Primes – mosaics, poetry, gemstone fruit trees and spiral mobiles.

I was settling into Gujarat. I moved westwards to experience the more distinct and wide ranging textiles of India in Kutch. It is a dessert region with a border with Pakistan and quite a bit of coastline (not that I went!). I started off in Bhuj where I could go out to local villages to see weaving, bandini (very small knots to “tie dye” tiny areas of cloth, mirror work and more. I started off in the wonderful Bhuj House which is a traditional Parsi house with a large central courtyard, verandas and swings. Then I moved to a small village Devpur to stay in the Farmstay and Homestay (which is within a school – http://thewhiteeagles.org/home). In this blog I have included all things prime which were either made entirely or completed in Kutch.

Mosaic Tiles

At home in my craft room I have a small olive wooden marquetry box with my mosaic tiles. Mostly I have sea coloured glass ones I use when I am repurposing a cardboard box for a present to cover up the designer’s name! I am not so important to have designed my own packaging. But maybe with a logo designed on this trip that may change.

I brought out a small number of quite dense lilac square tiles. They aren’t really mosaics as they are all very uniformly made. I like the mosaics I saw at Hervé’s guesthouse (http://www.mosaicsguesthouse.com/workshop-mosaics-guesthouse-english.php) but this article does him proud (https://www.goodhomes.co.in/home-decor/home-tours/a-french-artist-and-his-traditional-haveli-in-jaipur-5444.html) as I like the way he is engrossed in his workshop near Amber Fort where I stayed in total for over a week.

Again, like many things here, I find myself irritated and a bit overwhelmed by their very presence. Really, I cannot go on carrying all this stuff around!

I took ages to work out how they could fit in my theme. Then I needed them for another purpose all together and I was no longer stifled as to what to do with them. I wanted to photograph my crochet stole (see last blog) and needed a broach to fix this. In the end I made five ones with my mosaic tiles and one cuff.

Two were using tie pins and really the second one was because I mislaid the first one! I then glued three tiles in a line and thought I could turn these into clip on earrings. But I would never wear them. Who would? No one. So, I then had the idea of combining them together with three small silver bells into another broach. The final two were made from three tiles and two felt hearts of different colour shades.

How to close the cuff proved tricky. In my obsession to clear out, I erroneously sent home my poppers which would have done the job nicely. I went to tailors in Devpur and they don’t use them. For 10 rupees they sold me three clasps they use for trousers here. I think they work well enough!

Prime Poetry

I have written two poems about prime numbers. The first is why I like them and the second isn’t really a poem but attributes that are whittled away with explanatory text which is colour matched. When writing poetry I often find writing lists or doing a mind map helps.

Why I Think I Love Prime Numbers

I am 54. 
So
I have been a prime number 17 times.
It is tailing off.
Five times in my first decade.
With one even number.
Then four in the second. 
Those glorious teenage years….
Then mostly twice.
Sometimes thrice.
I love prime numbers.
Really love them.
Like odd numbers.
Is it pity?
Or genuine affection?
Can you really love numbers anyway?
For sure you can.
In general, anyway.
But 
Is it like having favouritising your children?
Having some numbers more special than others?
Like four legs good, two legs bad.
Until two legs are better?
The jury is out.
My judgement is in.
Prime numbers are best.
 
 Written 5th December 2019. (5 and 19 are prime but 12 and 20 aren't - you can't always engineer things the way you want to!
 

The 37 attributes of Prime Numbers

This was inspired both by love of prime numbers and the 13 Principles of Faith by Rambam (Moses Maimonides).

The 13 principles of faith

My poem has my prime number attributes. But are 37 too many and maybe they are too personal? Probably so I have cut them down in reducing primes to the last one of joy.

This explanation is probably of more importance than the poem but I really like the structure and I love the way it has printed out on the page.

These are the 37 prime attributes. This image I have produced is hard to read!

The 37 Prime Attributes (alphabetical)

Alone, Anonymous, Bachelor, Condescending, Considered, Conspiratorial, Crying, Different, Disengaged, Dissociated, Distinct, Divorce, Embarrassment, Expectant, Forgotten, Guilt, Hopeful, Individual, Joyous, Lonely, Magical, Miserable, Patronising, Powerful, Previously, Sad, Shameful, Smug, Snooty, Solitary, Spinster, Stand alone, Superior, Tentative, Visceral, Wise, Yesterday 

How much do you like prime numbers? Do you have number obsessions or favourites? Many people like 7. I don’t know why!

