsi really restricts so many things we do in our everyday life. let this be a warning to you all. dont let your creativity overrule sensible use of your body, your tools. take it easy, rest often, stretch your limbs. so many people are getting rsi these days. we need to listen to our bodies.
take care and happy fathers day.

photos (mostly, some are mine) by rachelle toimata

possums; a new zealand pest

2010-07-30T03:58:00.000-07:00

just a quick post about possums in new zealand.

possums in new zealand are "Brushtail possums, introduced from Australia in the 1850s to establish an animal fur industry (big mistake), and now number an estimated 60 - 70 million in New Zealand. The damage they cause is both environmental and financial: they prey on eggs and chicks of native birds and on native insects, damage native forests and spread bovine Tb, posing an immense threat to dairy and beef industries." quoted from here
brushtail possums are different from north american opossums.
they are hunted in the wild, it is illegal to farm them in nz. the fur from the possums varies according to area and time of year, and is quality selected for specific end uses.

if anyone wants to find out more, google possum nz and heaps of products will come up or possum nz impact will find more factual info.
here is the information provided by WoolYarns (who provided the zealana and perino yarns and possum merino fibre for the dresses)

every possum that is eradicated from our forests makes a difference.

tinctorial treasures, an invitation

2010-07-25T16:35:00.000-07:00

i have my solo exhibition going up next week, it will run till the end of the month. so if anyone is in porirua in august.... the gallery is open 9am-5:30 weekdays and 9am - 2pm on saturdays. there is a lovely farmers market nearby on saturdays where you can get all sort of gorgeous goodies.

following are some images of works that will be part of the exhibition.

photos of dresses

2010-07-24T17:03:00.000-07:00

the dresses which are off to france.....
photography by rachelle toimata

mist, rainbows, birdwoman dresses and possum merino yarn....

2010-07-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

very exciting news....i have been asked to make some wool dresses for an exhibition in france. the owner of the gallery saw some of my work online (photos on flickr, link at right).... the power of the internet proves itself yet again! the exhibition will be at Galerie de la Croix Blanche, a 16th century house in a mediaeval village, Noyers sur Serein in Burgundy. the theme of the exhibition is hybrid woman-birds. the dresses are quite tall and will be topped with papier-mache bird heads made by french artist Isabelle Thibault. i have made three felt dresses using a combination of nuno felting, stitch and various fibres, including a gorgeous possum merino blend. i am also making a knit and crochet dress with lots of different yarns- cotton, silk, wool and possum/merino yarn.

the possum merino yarn and fibre was supplied by Wool Yarns New Zealand. they dont sell the fibre, but it is oh so beautiful and soft when felted up. they do sell knitting yarn zealana in a range of colours and machine yarn for industry- perino. i love this yarn both for its softness and its impact on the environment. possums are an introduced species in new zealand and are causing widespread devastation in our forests, taking away food and habitat from our native birds and other wildlife. the possum fur used in this yarn accounts for a huge amount of possums every year.
i had planned to do some machine knitting for the knitted dress but it was not to happen. so instead i wound up these balls of mixed up yarns, and because i have injured my hands from too much crochet (those giant birds did it i think!) i have had help from my wonderful friends, craft group and family who did all the knitting and crochet. i asked them to knit in any way they liked, big, long, loose strips for me to sew together into a raggedy, cobwebby fairytale dress. thank you so much everyone who helped. i love working together like this. i think it really adds something special to the finished product.

i also had help from my wonderful husband who did all the heavy felting for me. i laid out the wool and gave him directions, and he felted the dresses up beautifully, and so much quicker than i ever could have.

i will be taking finished photos this week so should have some good pics to put up soon...

leaves, lichen and toadstools...

2010-06-14T17:49:00.000-07:00

pohutukawa magic

2010-06-04T17:27:00.000-07:00

here are my photos from the fashion show. i want to say a big thank you to all my beautiful models, and to my lovely cousin who took these photos.
and thank you to everyone else who took part in the show and made it happen. here is an article about the show.

p.s. i forgot to mention, the necklace in the final photo was not made by me, but a fellow student- a jeweller combining metal and natural dyed fibres.

