Fixie's Shelf

Baskets and String

 

My next discovery in the life of a medieval woman is how to use the plants I already have in my garden to make string, rope and baskets.

I went to a great basket-making workshop at Ceres and it opened my eyes to a whole new world of sustainability-type things I can do. For example, did you know you can make string from a corn plant? I haven't tried it yet, but I've picked some corn leaves and hung them up to dry. Once they are dry, I can soak them in water, split the fibres, and twist them into string.

The teacher brought along some flax. I've always wondered what a flax plant looks like. Now I realise I must have seen it around plenty before - it looks very familiar. You use a pin to split the fibres into fine threads, and then twist a few threads together to make string. Jesse and I have been madly making string ever since. I don't know if I've enough patience, but I'm hoping to make enough string for my garden use next year, so I don't have to buy any. It should last about two years, out in the rain, then it'll turn to compost. In the photo below, on the left you can see a flax leaf (a bit curled up and dry now), in the middle are strands from the leaf which I split off with a pin, and on the right is the start of my ball of string.

The best thing about the workshop was that I made a basket for my bike! It's a weird hodgepodge of vines that our teacher brought along to the workshop, but most of it is made from a vine that was growing outside the wall of the room our workshop was in. Every time I needed some more I wandered outside and pulled a bit more off the vine. Now that's what I call natural and sustainable!

I'm going to experiment with the vines I have at home, but apparently I can make baskets with grape vine, jasmine, passionfruit and black berry, all of which I have. I'll try string from corn. And I'm going to see if I can buy a flax plant somewhere. Flax makes really strong thread.

Rabbit Yarn Workshop

I recently held a workshop at my place, in which I gave participants an overview of what's involved in keeping angora rabbits to make lovely warm winter clothes.

I was so very touched afterwards, when one of the participants sent me this old fashioned card she'd made herself, posted by snail mail, with a little drawing of my very own rabbit. I was amazed by her likeness! And I realised how much it meant to me to get a sweet thank you card with her drawing. Let that be a lesson to me - the value of sending a little thank you.

There was also a write up of the workshop in the Transition Town Darebin newsletter, which tickled me too. I just had to include it here:

"What an inspiring afternoon learning all about Angora Rabbits and how you
can make clothes from their fur. It is the softest stuff I have ever felt
and when knitted into clothes is just divine. What amazed me about this
afternoon was not only has Asphyxia created her own house out of mudbrick,
created a garden that supplies oodles of fruit and vege but also has an
animal that supplies her with wool to create her own clothes. The rewards
of this type of lifestyle are huge. Asphyxia mentioned wanting to see if
she could live like a �medieval woman�- what a great aspiration in this fast
paced, consumer orientated society." (Briony)

Aww... shucks. Thanks Briony!

More photos of Mortimer Revealed

A couple more gorgeous snaps by Anneli May at the Victorian Arts Centre:

Elcho tells Mortimer that a terrible storm is coming.

Martha discovers her father's magnificent instrument - the Epithium.

Mortimer Revealed Photos

I received these beautiful photos that were taken of our show, The Grimstones - Mortimer Revealed, at Victorian Arts Centre by Anneli May. My very favourite is this one:

I'm working with baby Crumpet, assisting him to cast a spell that will help Martha Grimstone find out what really happened to her father.

Thanks to Crumpet's magic, Mortimer rises from the grave to show us the past:

But alas, having shared the secrets he carried with him to the grave, Mortimer must return to his final resting place. Elcho Grimstone grieves for his son:

Hospital for Damaged Souls - Take 2

Paula so loved the Hospital for Damaged Souls page in my journal that she wanted to put it on the wall. Well I'm not prepared to rip it out of my journal, so I made another one especially for her. This one is painted/collaged directly onto the back of a Little Golden Book. I think I like this one better, especially the egg.

 

 

Hospital for Damaged Souls

This is another page from my new journal. It was actually supposed to be a quick illustration of an idea I had for an art installation I'd like to make. But in the end I thought the illustration itself was quite sweet. There's been a theme of damaged souls around me lately - so many people seem to be having a hard time, and I have too, though I like to think it's more or less behind me now. This art piece is supposed to represent a surgical procedure that is performed in the Hospital for Damaged Souls.

First, the damaged soul needs to be wrapped, to protect it from the world. You could also describe this as to going to bed to hide.

Next the soul is immersed... both in its own pain, and in a healing bath that will help to wash it clean.

Then it's time to expose what's inside, probe and cut until all the dark stuff spills out. I've just painted blood here, but in my installation I'd like to have all sorts of things coming out, all the muck and baggage and darkness that we carry with us.

Finally, the soul is placed inside the shell of an egg, to be held and nurtured in a womb-like fashion, until ready to emerge back into the world.

Art Journal Bottle

Twice recently, Paula and Jesse have gone away, and I've had the house to myself. Bliss! I used the time to immerse myself in creative projects - sewing, art journal and more. I was so inspired to have a new beautiful journal to write in, that I thought I'd better do some more art journaling.  I haven't done much lately, but maybe I can find my way back into it.  I'm especially pleased with this page I made in my journal. It's a collage, and the figure was from a card by C Serpent - I love her work.