Makaru sees the coldest and wettest time of the year come into full swing. Traditionally, this was a good time of the year to move back inland from the coast as the winds turned to the west and south bringing the cold weather, rains and occasionally snow on the peaks of the Stirling and Porongurup Ranges. As the waterways and …
PRESS RELEASE – Jane Milburn, Textile Beat
Introducing Jane Milburn, Textile Beat Australian author, social activist and entrepreneur, Jane Milburn, joins the team at The Sound Temple in Perth Hills this month to roll out a collection of talks and interactive workshops as part of the “Common Threads – Woven through Community” exhibition, focusing on sustainability, creativity and traditional hand-crafted wisdom of the ages. A former agricultural …
A Rich Tapestry of Life – Loom Weaving
The Gentle Rhythm of the Warp and the Weft…. Ancient arts like spinning and weaving often feel like a deep homecoming. Sometimes we just innately recognise an action as familiar, even if we have come to it for the first time. Our fingers recall the gentle movements with a memory all of their own. We find our breathing starts to …
The Super Powers of The Elephant in the Room
Many of us are familiar with Ganesha, that round-bellied, elephant-headed god of the Hindu pantheon. We’ve learned that he is the great remover of obstacles and that he sits at thresholds to usher us through our transitions in life. But there is so much more to know about Ganesha. You may have found that Ganesha has come to your rescue …
Step Away From The Screen, Do Something With Your Hands
Mindful Mending – A Return to Being Useful. For hundreds of years we felt deeply connected to the things we grew, cooked, ate, made, crafted, used and wore. We fixed and mended stuff. We used things until they fell apart. Hems on trousers were taken up, skirts let down, patches made and holes in socks darned. Buttons, without thought, were …
Slow Sewing Can Save Your Sanity!
Ever heard of the Slow Sew Movement? It’s an initiative that’s gaining momentum around the world for a number of reasons. It’s about reminding ourselves what goes into the making of something, through the patience and skillfulness of our own hands. It’s about approaching the act of creativity in a mindful manner, stitch by stitch, as one meanders across a …
Out with Pink Latex and Leopard Skin, In with Conscious, Sustainable, Ethical Slow Fashion
Death by Consumption Fast Fashion and 52 Seasons of Planned Product Obsolescence One thing most social theorists agree on is that our contemporary culture is marked distinctly by the insatiable appetite we have for ‘stuff’. Consumer items, clothes, accessories, iPhones, flat screen TVs … the list goes on. But why is it like that? Well, they argue, it’s because one …
Once in a Blue Moon …. Twice in a Blue Moon
Blue Moon, You Saw Me Standing Alone ….. Over 400 billion years ago, a massive planetary explosion occurred and a chunk of the earth broke off. This inter-planetary crash was the birth of our moon as we know it today. The Full Moon has always had a certain mystical and magical quality to it. From a mythological tradition, the Roman …
Bunnies, Births and Blessings … and the Easter Bilby
The Traditions behind our Easter Celebrations Since the pre-historic era, people have come together to celebrate the equinoxes and the solstices as sacred and significant events. While it was a way of honouring and making meaning of the changing cycles of life, traditional societies came to map their whole life according to the patterns of nature. Sacred Easter traditions have …
Soulful Sewing, Spirit Stitch
Sacred Garment, Spirit Wrap “When we enter into the realm of creativity, consciously, with focus and intention, there’s something of ourselves that we weave into our work. And when we abandon any strict or rigid expectations, we allow the creative process to seep into our experience. Self-awareness comes gently trickling into our consciousness and flows on into our work. …