Spirit Cloth

Gathering Loose Self

I am really tired today.

I get confused by a shift in light and dark.

It is very dark. No Sun. For days, and days to come.  This shifts my sleep cycle, since the sun is my alarm clock. I woke up late. Too late for my comfort.

I am sitting here doing some last minute gathering before I begin digging in and republishing the lesson (not really that in any traditional way) pages from the original class. As I begin that process, there will be more space between class posts. The old class has a lot of audio to be converted. It takes time. Time I am taking because it needs to be done and all of this is good motivation for that.  I have not reworked my way through the old material. I want it to be new to me again as I go. Just to clearly see and compare it all to what I might think now using the same focus.

My motto as it has evolved: Be Prepared to be Unprepared.

Photos. I have a lot of them. They are untamed loose pages. All over the computer and many more on an external hard drive. Too many. Know what I mean?

Some then...

Obviously, the Sun has always been there. And mostly in the center. And it is right? Even if it sometimes feels like it isn't.

Note to self: Be like the Sun.

This is just a collage of photos that I pulled off the blog. It was fairly easy to find them because I tagged them suns for the categories. I am glad I have used that tool here, extensively, because the blog is so big. Some cloths here were from the first class, some not. Some sold, some gifted, some still here.  But even the ones that flew away, they are still here too. Because of the photos.

I'll re-organize my SunMoonStars photos today. Just that. I use Google's Picasa to manage photos. There are a lot of tools out there. I have used this one for a long time.  It's free and I like its simple editing tools and its logic. Applying tags to the photos allows me to create albums and then collages by subject.

I remember when there was no computer, no digital photos. I used to page through magazines, National Geographic. Clip and snip and make a focused scrapbook. Remember those days?

Actually mine was (is) a scrap-pile. Old loose habits. And instant refocus. Just slower.

Yes, I think there are a few piles left somewhere. This old house is a scrap pile. Maybe I will take y'all up on a tour of the cloth loft.  Gathering materials, another small journey ahead.

 

 

Still playing with the headlamp.

Just like That

Layers.

Layers transform.

Layering is a form of alignment.

Just wanted to say hi, off to do some errands.  But this just happened and it was so simple. How the moon became a sun by  layering it with a bit of star stitching. Just a running stitch. Photo shot while wearing a headlamp, it is so sunless here today. But not anymore. Gotta go, see ya.

Sunless and Moon and Stars

Today is post office day.

It's dark and sunless and I feel feel like following Soul-o's lead.

But there's things to do, so off I go.

I plan to put together a blog list (oops there it is already! →) for those who might be following along with SunMoonStars. I will put it in the sidebar here while we are time traveling. So you might get to know one another. The list is for those who have blogs  where they might be posting related  materials to my posting, maybe showing stuff they might be working on. Or sharing thoughts.  With SunMoonStars focus. It need not be cloth, just part of the conversation. You can email me with the link  if you think it is appropriate to be on the list...  Please feel free also,to add links to any posts on your side while commenting in the conversation here. But let's keep it relative to what's going on so we might inspire each other.

I unrolled a few things this morning that are still here, from the original class. It will be fun to show how they have changed and perhaps continue with them...

as well as begin a few new projects.

My intention is to continue to try to provide scrap packs and a few things for you to work with as I go, a way for you to get started and maybe make a little sampler your yourself, especially if this is the first time around for you. Don't worry about copying. It's a good way to start. The link to the ThreadCrumbs shop is now also up top as well. The Threadcrumbs blog will be incorporated here eventually as something I might tag ClothStories.  I made an info page to explain the motivation behind this new shop.

See you tomorrow Friday (more things to do than I thought), I'll test some video.

Sun Storming

Yesterday wood was stacked and we worked very hard.

I slept late and I feel lazy. It rained for a while and the sun came out and lit up the patch of tall fire grass in the front yard. And it became like a sun itself.

I just did it again. Without looking at the previous storming. Simple starting. It felt a bit like grade school.

I came away with a few things.

I stayed with little doodles. Not compositions just simple pictures. Little symbols. And I wrote in script, so I could feel the writing part. The connecting. And I realized it has been a while since I wrote in script. It even felt awkward. Like grade school. I made a note to self about that. How it has almost gone out of style to write. I'll do it more. PDF

 

I think the radiating is the most common way sun is symbolized.  This is good. Because I associate sun with center. And I can develop this imagery along side an on going theme I have for holding center and vibrating outward. Yes. I have not connected sun to that before.

