Thoughts on India

I seem to have been away from this space for a long time and the only reason is that I am exhausted... well I'm exhausted and blogger failed to save my last post mid-edit and I lost the lot... but mostly exhausted! Long shifts at the cafe knock me out for days, plus all the stuff involved in moving house, family issues as well as everything else that is going on has all been a bit much over the past couple of weeks. I'm not very good at stopping, asking for help or admitting that I'm tired and the cumulative effect has knocked me for six. I thought it might be restful to sit and write a long blogpost, which it was until it disappeared. It's taken me another six days to summon the enthusiasm to  write it again!

But this is a post that I needed to think carefully about writing. There has been a lot written over the past couple of weeks about racism, that seems to have started in the on-line knitting community on Ravelry and Instagram. I had been blissfully unaware until I read Julie's post here. I followed her links and read what had been going on and was alarmed at the emotion fuelled discussion and negative comment around racism and inclusion.

I am not sure I am qualified to add to the discussion at this stage and I'm still trying to understand many of the issues, especially from the viewpoint of white privilege which is where I have come from. So if you want to find out more I urge you to follow some of the links in Julie's post. However I do know that no-one should feel unwelcome, excluded, hurt or upset as a result of what someone else has said or written regarding their race, colour or anything else, whether those things were said with intention or not. And we could all do with being more aware.

Which I guess brings me to this post in which I've wanted to write about my trip to India for quite a while. But this whole discussion on racism has stemmed from a blogpost by Karen Templer about her upcoming trip to India so it has made me very wary. The problem was with the language used and sentiments expressed. I've questioned my own motives and intentions but do believe my reason for wanting to visit India stems purely from a desire to expand my horizons and learn more, first hand, about a different country, its people, culture and skills.... in the same way as the first time I visited France, Italy, the USA or anywhere else. So I truly hope I'm not offending anyone as I've only ever wished to create a space that is friendly and welcoming to all.

Whether it is in preparation or just to get me in the mood, I seem to have been drawn to books and films about India recently. I read The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel before Christmas. It was okay but full of stereotypes such as old racist white people and didn't leave me with any real sense of the country.

Then a friend loaned me The Siege of Krishnapur. Telling the story of the siege of an imaginary Indian town, although based on true events in Lucknow during the  Muslim mutiny in 1857 it was far better written than Marigold Hotel and also funny in places, in a Jeeves and Wooster kind of way. That is, all upper class, moral superiority and colonialism. It might have been a true picture of an India in days gone by but I didn't feel it really reflects life today.

I also saw the film of "A Passage to India". It is a fabulous film if you can look past the awful casting of Alec Guinness as a Hindu Brahmin, that deals with racism and prejudice in the days of the Raj. It left me feeling quite uncomfortable that people could act in such a superior manner towards another race, and worryingly I sometimes wonder if much of that underlying feeling has changed. But again I'm not sure it gave me much of a flavour of India today.

My latest read has been An Area Of Darkness a semi autobiographical account of V. S. Naipaul’s visit to his ancestral homeland. Naipaul was born in Trinidad of second generation Indian immigrants and was brought up a Hindu. It is strikingly original response to India’s caste system, its  acceptance of poverty and squalor, and the conflict between its desire for independence and its nostalgia for the past. Despite its rather negative portrayal of India and its people, it gave more of a feeling for what the country might be like, being a richly sensual and descriptive book. Of course, whatever books I read and films I watch, they will only ever give someone else's view so I'm very much looking forward to discovering the country for myself.

The main focus of the trip in September will be to attend different block printing workshops where we will be learning from skilled experts in this ancient craft. But I have been having a little dabble myself to prepare for some upcoming workshops I am holding to promote the trip. I was given a beautiful set of carved wooden blocks by Colouricious which I have been using to print fabrics.

Lots and lots of fabrics!

I have then used the fabrics for some projects... a cover for a little travel journal...

A bag for my iPad...

As you can see elephants feature heavily and another highlight of the trip will be a visit to an elephant sanctuary

 

And I have also been creating applique pictures using the various fabrics

And if you fancy joining me on this amazing trip, to discover India for yourself, you can find all the details here:

Block Printing Holiday to India 

I'm now going to hit the publish button and keep my fingers crossed it doesn't all disappear again. Tomorrow I am back at work but I hope I won't be away quite so long before my next post.

Weekends

Hello... anybody out there?

My last blog post seems to have gone out into a black hole. Having written a long review of what I had been reading lately and then only receiving two comments, I came to the conclusion that either it was totally uninteresting or possibly I had offended in my opinions (it wouldn't be the first time). Then I wondered were people put off by me slipping in another little mention of my India trip (Did you see what I did there?) But no, when I checked the stats it would seem hardly anyone even read my post. So I am consoling myself  in the knowledge that you have all been away doing something fabulous all weekend that has meant no time for reading blogs... so please don't burst my bubble and tell me you just weren't interested!

