1/16/2017

Following the thread of a thought

29

page one ~ from, The Illustrated Glossary of Dye Plants

page two ~ from, The Illustrated Glossary of Dye Plants

page three ~ from, The Illustrated Glossary of Dye Plants

In retrospect, I probably should have named this playful compendium
The Imaginary Illustrated Glossary of Dye Plants
or
The Illustrated Imaginarium of Dye Plants
for I don't believe this will ever be anything but a little book
that lives solely in my mind, produced for a bit of fun on Instagram.
But I suppose it's been good practice should I decide at some juncture
to try my hand at the real thing ...

Along another line of thought, the title of this post is not original to me.
I'm sure I gleaned it from jude at Spirit Cloth at some point and
I sincerely hope she is given fair credit & attribution from others
for all she offers there.

This is a sore subject with me at the moment ...
the *borrowing* - no, let me speak plain - the stealing
 that I read and see running rampant on the internet amongst
artists, creatives, workshop organizers
and a whole host of wannabes, coat tail riders and ladder climbers.
It's a double-edged sword out here on the web; the need & desire to share work
counterbalanced by all those who are watching, researching,
and will so blatantly 
rip others off
in
a
 heartbeat.

Is it really so hard to come up with one's own original words or works?

Is it that difficult to ask permission first?

Or to put some dedicated energy
into coming up with personal work that is truly authentic
and not just a blatant copy of someone else's work?

I've seen this rampant in the world of photography for years
and now sadly, I see it running rampant amongst the cloth dyers
[eco-dyers, eco-printers, contact printers, natural dyers, and many stitchers],
a tribe I am somewhat new to and a little on edge about of late ...
it's incredibly disheartening.
And I'm feeling the need to take care.

::::

I have no intention of getting into arguments with folks over this subject
and I'm half inclined to close the comments section because of it,
but there are some friends who visit here who I don't want to silence
so I'll leave it open.
Talk to me.


1/05/2017

Life is not lived in a straight line

21

"There isn't one right path for you or anyone else.
And there isn't a set of timelines of milestones ...
You're allowed to backtrack.
You're allowed to figure out what inspires you
at different stages of your life.
You're allowed extra time when you need it.
Life is meant to be a series of zigs and zags.
It should look like a mess, but a beautiful mess.
It shows that you have changed and grown.
You've had your ups and downs.
You went down one path, but decided to change course ...
perhaps on many occasions.
That's how life should be."

~ Angel Chernoff ~


First, I'd like to start by saying  Thanks  to each of the kind folks who've written
wondering where I'd wandered off to and why.
A disappearance wasn't planned, but it began and then it felt totally natural
and right to follow and to somehow trust that'd I'd know where I was meant to go
once I got there,
which wasn't to be here it seemed, blogging.
Except now it  is.

Have I confused you completely already?

To backtrack: I resorted to a few fairly strict measures to bring my body back to
some semblance of rightness, and again, I felt inclined to keep my concentration there
and not out here telling everyone about it.
Which is not my way anyway.
So while that was on the slow road to sorting itself out
I unexpectedly found myself on a new threshold
- literally -
when a space I'd put my name on a waiting list for suddenly became available.
This was a dream come true.
A small space for a textile / beading / photography studio ... at last.
Room to stretch my wings, dive into multiple projects at a time, close the door
on big beautiful messes  without having to clean up first  and then 
return the next day to pick right up where I'd left off.
And one of the best bits is that I can bring my dear doggy.

That's her new sleeping spot over there on the left wall
although I think she prefers the little rug by the door actually.


That quote up top from Angel popped into my email this morning and
as I read it, I knew today was the day to say a little something here.
I'll keep it short for the moment
[in truth, I am feeling somewhat rusty at this]
but I have quite a few tales to catch up on,
many pictures to share,
and I'm greatly looking forward to being out here with you all again.