When I first ran this class it was more about composing work using sun moon and stars as a theme. I am thinking now, as I gather ideas once again that it might be a bit different for me this time. At least as I begin. I might just explore the ideas in some sort of sampler format. In some basic way. At this point I have a renewed interest in the language of personal symbols. How they are components of creative voice.

 

because Tomorrow is a woodstacking day...

Just to show... This one has been developing, slowly, behind the scenes. Moons of course, are, on my mind. 

Just to say, I have put a small resource and supplier list in the right sidebar,  it will be updated but it's there. That's where it will be, as we go.

Just added to the list, a place to shelter a few small Offerings. Please read the shop info now and then, which may change from time to time.

Chores to do, so a bit of a break.

 

SunMoonStars Day 4

Yesterday I harvested half the Indigo.

I grew Japanese Indigo from seed.  The deer have nibbled it all summer long, but it just bushed back and really it was enough for a fresh leaf vat. Or 2. I've no intention of teaching indigo dyeing here. There is so much out there on the internet. I will put some links on my New Resource Page (putting that together today) which I will rebuild as I go now. I've been thinking about information in the information age. How really, if you spend the time, you can find what need to know. Facts, Techniques. Tutorials.

But Ideas. Ideas. The thing that interests me most. Ideas are the elusive things for most of us. The things that might grow forth from what we learn.

I do not look at an Idea as a static thing. An Idea is liquid in a sense that it is part of an ongoing process. It seems to exist on it's own. As if you can find it, keep it, copy it, (steal it even) however you are driven to "get" it. That can be some kind of beginning, but on a personal level it is so empty. You are a unique filter and as things move through you as a result of understanding, awareness, or activity, new form emerges. From new thought. Although thoughts might be similar, and seem the same, no one has ever thought your thoughts. The key is to find and respect them, let them out. Sometimes that is as simple as not tinkering with them too much. That's why doodling and brainstorming are so valuable. Do them as if no one will ever know. Don't judge them or shape them. Just be the filter. So you can let them though.

New Note to self: Thoughts are like dreams till you catch them.

I pulled together some old photos using words, writing. Because yesterday's adventure got me thinking. About words and image.

But then that script caught my eye. How writing strings things together.

This is the Loose Page process in action, so let me talk about that a bit.

 

audio link if you see no player

 

My goal in these exercises in not to create art, my goal is to keep my thoughts liquid. Flowing. Moving through me. And the teaching here...

to discover and share what moves through me and encourage the same in others. 

Geez. I think I finally wrote a mission statement!

I'll talk about these components later, individually. The making of them  and evolution of components as personal symbols. I'll also put a few of these Threadcrumbs in the shop. To share. See how different they might become.

SunMoonStars Day 3

Today it is raining. Not a lot. Not Enough really.

But enough to delay the scheduled firewood delivery. Monday then. No stacking today.

But more water for dyeing.

 

Lights on.

 

it's dark today and the overhead light is my Sun

It is interesting how different it seem to be hosting a "class" here on the blog. It doesn't seem like that. It seems more like what I called a "Diary Series". A long term day to day creative journey. But different still, being more mixed into regular life. I think that is what it has all become. The teaching thing has merged with the blog. This is significant for me. The Becoming One. For one thing, it takes the stress of scheduling out of it. And really, it makes it all so much more real. Free-er. In a way it all has become one, less. But in another way it all became more. Now it certainly is more about Just Going. Oddly, the security code for getting into the original class was "just going". I marvel at how the layers of days bring new form to my thinking.

Anyway, this teaching series is now officially renamed. The SunMoonStars Diary. I made that one word. And added it to my computer's dictionary so it would stop reminding me about breaking rules.

I'll tell you why I like this. Because this is how it is for all of us. We share the Sun and the Moon and the Stars. And we share how it goes, day to day, as we find time for creative thinking as the world turns. We are not different in this regard. Maybe only in how we manage it, how we see it, what we expect from it.

So before I did some new storming, I cut out the text from the original word play and saved it as an image. Then I added some color. Digitally. For folks who are computer-comfortable, this is no big deal. Not everyone is. So in real life, it is like printing out the text on paper cutting it out to the size you want. And then maybe painting over it, using the text as a base. I like how the words then might become like image. A sketch or a painting.

When you paint with a computer, the color is always interrupted by closed edges. I laughed out loud as the little moons formed here. Not expected, initially annoying, now gloriously appropriate because I noticed them.

So I am stopped in my original tracks and the moon has been caught in my words. And my words in Old Sky. Probably if my mind had not been slowed down by focus in the first place, I might have filled in the spaces.

