Back in the day, I did a batik demo at Bedlam Farm at their Fall Open House. People often ask me if I give classes, and I usually groan and say no, please, go to my website and look at my tutorials. I have so much on there. Maybe I have too much information and…
In my studio, I work with three different types of wax: Beeswax, which is soft and does not crackle; paraffin, a harder wax that, used alone, can crackle too much, to the extent that your image can be lost; and also soy wax, which I buy in bags of flaked wax. This is the softest…
Many people ask me where my inspiration comes, and how do I plan my designs for my batik artwork. I have two different ways of approaching a batik. Some of my batiks are done mostly with the tjanting tool, which is a brass or copper bowl with a spout. The tjanting is a very ancient…
The batik is finally finished, covered with wax, and now it’s time to remove it and reveal the bright colors underneath. There are several ways to do this. Some artists, especially in Indonesia, boil the wax out of the fabric. This has the advantage of having the wax rise to the top, and when it…
It has been three months to the day now since I flew off of Star while riding up on the trails behind my house. It was a slow recovery. I got used to using a walker, a cane, and gradually climbing up the hill again where I go in the warm months to just be,…
Vanilla is still miffed at me for having someone else feed him while I was in recovery. He has been very grouchy, but on this visit, he took an apple from Henry, which is a big accomplishment. The hot sun blazes down on the Day Lilies and Star and Vanilla search for shade and cool…
The warm spring sun in May rarely shines for all the rain. The meadows and pastures are green and thick. When the sun shines it is heaven and I remember wondering how I would face the challenge of keeping Star and Vanilla well cared for and get my dye buckets ready for the summer dyeing…
The dashboard of my car had a tiny plastic cow sitting on it, a jersey cow. I knew right away Dick had set it there….. He had left some other days and I still keep one up in the bedroom. I met Dick in Ashfield, Mass after his new herd of jersey cows broke out…
It was Saturday morning that I went out to the barn and my llama Vanilla lay in his stall, and did not bother to come to eat his grain. This has never happened. He’s always had a very healthy appetite, and when I saw that I knew he was very sick. He did get up….