Our weekends have taken on a rather nice routine lately in a concerted effort not to let all days drift into one. With both of us at home for a large amount of the time is is easy for each day to seem the same as the last and there is a temptation to carry on with work related stuff seven days a week. Monday to Friday I am trying to concentrate on work related activities around teaching and making art but for the past few weekends we have perused the guide books and have taken ourselves off for longer than usual walks, exploring different neighbourhood areas.

The dog is especially pleased with this new routine with lots of new places to sniff and explore.

Yesterday we discovered Houghton House, the ruins of a 17th century mansion that was built as a hunting lodge in 1615 for Mary, Countess of Pembroke. With loggias possibly designed by Inigo Jones, it commands impressive views over the Bedfordshire countryside.

We also walked through an ancient wood where we literally were fighting our way through overgrown brambles... until we spotted a pathway only a couple of yards to our left that had been cleared for a mountain bike race. Funnily enough the walk became much easier after that!

We have walked across meadows, around lakes and along river banks enjoying spotting the various wildlife. We nearly always manage a church or two for a wander around as well. Last week we found a palace in Buckden that had been home to former Bishops of Lincoln. Five of them were buried in the churchyard

But the work life balance isn't going to always be divided so neatly between the weekdays and weekends as I have just started a part time job in a little cafe to supplement the household income. I did five hours on Saturday, wiping tables, operating the till and serving food and coffee after which I came home and pretty much didn't move until I crept into an early bed... shocking...9.30 pm on a Saturday night! I'm hoping the exhaustion induced inertia won't last as I get used to it. I managed to go in and help out for a couple of hours again yesterday before we went out for our walk and I was fine, so maybe I was just extra tired the day before.

It is a very pretty place to work as you can see and friendly too. I was also given barista training last week and was probably a little too excited at my first attempt at latte art. Especially as I think it is all a bit of nonsense really... Who cares what it looks like as long as it tastes okay... but that's just between you and me, okay!

This might just be the limit of my barista skills... could it be another 60 x 60 maybe? Which would mean I only have to do one more new thing to get to number 60 before I begin my 100 count down!

So what did you get up to this weekend?

A Book or Two

Although I have a long reading wish list, I'm trying to read some of the books I have around the house or those I pick up in charity shops rather than buying more new books. A few years ago I discovered the writer Douglas Kennedy with his book State of the Union. It was an easy and engaging read and I was especially intrigued by Kennedy's ability to write so well from the female perspective. I then picked up his short novel The Dead Heart which I found totally gripping. It's a fast paced, gruesome thriller, interspersed with humour, set in the Australian outback. It's a real page turner. On the back of those two books I received a pile of Douglas Kennedy books one Christmas. I think I probably read a couple of them which were not great but entertaining. So when I picked up The Woman in the Fifth I hoped it might be okay. Unfortunately I thought it was awful! Moderately entertaining to start with, it is an easy, although somewhat far fetched read, telling the story of American Harry Ricks who arrives in Paris having run away from a failed marriage and a scandal that ruined his career. With no money and nowhere to live, Harry unwittingly falls in with the city’s underclass. When he meets and falls in love with a mysterious woman it looks like his future might improve. The plot thickens and the mysteries deepen and then about 75 pages from the end it feels as though Kennedy couldn't work out how to tie up all the loose ends (Spoiler alert... but I don't care if it prevents anyone else wasting several hours reading this nonsense) so he explains everything by making the woman a ghost, without so much as a previous hint at anything supernatural, which was complete and utter nonsense. What a waste of reading time!

Fortunately I found the next book I picked up was far more entertaining. I have read Any Human Heart by William Boyd which I really enjoyed, so when I spotted  Waiting for Sunrise from the same author in the charity shop I thought it was worth picking up. And it didn't disappoint. I found the main character Lysander Rief, very similar to the hapless anti hero Logan Mountstuart of Any Human Heart, and it also has the same easy flowing style, but the story was very different charting Lysander's life from Vienna to London via the battlefields of France during wartime Europe, as he gets embroiled in a life of sex, scandal and spies!

At the same time I also picked up The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel from the same charity shop. I enjoyed the film so was looking forward to reading the book especially since the news that I could be going to India next year. The book isn't quite the same as the film - the basic premise of a retirement home for the elderly is still there and the characters names are the same but that is where the similarity ends. The actual characters and the story line is totally different, so although it is still  enjoyable I'm finding it difficult to remove myself from the mental image of the film as I read.

I thought it was worth reading though to get me in the right frame of mind for my Indian holiday with Colouricious Holidays next year, although it hasn't really conjured up the atmosphere of India I had expected. I'm looking forward to experiencing it first hand for myself instead. If you fancy joining me you can find all the information right here if you click on the link below. It would be so much fun to have blog readers join me on this trip.

