looking for true red

but I still haven't found what I'm looking for.... A very promissing colour in the dyepot with cochenille. Using cream of tartar will brighten up the shades I was told. But once the silksamples were rinsed it all changed to more brownish and purple. Bummer! Silk is very sensitive.....

Broken Beauty

In between all the classes in 2014 I have been working on a new collection. Inspired by the Wabi-sabi I experimented with the circle and a teacupform. As a surface I wanted the broken line with some golden elements. The corset-elements symbolisize the beauty. Broken Beauty was born                                                                                                                      
for more click here photo's

boring grey?

The first three months of a year are for my own pleasure - no workshops, no shows. I love those months when there is no pressure, spending my time in playing and testing.  In the last few days I have been making all kind of greys. I'm looking for a lifely one, with a kind marbled effect. I have used different natural dyes as walnut, eucalyptus, indigo and sumacleaves. To get a grey you need iron and a tannine and I have used this combination in different ways. It's a wonderful palet of all kind of shades in browngrey, bluegrey and silvergrey. And this time I have wrote down all the data to be able to re-produce the colours.

wabi sabi in Germany with Gudrun Bartenberger-Geyer

For a very welcome change I have joined a workshop myself far away from home. I went by train in a wheelchair to Konigswinter to the FiR attelier of Ricarda Assmann and Andrea Noeske-Porada to attend a 5 days course with Gudrun Bartenberger-Geyer. She is from Austria and I was happy to stay with her in the same guesthouse.

This course wasn't about technics in felting, nor about layouts or making products. This was all about catching the deeper feeling of 'Wabi Sabi'. It is hard to describe what this can be, but once you discover it it will give you an excitement which will tell you that you're on the right way.

For me it was a kind of struggle to find the simplicity in the making - I'm always tempted to loose myself in structures. It is the less is more formular. Also I'm always tempted to go into waving and ruffling fabrics. How to keep my identity but not getting romantic? The answer is reducing, but without getting bored and keeping the poetics. All the time I could see it around me, but to translate it into my work was always a doubtful proces. After this week I hope to find my creative answers much more easier...

To get inspired Gudrun has brought many photo's and creations with her. We have done several excercises to find this way and discover the different possibilities. We have played with paints, have searched the shades of whites, have experimented with materials and finaly I have made myself a loopscarf. I wanted to go home with a wearable memory of this extra-ordinary class. I'm looking forward to new classes with Gudrun in Germany or here in my atelier too when she is ready for it.