2010-05-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

if i was a good blogger, i would have posted all these a few weeks ago, on different days. as i am making and taking photos i imagine posting them here. but i never quite get to it.

i have been working on putting together a collection for a charity fundraiser fashion show, which was last night. so now i tell you! dont worry, you will see it. my husband filmed my bit and i will be posting it soon, along with photos from last night.

but for now, i have the pics from two weeks ago. i was very excited when i made these boots and shoes. they are so warm and comfy.
i have since had several enquiries whether i am selling them. i am not, but if anyone is interested, i would love to do a workshop.

plant dyed wool crocheted onto recycled beach shoe soles.

the wool was from various sources, friends stash clean-outs, unravelled jerseys, op-shops. dyed with pohutukawa, onion, eucalyptus.

natural coloured wool crocheted onto recycled beach shoe soles with wooden buttons.

i made the buttons from windfallen (i suspect more likely bored kid fallen) pohutukawa branches.
the wool was unravelled from a handmade jersey (from the op-shop), strong homespun wool, complete with tiny twigs and hay.

these are some of the garments i have made for the collection, photographed at the fitting.

knitted wool, pohutukawa dyed hoodscarf. nuno felt/stitched dress, harakeke dyed silk and velvet scraps, akeake and prunus leaf prints.

autumn leaves and wine dyed dress, recycled silk camisole and silk and wool offcuts.

pohutukawa and harakeke dyed dress, recycled silk dress, shirt, offcuts. nuno felted silk offcut skirt.

harakeke, eucalyptus and metal dyed silk offcut, nuno felted dress.

pohutukawa silk/linen offcut dress over seaweed dyed skirt. crochet boots. hat knitted from unravelled jersey(not my dye).

will update soon.

2010-03-27T18:20:00.000-07:00

planet dyepot

early morning gathering

my woolly rainbow. gorse, goldenrod and fennel flowers, gorse spikes, goldenrod leaves, eucalyptus leaves, passionfruit skins, pohutukawa flowers and bark, red cabbage leaves. windfalls, garden grown, roadside and secret pathway gatherings.

fibre flock in the gallery.

big bird in the making and finished. so lovely to sit on.

2010-03-26T02:59:00.000-07:00

hello everyone and welcome to all new followers. i havent posted anything new for months! i have been busy though. above are my crocheted birds which are currently in the titahi bay artists exhibition at pataka. they are made from recycled fabric, blankets, clothing, scraps, felt, yarn, some natural dyed. all stuffed with sheep wool and some with rags and unwanted clothing. such a wonderful way to clear out my garage! since i took these photos i have made a giant bird, big enough for an adult seat (the big ones pictured in front of the reeds are about generous footstool size).
i have been dyeing a woollen rainbow too. will post those pics soon.

the native dye project

2009-11-24T14:10:00.000-08:00

these are the pages of my sample book. enjoy. i hope the colours arent too altered by the computer.

this is certainly not the end of the project, merely a starting point.

oh, and by the way, the laptop goddess answered my plea!

no photos yet

2009-11-21T15:40:00.000-08:00

i am having trouble with internet. there has been someone working on phone lines in our street for the past week or so, and we keep getting crossed wires and the internet cutting out. so i havent been able to have enough internet time to upload any more photos.

dream garden

2009-11-19T20:57:00.000-08:00

my dream garden will be in my hometown, gisborne. i will grow many kinds of fruit and nut trees, the ground covered with lupins, lavender, thyme, comfrey and chooks.... and a big higgeldy piggeldy vege garden, full of delicious food and flowers, buzzing bees and beautiful butterflies....and native trees full of birds and geckos gorging themselves on juicy berries and sweet nectar. this is my allotment to go next to the 200 others who follow india flints blog. i hope they all spill over to one another and the whole community can share the many foods and beauty of all countries.

