Inspiration

It really is a matter of looking, when out and about, to see inspiration in our surroundings. Here at the Garden City shopping centre you wouldn't think there would be much inspiration apart from the interesting window displays in some shops, but this 'living' wall is wonderful, if a little hard to photograph!

And this cladding on some unopened retail space changed from the detail above to......

the eyes have it! Many more layers added, reminding me of clever artistic design.
 

Stencils

I have many commercial stencils that I have collected over the years for use in my workshops and I got a few out for the grandkids and I to use with some canvas pieces. Most of the canvasses had been painted before, so we added another layer of paint to get some interesting effects.

Some possibilities here. 

Lallgarh Palace

We paused at the Lallgarh Palace Bikaner, now a heritage hotel, for a cool drink and while waiting for the sweet lime sodas to reach us, I snapped a few photos of these decorative tiled plaques. I love blue and white so they were particularly appealing.

The wide colonnaded passageways had many old photos of a bygone era.

Amber Fort

Near Jaipur, the Amber Fort sits on a hill overlooking the spreading city boundaries. A jeep takes you up the fortifications and inside is a feast for the eyes in the Sheesh Mehal, Hall of Mirrors.

It is roped off but if you bend down you can look inside to the magnificence and be transported back to the 16th century and Mughal rule.

Mysterious doorways and passages.

Everyday decorative patterns

Mystical, religious India celebrates each day and decorative, homely or spiritual elements are part of the environment, incorporated into/onto walls or on the floor.

The earthy brown colour is a combination of cow dung and chaff mixed to make an 'adobe' style layer for buildings or floors. These decorations were seen in rural Rajasthan on the way to Ranthambore, where we went on 2 tiger spotting safaris. We did see 1 tiger, sitting in long grass on the first afternoon. It's a wonder he wasn't scared away with the noise, shouting, jostling and excitement from the tour groups, mainly Indian nationals. However he was a man-killer, but not eater, and had dispatched 3 local victims who had wandered into his territory.

 

Jewellery

We visited the beautiful Jewels Emporium established in 1841 in Jaipur, which specialises in traditional and modern Indian designs. India is known for rubies and emeralds as well as many other precious and semi-precious stones. Above, I am modelling the Star Ruby ring set with diamonds. The turquoise and silver ring is one I have had for years.

We had a tour of the work rooms and saw the design and manufacturing process. A feature design in the process of being set with diamonds. The assemble room was having their chai break when we called in. They also stop for afternoon tea and lunch of course.

The central  medallion design was enamel on gold with cabochon rubies and diamonds in the Indian Kunden style. Weddings call for special pieces to be worn by the bride and groom. Great to see the high end designs in the jewellery market. No free samples for us! 

Textile shopping

Just a few too many choices spilling off the shelves. The salesman is very happy to spread them out on the floor and soon the pile grows into a mountain of delicious colour. The workmanship is exquisite on the older pieces.

A silk background for fine embroidery.

This Susani work has completely cover the original cream coloured base fabric. Everything you see here is stitch.

Of course you may find 1 or 2 bored husbands in the fabric also. L Michael R Bob.

Rhonda modelling a silk embroidered sari.
 

Block printing

This was a camel encounter with a very friendly camel and his handler at Sanganer, where we were checking out the block printing and dyeing of fabrics. Many small family owned businesses are in this town, 20 minutes south from Jaipur.

The blocks are neatly stacked and numbered. So many to choose from! We were selecting from the natural dye prints.

Rhonda and I laid them out on the long table for a better viewing.

 

Hidden Treasures exhibition

This is an amazing exhibition that is full of many objects, my favourites being the delicate, artful gold jewellery with so much turquoise inlay it is staggering. On at the Queensland Museum at present until January 27, we finally got to see it and loved it; so much history in the artefacts and the chance to keep Afghan culture alive.

Inspirations

I don't usually post on a Sunday, preferring to have 1 day a week without my computer, but I have so many lovely images from the recent trip, I thought you may enjoy a few extra inspirations.

The Apsara dancers were popular images for carvings and why not when they are so beautiful?

On my design wall

My work is slowly progressing for India Adventure. I have 8 quilts to finish and am happy with my designs so far. Six of the quilts are basted and /or quilted. The quilt above was in the early stages of development.

As was this one. They both use the fabric I printed at the shopping centre from the wood blocks. The Pipal [or Peepal] leaves were printed in India. My aim is to use the fabrics and trims I bought while on tour as well as more, of course. 

Leaves

You may already know that I am drawn to Nature's inspirational world and in particular the world of leaves, so it was lovely to see the variety appliqued on a quilt at a recent quilt show. Just walking around my neighbourhood provides me with the raw material I need if I want to print foliage. Thanks Mother Nature.
I'm having computer free time over the weekend but will be back on Monday with a blog.

Go baby cutter

This is a fun little fabric cutter, the Go baby that can cut up to 6 layers of fabric at a time. You buy the dies that you like and roll it all through the machine. I couldn't resist it so got one for my daughter and we quickly made up some little Summer t-shirts.

Yes Chris, I made sure I wore a long top to cover the bum when I worked! I used paint rather than oil sticks which can get very messy.

 

In the threads

I am preparing some cloth napkins to use, so am unpicking the sewn edges and I casually placed the threads in this bowl, that was close at hand. When I looked at it later, it reminded me of the custom of tea leaf readings. I wonder what my threads are telling me?

New inspiration

We are off to the Samford Patchworkers Quilt Show this morning. It's always a great day out with craft items for sale too. It is on from 9am- 4pm today and tomorrow at the Community Hall, School Rd, Samford. There is a $5 admission charge and morning tea.

Earlier this week I put up new inspiration ideas on my design wall. These are fabrics from the January India trip and will be incorporated into new work for India Adventure a small exhibition I'll begin working on.

This is a wood block print and I love the bright colours.