The Japanese probably have a word for it

I took my youngest to have his hair cut the other day. The hairdresser chatted to my son for a minute or so and then started. He combed and snipped, combed and snipped, moving round from one side to the other and back. Every now and then he would pause, step back thoughtfully and then return to work.

It proceeded this way both of them relaxed and chatting for perhaps 15 minutes or so and then suddenly it was done - a boy had emerged from the haystack.

I love to watch professionals at work. From the hairdresser to the signwriter to the mechanic and seamstress there is an ease, a relaxed economy of motion in the way they move. It is something that can only come from having done something hundreds if not thousands of times and that confidence comes through in the way they stand, the way they move.

And when they have left  I can still feel an echo of their presence in the creation before me.

I find it difficult to put into words but there is something "just right" about what has been made that makes you think "I could do that".

But you couldn't - that magic would be missing.

Real

An old piece of furniture is a joyous thing.

Especially the ordinary items, those made in small factories or by people like you and me. Passed over and headed for landfill because they have no monetary value, their worth lies in their past and their purpose and even the echoes of long gone design trends re-interpreted by the maker.

Being a visual person the shape of things intrigue me.  Even when an item seems just "not right" somehow it is just a reminder that a real person made this.

I suppose modern furniture has been made by somebody but when I wander around a big store it just seems so impersonal and soulless. The whole experience just seems more about the store's profit than the item itself.

Or perhaps I am just getting old . . .

Our Cat Scan

 Ranna the cat has appointed herself as the quality controller for Coulter and Coulter.  All furniture is cat scanned to ensure its up to standards.  When I am printing she perches on the stool and watches very closely.  When I am sewing her perch moves to the window sill in order to make sure I am doing it correctly.  Then in the evenings she spends a lot of time wandering over the keyboard of my laptop, trying to post inspirational cat messages on Facebook.

Still Water

The hall table - a repository for the cars keys, the mail, the phone, notes to your partner even. Like a filter it collects all of the debris of modern life as we pass to and fro, in and out of the house.

But there is more. As the first thing we see on leaving or arriving home it is a comfort - a place to shrug off the outside world before moving on to relax.

There is art here as well. As you or your visitors enter,  the hall table subtly signals who you really are. Whether the message is " sit up straight" or " kick off your shoes and chill" what really matters is that it is you who decides. And of course, after a day spent working for the man, what better therapy can there be than to be reminded, welcomed even to who you really are.

Yes, the humble hall table - still water indeed.

The table in the pic is in the shop just now. Made from reclaimed pallet wood it is $140.

Modern dining

I have a confession to make. Rarely do we eat at our dining table nowadays. No instead we collapse in front of the telly to eat, watching "Friends" perhaps or even ( oh the shame . . . ) "Bath Crashers".

Mind you in our defense our dining table is quite often covered in freshly printed fabric or tables with maps on top waiting to dry. And judging by the number of orphaned dining tables I see in op-shops, perhaps we are not the only ones.

Times change. And in my hands so do dining tables. They often have a beautiful silhouette and with a bit of tidying, some alteration and the addition of a retro fabric top a beautiful hall table or desk results.

Todays motto - reuse, recycle, re-imagine !

Playing with my new toys

 I have recently bought a couple of beautiful new printing tools.  The first a vintage French printing block and the second a little French printing roller.

 The printing roller was originally used for marking out embroidery patterns.  But I think it will make fantastic edgings for my pillowcases.  Below is my trial prints  I love the pattern with the little rose buds on best I think.

 The big print block was fun to use too, but my arm is aching with the weight of it.  I added in the little orange flowers, one of the blocks Peter made for me.  Love the idea of having a vintage print and the new print together.

Indigo

If light could be dark. If a bulb could put out black light, then the colour of that light would be indigo.

Blacker than black, indigo is the colour of the shadows. Those morning shadows that world emerges from so softly, so quietly.

For indigo does not speak. It is an absence of everything even sound.

It just is . . . as we should be.


(The photo is an indigo stained cabinet top. )