Spiral Gemstone Trees

I was feeling inspired to complete my gemstone spiral fruit trees in the beautiful Bhuj House in Bhuj, Kaatch, Gujarat. In Ahmedabad I had made 11 (prime!) long strands with very small amethyst beads at the end. My plan was to either use them long or twizzle them up into spirals and just use these 11 strands to make a tree. But it looked very bare! Also my finger (index left) which I needed to add further beads was still out of action.

Once I got to Bhuj house I felt inspired to continue. It is an old Parsi house built with lots of wooden shutters and a huge, verdant courtyard which would motivate even the least creative of people. http://www.thebhujhouse.com/.

I have made many gemstone trees in the past and I used the rest of the gold to twist in large amethyst stones. I learnt how to do them with Amelia who is a jewellery and mindfulness coach and taught me on the mandala course with my daughter Betsy. I added yet more strands but kept the 11 hanging strands of the small amethyst stones. I used thicker copper coloured wire to make the spiral bases whilst making the trunk sturdier.

And a bit like my yarn bombing (wrapping) project in Pushkar I covered the entire trunk with the remains of the gold wire I had. The tree now stands proud with lilac stones representing leaves and hanging spiral fruits. I am really pleased with the result! Not sure how to ship it back but it is going to go in a box when I return to Ahmedabad.

Whilst in Devpur (https://sites.google.com/site/devpurhomestay/) I wanted to make another tree. This time I used the copper wire I was given at the scooter repair garage as well as lots of odds and ends. I forgot to leave some slack and so when I made the 30 beads into spirals there were a number of bead casualties!

Prime Mobiles

I amazed a street seller in Bhuj by buying up most of his purple keyrings. There was a super naff love angel, two fish, three teddies and five dolphins.

I removed the large ring for keys and then went into thought overdrive to consider how I would make my prime number mobile. Rather too much thinking about how it should look. A lot of circles with connecting wires. I got rather worn out thinking about my design. I was particularly challenged about how the pieces would stay put on the wire. For my previous mobile (the jungle jelabi one I made in Ranakpur) I had used washi tape to secure the hanging strands but that was from a pretty robust round wooden frame.

In the end I took a length of my thicker wire, halved it and then twisted it round itself. This copper wire was gratis. In Bhuj I went to a hardware store to source more metallic wire. A man suggested I hop on the back of his motor bike and off we went to his friend who mended motorised scooter engines. He had meters of copper wire of every gauge imaginable. I asked for 5 meters of the thicker wire I wanted and 10 of the thinner one. When I took out my purse, he refused payment and rather than embarrass him I gratefully accepted and felted overwhelmed with his kindness.

The following day I made my further higher number prime mobiles. Again, I had bought most of the bits from street sellers or from a hardware shop.

Seven was from purple tassels that traditionally a married sister gives to a younger sister during the brother-sister ceremony.

The 11 were beaded tassels used by women to adorn their skirts.

13 were brass spirals that I had cut and fashioned from one of the six brass plates I had bought in a metal wholesaler in Pushkar. I had wanted to use them to emboss patterns but they were too thick and unyielding but it was easy to cut and shape them.

It took a while to realise I needed a hole in them to attach a ring to thread them on the wire. I went to a jeweller in Devpur for this job. 17 were like little sweeties.

In the Swad hardware shop in Bhuj I had bought my basic elements to make my menorah for Chanukah. In the cake decorating section I bought a packet of 100 colourful squares to wrap handmade chocolates.

I used some small berry sized fruits from a tree in the Devpur Farmstay and then had fun choosing the wrapper. Some had white tissue paper with a piece of foil and with others I used two different coloured foil papers.

I enclosed the berry with some copper wire with a loop at one end. I made a total of five prime number mobiles. I was able to hang them in order too for my final photos.

Shruti and Tharun were visiting from Bangalore and Krutarth is the owner here! They had to model some of my work….

I know primes will figure further. At the moment I am using primes to organise my morning runs. Loops of 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7 and the thought of 11 was too great so I decided I would go back down to 1 again! And I have long day bus journey ahead so it finally time to allow myself to get back to my knitting – yippee – a break from it for six weeks – for sure an all time personal world record…..