Last week, while I was in Northern NSW, I got to spend heaps of time with my dear friend Jenine, and she taught me to weave! I'm so excited by this. The scarft I made was hardly a design-feat - I simply experimented with everything you can do on a 4-shaft loom, and discovered how much I enjoy it. Now, of course, I want a loom! But it's such a big and expensive piece of equipment, I find it hard to justify... anyway, we'll see. In the meantime, the secrets of woven cloth have been unlocked and now I understand how it all works! I am in love with textiles...
I've got a new dream now.. to work out how to process the NZ Flax plant I've been using to make string, in order to make very fine fibres that can be woven into a soft cloth. The Maori did it for thousands of years, apparently, but I don't know if their cloth would be soft enough for us to wear as pants or skirts. But I want to find out!
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Sustainable Living
- How to preserve local food for winter
Eat delicious, local, sustainable food from your pantry all year round. - How to really grow food in your backyard
Here I share with you the secrets that have transformed me from a gardener with a not-very-productive vegie patch, to growing most of my family's fruit and veg. - A simple composting toilet
Find out how to make a really simple but effective composting toilet for very little money.
About Asphyxia
- Guide to this blog
Read this to help you find the posts on my blog that will be most interesting to you.
The Grimstones
- My Shop
Buy my books about The Grimstones: Hatched, Mortimer Revealed, and the Artist's Journal. Also available: postcards and CDs. - The Grimstones
The Grimstones is a gothic fairytale about a girl who can read dreams, a baby boy with three legs, a mother who sew garments lined with warmth and joy, and a grandfather who heals people with his magical concoctions. I created The Grimstones as a marionette performance, and now it's a book series too.
Food and Nutrition
- Traditional Foods
My health has dramatically improved after changing my diet for a more traditional way of eating, as advised by Sally Fallon. - Food Flower Poster
Forget the food pyramid! It was developed by the agricultural industry, not by nutritionists. Instead, print this Food Flower poster, which shows a visual guide to choosing nutritious and satisfying traditional foods. - Sourdough bread Recipes
I make delicious sourdough bread in my bread machine - recipes and tips here. - Raw Food
Should we be eating a diet of 100% raw food? Here's what I found by way of "scientific proof". - Raw garlic to cure colds & flu
If you feel a cold or flu coming on, eat a whole clove of raw garlic, three times a day - it works miracles.
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07 July 2011
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Thanks for the Brissie workshop yesterday. Textile and Art Forum (TAFTA) have a magazine and do 1 week residentials (you choose one masterclass) that's great fun. Yvonne Twining (shoes) will be at the April 2012 forum in Blue Mountains: http://www.tafta.org.au/documents/CTA_Newsletter.pdf (And two friends will be leading the storytelling masterclass, 'finding the thread').
Posted by: Shirley | 10 July 2011 at 08:06 PM
I found your blog while looking for info on rocket stoves. I'm so inspired and encouraged by your stories and your outlook. Thank you!
Posted by: Deb Anderson | 15 July 2011 at 09:12 AM
Maoris use the edge of a mussel shell to strip the flax leaves to release the fibres. Might be a bit less painstaking than the pin you mentioned. :-)
Posted by: Adrienne | 05 March 2012 at 06:59 PM
Ahh yes I've since had the pleasure of visiting some very talented Maori weavers and watching them at work. They showed me the magnificent mussel shell stripping technique and I was very impressed. Now I just need to find the right variety of flax leaf here in Australia.
Posted by: Asphyxia | 22 March 2012 at 04:14 PM