Experience India with Gina Ferrari

A Book Tutorial

Long time readers will know that as well as a bit of embroidery I also like to dabble with some book making. Over the summer I taught a one day class making these pretty little albums and afterwards I was asked if  I could produce an on line tutorial. I'd like to tell you I had made a wonderful video that you could follow step by step but I haven't! I have however spent hours analysing, photographing, drawing and writing the whole process out step by step to make a downloadable fully illustrated PDF that is now available to buy from my Etsy shop. I will say now that I didn't invent this book structure but I learned how to do it from a fabulous print maker and teacher called Heather Power. I don't know whether Heather invented it or whether she learned it from someone else, but it was part of a weekend bookmaking with Heather and I was never given any notes, so the tutorial is all my own work.

But before I possibly tempt you to buy yourself a copy, I thought I would do a free tutorial here for a simple variation of a pamphlet book, that is one of my favourite little books to make.

To make one of these little books, perfect for notes and quick sketches  you will need:

Sheets of cartridge paper for the pages - enough to make 4-8 sheets 10cm x 20 cm (4" x 8")

A piece of water colour paper or light card 10.5cm x 25cm (4.5" x 10")

Some decorative paper (optional)

A craft knife, a metal ruler, a tapestry (blunt) needle, strong thread, a glue stick, a map pin and an old tea towel

First of all tear your cartridge paper into the correct size for the pages. I do this against a metal ruler and prefer to tear rather than cut as it gives a deckled edge to the pages. It doesn't matter so much then if they don't quite line up.

Then fold each in half and make two nests of 2-4 pages, depending on the thickness of your paper. These 'nests' or groups of pages are called signatures.

Now take your water colour paper or card for the cover and fold this in half too. Measure 2cm (1") in from the folded edge and fold the cover back on itself.

Do this on both sides so you end up with a W effect, as shown in the photo.

Now take your two signatures and put one into each fold of the W as shown.

You then want to fold the covers out flat whilst keeping the fold of the signatures tucked against the folds of the covers as shown...  this is the stage where I realised having a different colour cover might have been useful for the sake of the photos. But I'm not doing it again!

Hopefully the diagram will make it seem clearer (The shaded bit is the cover)

You are now going to stitch the two signatures and the cover together in one quick manoeuvre along the fold using a simple pamphlet stitch.

Along the fold mark three dots, one in the centre and two either side an equal distance apart from the centre. Using a map pin and with the whole thing resting on an old tea towel push holes where you have made the dots.

Thread a rounded needle with about 40cm (16") of strong thread and take it through the centre hole, leaving a tail of thread for tying off later. On the other side take the thread up and through the top hole.

Now take it straight back down to the bottom hole, missing the middle hole.

And finally back through the middle hole coming out on the other side of  the long stitch that runs down the centre.

You should have two ends either side of the central long stitch, which you can now tie off and trim.

The diagram shows the order of stitching... in the centre, down to one end, back to the other end and then back out the centre.

All you need to do now is fold your covers back to the outside and you should have a neat little two signature pamphlet book!

I then decorated the cover with nine little squares of wrapping paper. You may have noticed the first book had little squares from the inside of envelopes. But of course you can decorate it any way you like or use coloured or patterned card for the cover. If you make one I'd love to see how it turns out!

And should you wish to make a slightly more complicated book the twenty page fully illustrated tutorial is available from my etsy shop here. And thank you to Catriona for testing this for me. Her response was "Very clear instructions... the pattern is a winner" so I hope that might encourage you to give it a try.

And something I forgot to mention the other day... I will be making one of these books for every single person who comes along on my block printing India trip with me next year. A little gift from me to say thank you and to hopefully inspire some sketches while we are there!

My Big News

I can finally reveal my big and very exciting news... and you are hearing it here first... that I have been invited by Colouricious Holidays to host a block printing holiday to India next year

For ten days from 17th to 27th September 2019 we will be based in the beautiful pink city of Jaipur staying in a private family run hotel - the Megh Niwas. Our breakfasts and dinners will be prepared daily by their own chef using home grown organic food.

We will be taking part in several traditional block printing workshops in Jaipur supporting local artisans and craftsmen.

We will spend a day with elephants

and will visit local sights of historic interest and great beauty such as the magnificent Amer Fort, built high on a hillside from red sandstone and marble, overlooking Maota Lake

and Hawa Mahal, another stunning pink and red sandstone palace with over 900 small windows, originally used so that royal ladies could watch festivites without being seen. All transport will be in our own private coach.

There will also be time to visit markets, go shopping and experience local life.

I have always wanted to visit India so I can't tell you how excited I am about this trip. And all I have to do is tell you all about it and hopefully get enough people to fill up the tour... although places are limited. Flights are arranged from London Heathrow and are all inclusive in the price but you can join the trip from anywhere in the world if you wish to make your own transport arrangements and the price will be adjusted accordingly.

All the information you need can be found here:

Block Printing holiday with Gina Ferrari

but don't hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any questions.

Did I tell how excited I am?