I am not a well organized person. Especially not when it comes to art or craft. I usually get the feeling, I want to make something and then let this feeling and the accompanying thoughts mature until all is penned up like in a pressure cooker. And shortly before the... Continue reading

I know, for most of you this is old news. You all had your own thoughts about this topic many times over. But some things take a while to mature. Yesterday, I was talking with a friend about crafts, DIY in general and sewing in special, and we were musing... Continue reading

A client has a kakishibu dyed fabric. Said fabric is nicely beige-brown but rather unimpressive. So he wants it different. Grey or black, maybe. But it should still retain its water repellent properties. The fabric is densely woven cotton/linen. The cotton thread is either natural grown brown or already treated... Continue reading

Today, a student and I had fun with kakishibu and iron oxide pigments on old table cloth and coarse linen. My student leaned more towards middle African inspired motives (the two in the middle) whereas I tended more towards circles and dots. The colours are not finished yet. Kakishibu and... Continue reading

Spinning is a craft I tend to when I really need to slow down. Stitching and sewing is slow as well but more purposeful than spinning. (And I tend to fall into a kind of addicted trance with sewing and stiching which is stressful in itself.) With spinning I just... Continue reading

All over Germany (and in some other countries as well) there are so called Nutztier-Archen (livestock arcs; farms with endangered farming animals, old livestock races that are deemed non-profitable for industrialised farmingand are in danger of dying out which would be catastrophic for biodiversity). From one of them I got... Continue reading

Yesterday, the revitalised indigo vat had its big day, first time this spring. A friend visited and needed some bed sheets dyed as table cloths for her market stands. While we waited for the large cloths to oxidise, took the opportunity and dyed some of my prepared fabrics. Unfortunately it... Continue reading

Since it is getting warm now, I began refreshing my outdoor indigo vat. It's a 230 L vat, so it would be quite a hassle to replace it completely. Which means, each spring I remove the mud and particles from the bottom. Usually I use a pond net but the... Continue reading

In the midst of inner turmoil and outer chaos, I needed to get creative. I made some lanterns from champagne coupes, I found in my mother's cupboard. I have no idea why my parents ever needed some of these but here they were and I love lanterns with tea light... Continue reading

And a lot happened. For the past year I was mostly a carer. For my mum and since October for my dog as well. And over the past months, both deteriorated more and more. Until last wednesday, I had to put my dog to sleep. Around 2, I cam home... Continue reading

Yesterday two students visited me for a short dye day in inidgo. They wanted a peek into katazome dyeing and so I showed them how to prepare the paste, apply it through stencils and dye. It all takes some while and we had only a few hours so we concentrated... Continue reading

I am sorry to inform you that I will have to cancel my online class on dyeing and printing cotton and linen with natural dyes. My mother just turned 90 this month and since her last stay in hopital, she is now strictly confined to her bed. Although I have... Continue reading

When the end of winter comes, I wash all my woolies, look for holes, wear and tear and try to mend it. Most of my darning happens in between and concerns socks. But then there are the various holes in sweaters. I usually use similar coloured yarn and just weave.... Continue reading