Thursday 7 January 2016
Thursday 31 December 2015
Towers Against the Sky
My camera roll always seems to be full of shots of these - I never really want to go up inside the towers, but I'd love to take a crane ride outside to see the detail on top up close...
This last one wins because it has a unicorn
Thursday 17 December 2015
The Fabric of India
I went to this V&A exhibit a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. For me, the most interesting parts were detailing the traditions to do with dying using natural dyes - the bolts of gorgeous indigo and turmeric dyed cloth are stunning - and the videos about cultivating different silk worms with examples of the differences in the woven cloth were fascinating.
Here's a quick round up of some Indian inspired bits and bobs I love
Botto is a textile art studio in Bombay, who do some interesting stuff - I love how this embroidery takes typical Bollywood colours and gives a contemporary twist with the background choice. The shapes and simplicity keep it feeling fresh too.
A super simple sari-as-curtain idea from the book 'Cloth'; gorgeous fabrics need no extra help to show off, and the light playing through them will just add an extra dimension. Now to get on ebay for some second hand saris to hang...
Kantha is a Bengali technique using running stitch to layer together fabrics (traditionally a way to use scraps or reuse part-worn cloth). Even the simplest patterns give a wonderful tactile quality to the cloth, as the stitches create little waves in the dense pad of fabric.
Aari embroidery, from Kashmir, is similar to punch hole embroidery, using a hook to create a sort of chain stitch. I love what the artist here has done combining curved and straight lines - there's a tutorial on her blog too
Thursday 10 December 2015
Burano Blues
I realise that for most people, Mondays are the baddie of the week, as everyone returns to work - but in theatre, the first half of a Monday is still the weekend, and the day only gets dull in the evening when we all troll in for the first show of the week. (Before you explode with jealousy, remember we all work all day every Saturday...). For us, the midweek matinee is the real slog - twice the work of a normal day, and no imminent reprieve in sight.
To cheer up my Thursday matinee day, I've decided to start a series of Thursday blog posts about cool stuff (admittedly a pretty broad remit)... so here we go
The best thing about this photo is that, unbeknownst to me, my buddy Emma (a great photographer) took exactly the same shot of this chimney breast on her holiday last year, validating the excellence of my taste.
We got there pretty late on the last afternoon of our trip, so the light wasn't great for capturing all this gorgeousness. If I ever go back I'll be hot footing it straight onto the vaparetto out there.
Top tip: weirdly enough we also found that the nicest examples of Murano glass were being sold here (not on Murano) - mostly smaller pieces and touristy stuff like tree decorations and magnets, but given that all we really wanted was a little souvenir that was perfect. If you want a glass sculpture chess set with the pieces shaped as Roman Catholics verses Jews, you'll need to hit Murano itself.
Tuesday 24 November 2015
Thinking Socks Rethought
One thing I especially love about knitting is the way that items come to represent memories of what you did whilst making them - they are a slice of your life. The striped strata above are a narrow boat holiday in the sun, evenings snuggled up with The Walking Dead, and weekend in Brighton catching up with old friends.
Whereas below, the geological progression are a few days in tech rehearsals getting to know new colleagues, some hours stood in theme park queues laughing at my niece's impatience, and a handful of stolen minutes on the train looking forward to home.
Whereas below, the geological progression are a few days in tech rehearsals getting to know new colleagues, some hours stood in theme park queues laughing at my niece's impatience, and a handful of stolen minutes on the train looking forward to home.
Monday 3 November 2014
30* for 30 Reading Challenge
My 29th birthday looms, and not far behind that lurks my 30th... so I've decide to celebrate by setting myself a reading challenge: between those two dates I'm going to read one book published in each year I've been alive.
I've tried to choose a mix of fiction & non, a few graphic novels (even one manga), and I've aimed for a mix of genres that reflects my normal tastes, the idea being that whatever my mood I'll be able to find something from this list to work with (I'll not necessarily read 'in order')
Here's the books... some years are blank where I haven't picked anything out yet (suggestions welcome!). Some have more than one option, where it'll depend what I can get hold of easily.
Books in italics are ones I haven't yet acquired... so if you happen to have a copy I can borrow that'd be nice
*ok, ok, it's actually 31....
I'm done! I sort of got distracted along the way and stopped to read a quick 51 other books between these official one, but still finished in plenty of time
Friday 20 June 2014
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