29.1.10 Weaving Workshop with Yonit Crystal

We didn't have much time to weave, but we got a small taste of this ancient craft.

24-27.1.10 Brighton

CENTRIM, University of Brighton

Brighton Center
A view on the magnificent Royal Pavilion of King George IV:

Unfortunately I didn't have the time to visit it, but thanks to Yoram, I even had the chance to make some "Beads Shopping" in the last minute ;-) at The Brighton Bead Shop (bead sun limited).

23.1.10 Evolution Of Maiko Kage Flower Earrings

It took me 3 trials till I got it right. A new pair of earrings for the Angora dress I bought few days ago in order to wear them in Brighton. This time I also used 15/0 seed beads.

15-16.1.10 The beginning of Spring in Bat-Shlomo

If you wonder what these fruits are, then they were picked from the Arbutus andrachne tree (קטלב) and are quiet tasty. Omer has a dream to make one day some jam out of it.

15.1.10 Wool Dyeing Workshop with Yonit Crystal

The pictures below give you a glance on the ambiance of this colorful workshop we had, following the previous one on the Wool Spinning.
We started from soaking the clean wool and ended up with dyeing it with different plants from our surroundings. We used various methods and treatments, experimenting trials and errors.

Look what orange-reddish color can come from Eucalyptus kruseana leaves and stems!

On the other hand, the following Flame Vine/Venusta/Pyrostegia ignea, which is actually flamboyant nowadays in Rehovot, wasn't as promising as it looked.

We played with whatever we brought, such as these Hibiscus flowers who gave a bright grey dye (not shown here):


Look at one of Yonit's Dyed Wool indexes!!! She started recording her dyeing experiments since 1993 and has interesting secrets inside...

see?
This small woven carpet is another type of index that she works with.

Finally, Uri, the founder of the whimsical "Old dairy" farm, called me to see these 2 spiders, apparently the big one is the female. They were quiet impressing...

13.1.10 Another pair of Flower Earrings for Sarah

Sarah was on vacation when I intended to give her the flower earrings inspired by Maiko Kage, but R., her assistant, was there to tell me that the earrings were beautiful, but not really Sarah's style. She told me the Dr. would have preferred something more delicate. So I tried today a new version, with RAW of 3x3 for the petals and have 2 options to propose tomorrow :-) Hope one of them will hit her taste ;-) Let's see...

14.1.10
She loved them both :-), preferred the 2nd version, as R. suggested and had the pleasure to receive the two of them.

10-11.1.10 Surprise Birthday presents, Watches recycling and the Blue Pitaya Earrings for Dvorah

Sis Dvorah is going to be 35 years old in 11 days. Her oldest adorable child and her husband are preparing her a surprise party tomorrow.

It's been months since Dvorah gave me some watches she asked me to fix. I was quiet reluctant and kept postponing it.
Recently, Mom brought me Dvorah's bead collection she used to have as an adolescent, while playing with polymer clay jewels she was making.
I can't believe I managed yesterday to fix the watches thanks to beads' "recycling" and also repaired a pendant that Mom asked me to. What a relief!!! I am not sure the watches look better now, but at least she can put them on.
Now the thing is that the blue watch was an example, or "archetype" Dvorah gave me in order to repair the pink one in the same way of stringing and size (an elastic thread was originally used, which didn't last too much, as expected and many beads were lost).
Dad gave me a hint that I can make my sister earrings for her birthday and reminded me she likes the blue ( how can I forget?? :-]). Since all this happened so quickly, I had left only two days to prepare something. So I decided to make the Pitaya earrings (designed by Mariposa, as I have made recently), but was missing something to decorate or elongate it. Eureka! Two of the beads from the blue watch fits perfectly to the Pitaya earrings. So I did something I am not used to and unpicked the "archetype" watch, repaired it and took the beads I wanted for the earrings :-)
Now, I hope she will like it and not kill me ;-)

Last, some new beads I bought on Friday in Jerusalem, in the Avgad store, probably for future earrings....

12.1.10
The party was nice, but surprisingly Dvorah didn't seem surprised?! To make the long story short, it happens that she organized herself a surprise party with full cooperation of her oldest son, so you can just guess whose surprise it was ;-)

1.1.10 From the Wool to the Thread - a Spinning Workshop with Yonit Crystal

Happy New Year 2010 dear friends and readers!

I had the great occasion to start the year with a wonderful spinning workshop adventure.

Towards the end of the workshop, Yonit arrived carrying in her hands 2 of her own giant handmade weaved baskets, full of beautifully colored skeins, from wool that she herself gathered, cleaned, spun and colored with Nature colors. It was an exciting moment. How many people like this do you encounter today, in your day-to-day life? It felt like everything was worth it to be present in this whimsical place (המחלבה הישנה, Moshav Ometz), at this time, in this workshop.
Yonit is an artist and craftswoman living from her own handmade work and instruction. She wears clothes that she herself knitted from wool that she gathered from sheep. Also her hat in the picture above is woven by her. Very interesting woman, who reminds me of my Grandma. Very assertive, diligent, strong and she knows exactly what she wants.
I failed learning the skill of Spinning, but I will try to practice at home when Omer will be available to create for me one distaff, as I kindly asked him to :-)
Above you can see pictures of the process from the step of taking the dirty wool, to cleaning it, brushing it, spinning it and finally have beautifully naturally colored skeins.
I am already impatient for next workshop when we are going to dye the wool. To be continued ... :-)