Never let it be said that doctors aren’t competitive. They are and I am. I am on a mission to finish up as many things as possible. It is nearly as bad as an obsession about purple or prime numbers or spirals. To fit everything in as I am running out of time and want this blog to be completed by the time I leave Delhi. To that end, I have posted six projects this time!
Crossword Montages
I found load of white cubes with purple letters on them in a craft shop. Obviously, I had to buy them. But I also had to make some meaningful words with what I had. I started with the Prime/Purple/Spiral I had written up in large letters in my fabric books.
Then I managed to do another one “Carly goes on sabbatical”. By now I was running out of letters but you know it is easy to turn K into R, and also a P into an R. Also, I inverted a V and made and A as well as a T into an I. I used my new variegated yarn (a type of dip dye chenille acrylic yarn from China) to fasten them onto the A4 card using hand stitching. Below this I sewed on some sumptuous brocade on the sewing machine. This is a lovely project to fiddle with as the brocade is splendid, the chenille soft and the letter beads can move around on the horizontal axis!
Two others were my all time favourite animals (dog and cat) and the place where my sabbatical started – Jaipur.
Shell Toy – Alvin the Alligator
I am not sure why I was being thick. With Alvin I could tick two more things off my list. Making a toy and a shell sculpture. I woke up early and started piling shells collected from the beach at Majorda, Goa when Harry was with me last month. I used my puff glitter glue to hold the structure together including two cowrie shell feet painted with purple nail varnish. But being impatient and clumsy I dropped it on the floor making a big glittery mess.
So I decided I should do it more slowly. Hmmmmmmmm. This really is difficult. What I did was to have some other rather tedious projects that needed finishing up and once I had say sewn for about 15 mins I could add on another shell or two. I found this piece of wood on the farm and built up Alvin over the day – 20.2.20 (cool date!). I made him a necklace and used up all the tall spiral shells in my small collection as part of his headdress. He rests on a small piece of wood so he doesn’t topple over and he sits on a small piece of lace befitting for a rather gorgeous beast!
Balloons
I had found some packets of purple balloons along the way and carried them with me until inspiration struck. In Andeshe there was a natural pool which loads of frogs who would leap about in the evening. I decided to blow up the balloons one morning with help from Meenaxi, Bishun and Ganga. It was a race against time because they would blow about in the pool and hop out the side to get lanced by plants or they would just spontaneously burst in the sun.
I blew up over 50 and had the foresight to quickly video them and jump into the pool to photograph them before they were all gone. The whole sorry exercise from beginning to end was about three hours but it was great fun and I have a wonderful memory of these balloons dancing about the place.
I asked Meenaxi how to spell her name in English. As a school girl, her teacher told her it was much easier with an x than kshi! So, she has a “x” which is rather supercool. Our small and rather scruffy dog we call fuggly (fabulously ugly) is called Graciex where the x at the end is silent. Funny but possibly pretentious?
Even More Random Montage – for real?
These were inspired by using some purple nail vanish I had found somewhere in a shop in India. I used this to first paint the cowrie shells – seven of them! Then I used it to trap some light feathers I found by the pool whilst I was staying at the Sagar Plaza Hotel near the David Ohel Synagogue in Pune.
Whilst staying there I was able to indulge in my love affair with Indian street food. I had a masala dosa (30 rupees) for supper one night and onion uthappam (40 rupees) the other night. Both washed down with a milky sweet coffee for 20 rupees.
I backed the fused blue glass I had carted around with me. I had made this on one of my many fused glass workshops run by Karen Davies in her home in North London (http://www.heartsofglass.co.uk/) that I had dragged various people to accompany me including Betsy, Neeta and Billie (both work colleagues) to. I wanted to do some glass fusing in India but didn’t find out about it! Well I didn’t really try either. Anyway I brought this piece with me and wanted to use it in a project. I painted the back with my purple nail polish to purplise it. Gosh is that a verb? I think this is what I have been doing the whole time here. Purplising everything. It would be purplizing if I was American but I am not!
One other montage used four packets of bindis and another seven Hanuman “gadas” I had brought previously. These gadas are the weapon that Hanuman carries about which is shaped like a giant orb. I was rather pleased I could thread them onto this very furry yarn. I rolled the excess into spirals which reminded me of Rajasthani men who sometimes grew enormous moustaches like this!
