moving on

the red is still present, but less to the fore. i do become more monochrome in the winter.
the drip is what is interesting. overloaded excessive uncontained but on a path  bulging falling ...dripping
not so much the drop. the point of contact  but the liminal between overflow and death.

running in tandem is the mind / action dilemma. of a stimulus creating an an uncontrollable reaction.
been reading simone de beavoir and diamond sutra to try to have a clearer perspective.

but i think there is a bridge. a meeting point of the two trajectories.

images will follow..

red drawing

red textile

attempting to make a mithridate for the mind

object11.10

object11.10

loss of focus

how to make ink

cottrell park wood blog

walden

as if you can kill time without injuring eternity

The path is narrow...it is easy to fall off

I have been very lax lately, and have been buying way to much new stuff. It is like a drug. I even bought wrapping paper yesterday, something I havn't done in 3 years.

But having just come across this blog I am back on the path of goodness, reused and handmade!

http://abuncandance.blogspot.com/

Melin Medi Weekend

So - a lot didn't go to plan, but that didn't matter.

Friday was a washout, so Saturday morning was spent building the barley sheaf instead of grinding oats. .

With help from Derren and Alyn, a beautiful structure emerged. We used sticks from various trees of the site, bamboo, gold silks, wool and threads.

Saturday afternoon I decided to embroider the Rumi poem onto a piece of linen attached to a hawthorn tree. I left it there for others to complete. Standing beside the river taking the time to stitch the words is a good way to contemplate.

In the evening at twilight I tried to light the fire to make the transformation to the next stage - it absolutely refused to light - of course I had used entirely non-flammable materiels so what did I expect. I think that secretly I didn't want it to burn. And so after three attempts I left it to see the Sunday morning sun.

On Sunday afternoon I finally made some oats cakes on the fire in the garden. I tried three different varieties of salt. I liked the plain best. With cheese and Mari's Plum jelly. Lovely.

Melin Medi

Notice how each particle moves
Notice how everyone has just arrived here
from a journey
Notice how each wants a different food
Notice how the stars vanish as the sun comes up
and how all streams stream towards the ocean.

Rumi

How to make Bara Crai / Oat bread

Location: Under the stone arch bridge

Saturday Midday: Rolling and grinding the oats to make flour

Sunday Midday: Making the flat bread over a fire.

Notice...

Location: The Meadow

Saturday Sundown: burning the haystack

Sunday Sunrise: transformation of the residue

The artworks made at New Mill are very much determined by a period and context specific spirit. The do-it-yourself process of constructing objects from odds and ends demonstrates the value of conceiving art as a model of engagement with the world, speaking not only with things but also through things. Through transformation and reinvention, the works effect a temporalisation of objects that articulates new forms, placing emphasis on the 'act' rather than on the finished 'product', seeking to dematerialise the art object as a commodity.

prepping at new mill. walked in circular direction to create space for the barley stack fire next weekend.

listened to the melody of a fallen tree.

New Mill Drefelin

Exhibition Melin Medi in a month. Visited on Sunday. An amazing place. Thoughts so far are about taxes, hair cuts and reflections. hmmm.

failure and success

I managed to make 4 of the 5 inks I set out to do. The hawthorn was a failure. After filling the pig bladders (which were kind of like a piece of chicken, not so bad) I made small parchment and leather bags to put them in,

and tied tightly with suture. This was left hanging outside my window for 10 days to dry out. It smelt. It got contaminated with maggots. So I froze it, then cut it open the next day. Emptied out the frozen maggots. There was really nothing left with which I could try to make the ink. So although there was no end product, the process was totally fascinating.

Of the other 4,

the oak gall, or Gallo-tannic, was the most successful. A small sample of each ink was on display, in petite bottles from my dad's old dental kit box. Along side was a small book of process photographs and a sample of text written onto calf vellum that detailed the materials, processes and contributors.

Exhibition over. Distinction achieved. What now?

Continue the process -

no buying.

i am thinking of making lipstick next. or cigarettes. or soap. or shoes.

bladders

I have made contact with an abattoir willing to get me a couple of pigs bladders for the hawthorn recipe. Ugh - not looking forward to having to go there to collect. But am kind of intrigued to see what they will be like. I have also ordered my vellum from William Cowley (lovely people), which I will write the five recipes on. NOT cheap - but then why should it be. It is an animal skin. It is a precious object. They are also sending me something to make little pouches out of to put the ink bladder bags into.

2 weeks to go.

Recycled paper - how hard can it be?

I just had to buy my first new paper in over 2 years so I can print my MA report. Managed to feel ok with Xerox recycled pure+ - 100% post consumer, no bleach, paper wrapped.

Ivory Black

I have made my first two inks for the Slow Writing project:

Ivory black and vine black.

Thanks to the donations of vine tips

and the ivory tusk

The ivory is a beautiful deep brown. The vine much bluer black.

The muller given to me by Rob has made such a difference - beautiful glossy liquid with lovely patterns on the base as it is created.

I will start in the hawthorn and oak gall soon.

The MA show web site is up and running, if not yet complete:

www.smuma.org

Oak Apples

Thanks to the lovely Helen - A Farmer's Daughter - for the Oak Galls. I will keep you posted!

Beginning the ink

Today I am off to carbonise... I have vine tips collected from Wild Fig farm, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. I have a fleece from Danae's mum's farm in Llangynidr, and a sheeps skull from Llyn y Fan mountain. No luck with the ivory yet, tho I plan to try some charity shops on the way down to Fireworks.

Faraday was a bookbinder

I just found out that Faraday was a bookbinder first. I just love co-incidence.

Enchanting History exhibition

Llantarnam Grange

Western Mail article

long time

ok - i have been lapse. a catch up is required.

ma project - slow writing: an etymology of ink. using all the detritus etc of the past few yrs to make inks, explore writing, drawing, making, historical, political, philosophical, ....

exhibition work for llantarnam grange arts map show - 5 birds; a collaboration with Danae Hunter - final year homeopath student. A series of performances documented photographically, a book, prints, bird shrines, beliefs, medicine, craft ...

some images to follow.