Spirit Cloth

Hunker Down on the Edge #1

 

Where was I?

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And some related rambling...

Can't believe how dark some of these videos were, no sun I guess.

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Yesterdays, Todays, Tomorrows

 

This pic is from Yesterday

Because I knew there would be no sun Today.

The internet is slow today, so I will try working bit by bit on a post  about bindings  (for the robe openings) Tomorrow. 

2006. I found this photo again, that I posted on Flickr, when I announced the creation of this blog. Me. "I will call my blog SpiritCloth." How I appeared, wrapped in woven and patched wool, now somehow imagining that I may disappear in the same manner. I do believe the Wool Robe will be some special kind of Big Cloth project. For the winter of 2020.

For now, I will wrap up the general robe lessons with some binding ideas. And continue to work on and talk about the bird robe and the wind robe now and then through summer. With the arrival of May I will get back to considering quilt/blanket ideas. Maybe one robe post and one blanket post per week. With some life and thought catching in between. It will all run together anyway. As we try to stay sane.

The Big Swing

My mood is unusually unstable.

This old painting says it, pretty much. With maybe the addition of a big laugh in between. The state of the world isn't helping.

 

I do have this lovely photo of the sea, by my son, I will hang it today.  We talked about it. How much I miss her, Old Sea. Maybe we can't won't stay here.  The thing is, if we do, if we need to, it is colder in winter. Winter is longer.

I looked at Mom's lamp, Hi Mom, and the old weaving of earth beast on the wall, and I thought gee, probably because we are in robe mode and one thing leads to another, why not consider a wool robe ?, one that might give me an opportunity to use all the stray wool and woolen weavings around here. And the sun is out! OK, mood swing!

Slow Spring

 

It's late April in the Valley. Has it only been a few months here?

Looking out the front window, after cutting the bushes down, which were blocking the view.

We began a first cut, working a section at a time, to keep the ticks at bay. I think we need to get a small tractor or sit on type thing if we can find a used one. To mulch and cut because the small mower we have takes a lot of energy. Then, probably , for the first time, considering hiring a few local guys to do some clean up, because they probably need the work. If we can. 

That's the well cap sticking up. The water is iffy here. We have a UV filter. 

Surprised to be able to post this morning. Just here, marveling. 

Stitched some dart like distortions into this one with coffee.  Just to note that such things as discussed yesterday might simply be intentional distortions on any cloth surface, not just a solution to needed flatness. Here, like wrinkles in time. Love how darts are like discontinuous seams. Hold that thought.  This is destined to become larger.

Or here, for texture.

If I am trying to say how it happens, where new form comes from, then I need to be truthful. About my focus being something quite formless. Fluid. Not some strict confinement. Can you Imagine strips of wrinkles, applied to a surface. I did.

Then I imagined a colorless robe. A thin veil of imperfection. To shelter in.

Hunker Down and Keep Trying

Today's note to self...posting here, for now, well, it's ridiculous. But I know it's possible. Moments here, moments there, OK, it's a patchwork. Little bits at a time. Duh jude, figure out a way to hold it together. That's what you do. So less often, posts being built over a series of days. Content, in smaller pieces perhaps. In perspective, appropriate. 

 

The thing I like about cloth is that it seems kind.

You can make friends with it, it will cooperate if you give it's nature some consideration. Like working with anything,(anyone), it is basically an exercise in problem solving (not always JUST going), based on what you have to work with.  I often say ingenuity springs from a relationship based on patience and flexibility. Love, I guess. Yes, I just love cloth.

Cloth is like clay. I will be like Clay.

I had been slowly adding strips of that patchwork curtain to the front of the robe. I added one of the other pieced strips as well. but I moved the strip slightly, off it's original course, because cloth lets you do that...to fit the one side of the neckline. I like the gentle curve of the seams. How it flows. Seems to adapt to the situation. Seems to soften. Like gentle wind.

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I was already wearing Wind at this point. Getting know it. Walking, Sitting, even Sleeping with it. Oh Ha!

 

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I have been posting content from an old class, just wanting to finish up the basic approach to robe making as it applies to a large cloth base you might choose to work on. I will get through the basics of that soon and with May, move on to other forms of large cloth.  But know that all these techniques might be applied to a quilt type project as well.  My goal is never actually to lead you through something step by step but to inspire you to find your own comfort with problem solving. Offering my perspective.

As I look back, at any point, I might have taken another direction. Watching all of you doing your own thing reminds me how that might happen. 

Thank you for your patience as always...