Challah Cover for Ohel David Synagogue, Pune
The purple theme all started off with a challah cover* present for a friend. It isn’t even a year ago. It was Caroline Foley-Comer who, when given a free rein of colour, asked for purple. She is a potter and when I went to stay with her and her family for some of last Passover, she kindly threw some pots for me to paint. We also went walking with her dogs Archie and Chewy. So, we can all blame CFC for this total obsession. Nah. I don’t want to blame her because I have taken the purple obsession as my own! Only I am to blame. She made an initial suggestion. Anyway, last Passover I made four purple challah covers in the end. Once started, I do like to continue. I even spent a great half day at London Loom weaving a purple backing! And a challah cover really lends itself to textile art which in addition has a use and purpose. I have made so many over the years. Sometimes they are in fuchsia pink and others they are more like a challah duvet with quite a bit of stuffing!
I went off to the centre of Pune for my second shabbat and had promised some purple food (beetroot halva) which they enjoyed and to give a talk – clearly about purple. I made the session interactive. Firstly I asked their name, where they were born (Pune, Mumbai/Bombay and Ahmadabad) and their favourite colour – no blacks, browns or pinks but all other colours. What purple foods could they list? I read the poem about the old woman who wears purple by Jenny Josephs (in my first blog post). I did touch briefly on Judaism and purple but there really isn’t much there and my rabbi in London had gone away! I was able to link my roots (Ashkenazi and beetroot) with their roots (Sephardi and halva) – thanks to Haim Ganzer for that nugget!
Back to the challah cover. I used some of the remains of my trusty bedsheet from Pushkar. I have used it for so many projects. I had enough to back it was another piece of cotton sheet. On the front I sewed on 19 dip dyed long candle wick lengths I had erroneously thought were cotton rovings to spin! I had a spare tassel for the front, some pretty lace for the top and I wrote Shabbat Shalom (have a peaceful sabbath) in Hebrew in silver puff glitter paint.
* This cloth is used on Friday night and Saturday during the day time to cover the bread known as challah. 00 03 04 06
Lilac Pair of Odd Montages
These very much feel like scraping the barrel so to speak. I made them at Uramma Cottages in Anegundi, Hampi as a way of trying to finish up my stash of stuff to make montages. I had run out of white paper so used lilac card I had brought with me from London. I became obsessed about completing the metallic foil chocolate covers I had bought in Swad, a hardware shop in Bhuj mid-December. These are just a random pair. I hear my daughter using the word rando to describe some of my friends. This could be seen as dissing them but for her I think it is endearing. I think she rather likes “randos”.
These two are only a pair as I have designated them as such. There is one with a heart from a necklace from Hanuman’s temple I had bought with the specific intention of chopping it up and releasing the beads for a life not around someone’s neck! This was the central heart motif which I was able to fill with beads. The tape holding the foil is from a tiny mini roll which surprisingly actually sticks and only cost five rupees! The other one is made using a felt needle holder. As I broke so many, I had all these spare holders but kept only this one. I enjoyed decorating the dark brown copper foil and the cowrie shells with black glitter puff paint. Not really much more to say!
7th Chakra – crown
Take in some cleansing breaths. Taking all the new and all that is good for you. And breathing out all that no longer serves your body.
Breathe in light, breathe out tension, breathe in love, breathe out fear.
This is your crown chakra located at the top of your head. It is represented by white, gold or a clear light. It is the centre for trust, devotion and happiness. It is where we find out deeper connection with our higher self and something greater than who we are. Fill up with light as you feel this deep connection with yourself and all that is around you. You are safe, creative, confident, loving, open, trustworthy and brave. Let this light run through you and all around you.
Let these be your affirmations for today
I am pure love and light
I am at peace
I am connected to all that is
I trust that I am protected
Feel this light all around you. Enjoy your day.
My seventh chakra corresponds to the period from when I was aged 42 to 49. My children were growing up and my career was wonderful and stimulating. It was everything I wanted it to be. I was supported both at home and work to seize numerous opportunities that came my way. I felt that I was really growing as a person and felt fulfilled. Maybe that is where I went on a separate journey from Adrian?
It almost feels insurmountable to finish my projects and get these blogs out! I am going to at least double this week. Slog on Fertles! And therefore, obvs, back soon!