the above pictures are of my real garden last spring. beautiful, but sadly this year extremely salty windburnt and dry.

tomorrow i am hoping to find time to update about my dye results(yes i know i said that ages ago, but now i am finally finished studies for the year!)

pohutukawa stars

2009-10-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

i found myself in a pot of pohutukawa stars!
arent they beautiful? as i was taking some fabric out of the pot i saw these stars floating and wanted to photograph them. they are the fallen seed pods from the pohutukawa tree in our front yard. one day i was out walking after a rainfall and saw on a pale concrete driveway the seedpods bleeding their colour.

this is a small watercolour drawing of pohutukawa. at the left is the base of the flower that turns into the seedpod.

above are my samples of griselina littoralis. they are a bit redder than they seem on the computer. below the pinky red is the eco-print. my good friend rachelle put me on to this plant after discovering it at a workshop at summer school in kapiti with india flint.

this is a little line of my samples pegged up in the sunroom window to test for lightfastness.

most of the colours i have so far are varying shades of brown, although i found that windfallen karo flowers gave a nice soft pink. when i added a piece of metal, hoping to get purple, i ended up with silvery grey.

2009-09-17T02:00:00.000-07:00

i swear the blue is bluer in real life!

blue passion

2009-09-17T01:30:00.000-07:00

when i got back from gisborne (now a few weeks ago) i was excited to open up a bundle i had left sitting in a copper pot of seawater.

blue! passionfruit skins. i was jumping round the house with excitement. isnt it just like magic when you open up a bundle and something unexpected or secretly hoped for shows itself to you?

i have finally got started on the actual dyeing of my native dye project. i have several pots going, sitting quiet over night. will try and get photos on here asap. there are one or two very promising looking brews.

gisborne sunshine

2009-08-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

just a quick note. i am up in sunny gisborne spending time with family. what a beautiful day! it feels like summer already. tomorrow morning will be going down to the farmers market- check it out here on my sisters blog and you can see green blessings (my mums handmade herbal teas, tinctures and ointments) here .
have a great weekend!

2009-08-24T15:50:00.000-07:00

gosh, i cant believe how long its been since i last posted. does not bode well for keeping you all interested. i am wishing really hard for a laptop to fall in, well into my lap. my husband and i are both studying and we have one not so great computer to share between us. so if anyone knows the computer gods...
i am currently in my final year (which actually wont finish till next year as i am part-time now) of studying for my Bachelor of Applied Arts. last year i won a scholarship to research natural dyes in New Zealand. i am finally getting stuck into this research properly. i have done quite a bit of experimenting with native plants, particularly the magical pohutukawa windfall flowers...

pohutukawa on pure wool jersey

pohutukawa leaves on indeterminate wool blend

i love working with pohutukawa. i only pick the fallen flowers as i wouldnt want to deprive the birds or bees of food.
with my research i am looking at traditional Maori methods and materials for dyeing, as well as using contemporary methods and trialling native plants that may or may not have been used before. new zealand dyers have tried a huge variety of native plants, particularly on wool. i will be focusing on gaining colour without the use of toxic mordants such as chrome, tin and copper crystals. india flint has taught me about using natural pre-mordants such as soy, sea water, ash water and many more possibilities, as well as co-mordanting by cooking up dyestuff in pots of different metals.
i would love to hear from anyone who has experimented with nz native plants for dyeing on any fibres.

these two images are some of my work with seaweed, the first on wool at indias workshop (with pohutukawa samples next to it), and the second a long slow eco-print in a cold pot of harakeke pod dye.

these two images are... a pot of purple maori potato dye, amazing colour in the pot... and linen sample, unfortunately came out quite pale, maybe silk would hold the colour better.

these are just some of my experiments so far. over the next few months i will be trialling a range of mordants and plant dyes, and testing them for light and wash fastness. i shall keep you posted.

p.s. i have three paintings for sale on Felt.co.nz (sorry if anyone tried the link before and got to a cycle website, whoops!) now. and i have a bit of a blog on Wardrobe Refashion.

so... if anyone has a laptop they would like to barter for art, or has some interesting native dye results or knows anything about traditional Maori dyes, especially paru (iron-rich mud), i would love to hear from you.
i will put my email in the side bar if any one wants to contact me direct.

paintings for sale soon...

