weaving the rainbow

Calm before the storm... Children's weaving workshops, The Blue Mountains, 2011

I cannot believe it has been two weeks since I said good bye to the lovely students at the weaving workshops and jumped on a train for home. I guess you can notch it up to the fact that it's December, and Christmas is a callin'! My life resembles a run away freight train... 

But in the quiet moments I think back to my week in The Blue Mountains and how much fun I had teaching fabric weaving techniques to a group of nine year olds. The whole experience is fast becoming one of my highlights for the year. 

But before I go any further...maybe I should rewind the tape a little...

Back in October I was catching up with my good friend Amy as she was in Sydney for the day. I was saying that I would love to start teaching some workshops in the things that I love - namely weaving, playing with colour, and art. Amy - who has been living with her family in the mountains for 10 years or so and is an amazing artist herself, specialising in jewellery - has three of her children in a lovely school with a focus on creativity and creative learning... 

And she had an idea...

Now - life sometimes provides you with a 'perfect' moment or 'meeting of the minds'. And that day, over coffee, it happened to Amy + me as she went on to suggest that I give a series of artist-in-residence workshops at the children's school! You have to love the universe in these moments!

I was so thrilled to be asked and so excited to get up there and get started with teacher Erica, Amy, and 17 nine year olds who were already working with wool dying techniques and colour! I was all set! 

So today I can reveal the images from the final workshop of the week as the kids were finishing off their woven bowls. And boy - were they great! All of them created unique little bowls that were colourful, textural and beautiful... 

And just perfect for a Christmas gift!

Hope you enjoy...

A rainbow of recycled fabrics, dyed and prepared by Amy...

Amy sitting up the space in the beautiful school auditorium...

The wool which had been hand dyed by the children before I arrived! So we had the most amazing
materials and natural fibres to work with....

Getting busy... on the third day which was my last day with them...

It was so great to see all their hands getting busy... and wrapped in so much colourful fabric!

Many of the students were clothed in the most amazing colours, so the room became a sea of colour when they were weaving. They knew how to mix it all up and not be afraid of experimenting with the rainbow
of fabrics and colours on hand....and that was so great to see.

Keepin it flat! Some of the students wanted to make a 'big' woven bowl, so I kept saying to them.. 'keep it flat'
so they could make it bigger and not let the piece creep upwards... creating the sides of their bowls.

This one didnt quite make it... so it became a 'tiny' bowl...just perfect for a few marbles!

And in the end...what did we make? Tiny little coloured hand made woven bowls...with cooper name tags.
The perfect Christmas gifts for someone they love.... 

I had such a fantastic time with everyone at the school. From Erica, their amazing teacher, to all the parents who shared their time and helped, to all the children who {hopefully} had fun... and finally.... to Amy and her family who invited me up to The Blue Mountains to share in their world...  

An experience I will never forget.

Photo Credits: Most of these images taken by Amy Jenkin as I didn't have a spare set of hands! Thank you...xx