My Dyeing Week

One of the student's resist-dyed fabrics

I have spent the last three days dyeing cloth with over 60 primary school students.  I realized over Christmas that if I wanted more students for the Craft Club then I needed to head out to the schools.  So, I went to Lispole and Dingle primary schools and I offered to teach colour theory and dyeing to the kids to get them interested in making.  They all definitely loved it, but it remains to be seen whether I will gain any students from it.  I shall have to wait until Saturday and see what it brings.

Adding their resists before dyeing

If it all goes pear-shaped, then I will have the hard decision of closing my studio.  People are just not buying and I can't fund it without income coming in.  The students are buying me some time to build up clientele and work on new design ideas, but if I can't get the students then I just have to move as much as I can back home.  It would be both a blow and a relief.  I would only have space to make small items as my house won't accommodate all the materials I have acquired, but the financial pressure has been immense.  It would be nice to just go to bed and be able to sleep the whole night through.

All dressed up and no place to go

There has been a lot of talk about using public buildings to provide arts space/studio areas, but nothing seems to be rising to the surface, certainly not in Kerry.  With many talented people abandoning their craft right now, the Craft Council of Ireland or the Department of Arts should really do something to help artisans to continue their work.  It will come to a stage where emerging artisans will not be able to afford to develop their work because the resources to assist them just aren't there.

The state of Ireland is just bad right now.  I am usually a glass half full kind of person, but the lack of direction and jobs, unbelievable amount of taxation, and extreme corporate greed has left almost all of us a bit deflated.  Even if I wanted to abandon all my training and get another job, where do I go?  My cost of living would be much higher somewhere else.  Where are jobs better?  It's a miracle I can get out of bed every day with all this swirling around my brain.

Is it too much to ask that my work sells and I make a modest living?

The great texture of dyeing your
own work

Back from the Big Smoke

I do love Dublin for a break from rural life, but I find I have to rush, rush, rush and then I am back home again.  Hardly any time for relaxing or rummaging around for supplies I might need or just getting to know the city.  We went up to Dublin for a Failte Ireland gig called Meitheal that was on at Mansion House.  Garry Marcham and I were there to promote craft making for Craft in Kerry's new project called the Handmade Sessions.  Meitheal put us in touch with almost 300 international tour operators to talk up the sessions that will begin in Dingle in June.  In the picture there you can see Garry using his lathe to shave wood and I am the nut in the red felted hat in the background next to my friend the bald eagle!  I felted flat pieces and gave tour operators a chance to learn felting and see the kind of work we are doing.  The Handmade Sessions are important to us for two reasons: 1.  They provide much-needed work for highly skilled craft artisans. Many artisans are not able to work full-time at their craft and this needs to change; and 2.  We want to preserve these skills and educate people in handmade traditions.  So, we are all go to get things ready.

In the meantime, I finished two more textile collages.  This one is wool/silk/paper with a quote attached.  It will be heading to the framer soon.  The other one is a piece of wool I dyed dark inky colours of night sky and then machine pieced in hand-dyed wool stalks and stars and my favourite passage from Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare.  I am pleased enough with it so far, but can't quite make up my mind on whether it is finished or if it needs more hand stitching around the reeds.  Opinions?

Now, I must get writing as I have lots of details for the Craft in Kerry Craft Fair that is on April 29th in Dingle.  It's part of the Feile na Bealtaine/Pan Celtic Festival celebrations and it's proving to be a cracker event. We have more than 30 exhibitors, craft demonstrations, face painting and nibbles for the kiddies, a Craft in Kerry lucky dip, and a handmade bargain table that is not to be missed!  Did I mention the masseuse???