Sun Moon Stars 2

 

Gathering Ideas

 

Gathering always seems to be the first step for a journey.  Be prepared. Gather what we need.  Gather self.

I took a look at what was gathered last time. In terms of visuals. A handful of old sketches. Scraps really, again, scraps of self. They seem more like that since I keep them loose in a shoebox and not bound in a book. Loose Pages. You might have heard me talk about those. I think, since they have a use here, it might be a good opportunity to elaborate on that process as we go.

Anyway, this is what I was saying back in 2011.

 

audio link if you see no player

There are always 2 basic parts to the gathering of ideas for me. The second part is Storming. Brain Storming in general is the process.  But specifically here... it will be Sun Moon Star Storming.

 

audio link if you see no player

Below is the quick list I made last time. I plan to do this again later. Without referring to this first storm. Let the wind in and get carried away. See what happens.

 

Sun-Storming

warmth, sunrise, sunset, daytime, sundial, radiance, center, rays, yellow, sunshine makes me happy, what's new under the sun, solar energy, shadow, sky, life, constant

Moon Storming

circle, path, time passing, the moon makes me crazy, sky, moonlight, moon shadow, man in the moon, mystery, planting, walking at night, waiting, calendar, moon-glow, nighttime, dreams, night light, spooky, ages, change

Star Storming

far away, twinkle, very old, constellations, starlight, wish upon a star, shining, clear nights, dots, time travel, holes in the sky

 

 PDF Scratch Paper

 

Note. I started where I started before, just to get this going. Already I've many new ideas. Even  new ideas about gathering ideas. I will present these reconsiderings with the next Sun Moon Stars post. The PDFs are meant to document notes and doodles and such.  Maybe they might just be a place to jot down your own ideas. Or if you don't want to waste paper, just save them somewhere. Or if you need to save space, not even that.

The Sun Moon Stars posts will be mixed in with my regular postings. Because that is the way it really goes.

Sun Moon Stars Again

A New Beginning.

 

On May 1, 2011  I began the second Mini Whispering Series. Sun Moon Stars. (The first was Whispering Hearts). And I started like this.

 

alternative audio link if you see no player

 

About the Whispering Series.

I  designed the mini series format to be loaded day by day. So you might follow along real time or drop in anytime and see how far I have come in my journey. The Mini Whispering Series was  2 weeks of intense focus on a subject, spread out over 4 weeks of posting to allow me time in between to work and upload the videos, etc. I started out slowly and then got rolling. It was not scripted in any way. I  shared my thoughts in both audio and video format as well as all the design sketches  I used in the course of the class (made available in PDF). My intention was for you to Feel Free to interpret any of these ideas in your work. I hoped to inspire you to try some ideas  and that this might help you on your way to creating your own path.

About this rerun.

I will be following the threadcrumbs of the old series. Using it as a guide. But really, in a way I am starting over. Reconsidering these concepts again. After all it is not yesterday, it is today. And tomorrow is not far off. I am disabling access to the original class after I post this. I will be converting old audios and adding new material to the old site as I go and will reopen the Series as a unit later. I have added a Sun Moon Stars category here to cluster the related posts. I will also be adding a post link list to the Sun Moon Stars page over at Feel Free so you might find all the posts in order like a menu there at any time.

Unlike the original series, this one has no set time limit. It will be here, out in the open, slower,  with no real end in site. How about that for an open ended idea?

The original series was linked to a forum. I don't think I will entertain that idea again because it is too time consuming with a large crowd. Although I will suggest that you share any work  wherever it is convenient for you to do so and encourage you to direct folks there if you wish, through the comment section.  I could set up something on social media, but do we want to do that? Let's just see.

 

As always, I will start by talking to myself...and to you...

...and doodling and what not. It will take me a few days to get into the video thing.

This is meant to be relaxed and fun, so let's not worry. No expectations.

 

 

A bit about supplies

The materials and tools I use in my work are very basic. Nothing special really. Cloth scrap, needle, thread, scissors, paper, pencil.... things like that. I will talk about them as I go, and provide info especially if I step out of the normal scope of things around me. I plan to offer a few component packs along the way. And update my resource list. But really, just try to use what you have. Improvise. Use scraps of self.

A note about Media

In addition to text, my posts will include media in the form of links, pictures, audio, video, and sometimes PDF. All audio and video will play within the post. Pictures, PDFs and links will open in separate windows if clicked. This adds to the multimedia experience. For example you might want to see and expanded view of a photo without interrupting the audio. Many tabs might be open at the same time so be aware.

To all you traveling companions, Thank You.