2009-07-25T22:19:00.000-07:00

i have frustratedly been trying to get my work onto felt.com, but my photos are not the right size! these are the paintings i am hoping to sell.....

modes of perception I, II, III and IV

this series of painting/drawings are a reflection on the disappearing of many plant/insect/animal species due to human activity. the loss of the unseen and unknown species that are part of our earths ecosystem and circle of life are of huge concern to scientists around the world, because if we dont know what we are losing, how can we make it right?

if a tree falls and nobody hears it, did it make a sound?

if a species disappears before it is discovered, was it ever really there?

all of these painting/drawings are on recycled board and frames.

they will be up for sale in a few days on felt.com

textile art...dresses and leaves

2009-07-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

good morning dear followers, and anyone else who might have been blown this way. as you can see i am still getting set up. i am slowly putting together my portfolio on flickr, but havent yet figured out how to link from here to there, and will soon have some items for sale on the 'felt' website.
as i was putting my portfolio together, i was thinking about all the textiles i have been doing over the past few years, and thought it would be nice to say a few words about india flint, who has been a major inspiration for me. i was first introduced to india's art 3 years ago, and completely fell in love. a deep recognition that this was what i would be doing if only i knew how. so when i heard that india was coming to new zealand to do a workshop i jumped at the chance. unfortunately i missed the first one which was felting, white on white (due to it being school holidays) but i spent the week at home felting madly. this week resulted in my 'pocket full of posy' collection of seven felted dresses (below). then that summer i was able to attend a natural dyeing workshop with india and learn about dyeing with plants, eco-printing, natural, non-toxic mordants, and a bit of cow poo! i love that these things can be used with recycled fabrics and wool to create such beautiful magical pieces of art.
here (left) is part of my wall of samples from the workshop. i was so excited to start seeing clear results, especially with the eco-prints. it was such a magical week of learning.

india has published a wonderful book called Eco Colour, full of delicious photos and information about her style of dyeing. she also has a website: www.indiaflint.com and blogs here: prophet-of-bloom.blogspot.com

i am still experimenting with these techniques and evolving my own style. here is a dress and collar ensemble, windsong, i made that was selected for an international shibori student exhibition in paris last year. this dress was made with reclaimed silk fabric, dyed with harakeke (nz flax) seed pods and various eco-prints, then stitched and nuno-felted together. the collar was made with the same elements then ruched fine leather added for the shoulders.
february of this year i was involved in an exhibition at Pataka (porirua, nz) of naturally dyed textiles. i have the photos on flickr , but my favourite was a collaboration with good friend, fellow crafter and artist rachelle, who blogs here at ahiparagirl.blogspot.com
Ra Horoi Washing Day (below) is a collection of our handcrafted, altered and dyed garments that we have made for ourselves, family and friends.

so, i guess this is a little thank you to india, for helping me on my creative journey, extending my knowledge in kindness to the earth, and for being a wonderful inspiring friend.

2009-07-01T00:07:00.000-07:00

welcome to my blog.
i am still setting it up with links to flickr for my portfolio and felt as my shop, but i really just want to get started. i need to get rid of the first time jitters about writing and publishing online.
here i intend to blog about art, craft and life in general.
heres my first photo to see if i can make it work. fellow crafter rachelle and i. midwinter shadows on the rocks after button hunting. yes, we hunt for buttons on our beach. and find them. sometimes without even trying. they are just sitting there waiting for us. like this...
can you find the button?