the little people

Went to a doll-making workshop yesterday with artist Cher Shaffer. 

In a most magical place.  

The little people came, lots of them.  

Maker Faire NC is this coming Saturday.  I am so happy to be the featured maker!

who needs low-lights in their hair when feathers abound? you knew i would follow this trend.

tea and bleach

trying some solar dyeing with natural dyes from blue castle fiber arts. i've never tried the powdered stuff, and it even comes with an herbal mordant! so i'm enjoying the experimenting... and putting this blazing sun to some good use..


feathers gathered just from this afternoon.. the birds are moulting. lots of tail feathers this time of year too, on the ground, not on the birds. i wonder if they know about jude's magic feather project.. i think they might send her some real feathers along with the stitched ones.


a little experiment with bleach and tea, tea and bleach. staining and removing stain, like remembering and forgetting, over and over. the splotchiness of this block may be overdone 80s, but it does remind me of elderberry's colours. her horse mom was an appaloosa. i was thinking a lot about elderberry being sterile and how i think that's part of what makes me want to honor her. i worry about mules, maiden aunties, spinsters, and crones without offspring... who will remember us? i am working on expanding my outworn ideas of family and fertility.

the heat has inhibited exploring and gathering, but i still need to look for an elderberry bush nearby. there was a lovely mother elder at our old house, sprung right at the site of the blanched, fallen oak, but i never dyed with her. i'm so grateful to have found some elderberry partners.

it's good to be home.

the geese left me lots of presents.

Getting ready to leave for Gay for Eagles Redux tonite. Come if you can!

after the thaw

so glad that the washer and the kitchen sink have finally thawed out. lots of laundry and dishes. while it was frozen, i learned that a new roller derby is starting in my area!! sarah and i took a field trip to greensboro and skated all over the sports authority, and then the main street of our little town at night. and the last bit of big news is that my hair is now very platinum!! i love it so much that i wish i hadn't waited so long to do it. white skates, hair, and christmas.

by any other name

some of my handmade feather earrings are in my shoppe... and my new dottie friend is by allyson mellberg (i've wanted one for ages!) things are going along pretty well, although i'm cold and tired and so very glad the market is *over*. exhausting!

i'm on a mission now to introspect and regroup, which may last the winter. of course i do my best introspecting via blogging! so i hope you'll join me. i'm actually going to try to come up with a business plan of sorts, although first i need to think of a different name for it that doesn't make me vomitous. and before that even, a clearer vision of the life and work i want, and before that, what really matters to me.. see? lots of navel-gazing forthcoming here..

let me begin with the name thing. i met some people these past weekends who i had first met online, and i identified myself as drucilla. but then there are some older friends around who know me by my birth name. and some people get confused or reactive to a change of name. some can be unsupportive and even disrespectful. i confess that when i had an old friend decide to go by a different, more formal version of her given name, i thought it was a bullshitty move (but then, she was kinda full of it..). and it's easy to laugh at middle-aged divorcees who choose new new-agey monikers. but i am trying to be more full of love and self-love, and less jaded in my own middle age. i'm persuaded by gala darling that

"life is not about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself"

and i have always, always, since the beginning of my memories, wished for a girlie name...

xox
drucilla

excuse me, i've been in a crafting fog

friends, i've missed you! i feel like my real life has rudely infringed on my online one... but much crafting has been accomplished in preparation for our first handmade market at the hotel. i love some of the new things i came up with, including a use for all those feathers i've gathered all summer! the market finally started today and it's been great fun getting ready and meeting new folks. makes me even wonder if i might like being a shoplady, although i still wonder..



more pics soon.. i need to go and catch up with your blogs now!!

even when i try to do my farm chores quickly, it doesn't work out.. there is always the perfect feather right in my path. feathers everywhere, actually. it is interesting to me though, how many "imperfect" feathers there are. feathers that are too dirty and wet, but also broken and half-gone feathers, discoloured feathers, and feathers that are missing, well, feathers. i like that they show some wear though. and they are all so individual. i wonder how on earth feather-harvesting works for down comforters and suchlike? i probably don't really want to know.

i've been feeling *so* much better the last two days, and that's after a long bout with the flu. i was feeling lame and down from being sick a while, although i did luxuriate a bit in my bed with my dogs and miss marple... but the last couple of days have been so much improved and with the weather, even glorious.

i was talking to mum about my little crafty business and my frustrations with lacks in productivity, and i said something about a modest goal... of making something every day (not necessarily completing anything, just actively working on making something) and also listing something every day. or as much as possible. (there may not always be something to list, but i have quite a backlog right now in mum's attic).. and it seemed simple and probably not all that helpful, but somehow it has kicked me into gear.

i am loving perpetua's new blog (as well as her beautiful work!!) and i'm with her on wanting to make Something of my life... even if there is no Thing and life is really just life. i am really very post-ambitious, but still i'm tired of talking about what i want to do. i'm tired of buying supplies and making things i love but that just pile up in my armoire. i like entrepreneuring in many ways, and i have no reason not to give this a good go. even if "this" will continue to morph..

today involved..

gathering feathers
meeting with a potential new studio-mate
finishing framing swap piece for mr. x stitch!
finishing and photographing custom order
photographing a lot of other stuff
buying printer cartridges
2 listings

rooster tail feather

this might be the very grandest feather i've found, the king of all feathers. i might wear it in my hair tonight for the opening at the studio. i also noticed a tree at the edge of the yard with unidentified fruits heavy all over it. is it some kind of pear?