Gaunts House Summer Gathering 2013

Our last festival outing for this season was a return to Gaunts House near Wimbourne, Dorset for their summer gathering held from 8th through to 11th August. Beautiful weather blessed the entire gathering from start to finish.

Gaunts House is a great place for us to catch up with old friends and make new. This small family friendly gathering offers a great festival atmosphere with a focus on workshops, therapies, speakers and inspirational music.

Our large dreamcatcher (pictured above) reached completion after being started at Glastonbury and then added to at Larmer Tree and WOMAD.

Hilary and Leigh were again our lovely neighbours, the photo below shows Hilary wearing one of our T-shirts that she purchased last year. As with all naturally dyed fabrics, they do not like strong alkaline or acid as Hilary discovered with an accidental splash of lemon juice. Her creative juices led to a great positive outcome as she used more lemons to gently treat the affected area. The light brown marks show how she stencilled the area and applied a delicate spray of lemon juice to create more depth to the night sky scene. Great thinking Hilary!!

The dates for next year's Summer Gathering are 7-10th August 2014. For more information, follow the link below to the official website:

www.gauntssummergathering.com

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/

WOMAD 2013

Held just outside Malmesbury in Wiltshire, the 25th to 28th July saw WOMAD's 31st anniversary and the fifth year that Sorazora has exhibited. Back in our usual spot in front of the Charlie Gillet stage, we managed to see a broad selection of international artists whilst the weather behaved for the most part.

A little rain cooled things down on Saturday evening, but couldn't dampen the revelry. WOMAD brings together artists from all over the globe with the main aim of celebrating world music, an aim it never fails to achieve.

  Gocoo were the highlight for us with their Sunday appearance on the main stage. Gocoo (pictured above) are made up of seven female and four male drummers from Japan who with almost 40 taiko drums create a fantastic musical spectacle.

As Peter Gabriel (Festival co-founder) said many years ago "I challange anyone to come to WOMAD festival and not be really excited or inspired by at least one thing", this still seems to be just as true today. Dates for 2014's WOMAD are 24th to 27th July.

Useful links:

Gocoo

http://www.gocoo.de/

WOMAD

http://womad.org/

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/

Stone Arrowhead Pendants

Being quite keen on archery, I was delighted to be able to source a selection of stone arrowheads that have been hand-knapped by various artisans in Arizona, USA near the Mexican border.

 Knapping is a traditional skill that dates back to the stone age and widespread across the globe. I have paired each arrowhead with an undyed linen cordage that has been made up from several beeswax coated strands twisted together, very similar to traditional bow strings throughout the centuries.

 The closure for each pendant is a simple loop and monkey's fist. A monkey's fist is a sailors knot that is tied to the ends of a rope, acting as a weight, when throwing lines between ship and dock.

A selection of five different stone arrowhead pendants are now available online. For more information about these timeless pieces, please follow the link below:

www.sorazora.com/shop/sub_category/tokyo_craft/atslan.html

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/

Larmer Tree Festival 2013

The 17th to the 21st July saw us back at the Larmer Tree Gardens on the Wiltshire/Dorset border for music, comedy, sun and much more...

 The Larmer Tree Gardens were created in 1880 for "public enlightenment and entertainment" and are recognised by English Heritage as a garden of national importance. It's certainly a great place to hold festivals.

 This year is already being regarded as the 'hot one' and made such a contrast to last year's 'muddy one"! Among my personal highlights was Rich Hall's routine held late on the last night. Apologies to Rich for the electrical storm that interrupted his set. Rather than apologising for the weather, it was perhaps the over-zealousness of the health and safety officials that could have been done without. The audience and artists should decide for themselves if being in an ungrounded marquee was worth the risk, or not!

 A big thank you goes to Jo who came and showed Hiromi the basic skill of spinning. Sharing your skill in such a warm environment was indeed a blessing. As with previous years, this year's Larmer Tree had its share of wandering street performers who roam the site spreading happiness to all and a few other emotions to those who get targeted.

For more details regarding either the festival or gardens, please feel free to have a look at the links below which will take you to the respective official websites.

www.larmertreefestival.co.uk

www.larmertreegardens.co.uk

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/

Glastonbury 2013

Glastonbury festival needs no introduction as it is probably Europe's most well-known festival. Held each June on Pilton Farm in Somerset, it was our third time to display our wares.

We were located in the Greenfields right opposite the Green Crafts area and a quick walk from the Stone Circle. The weather for this year was very well behaved with rainfall only on the Thursday and a weekend of beautiful sunshine.

 The Rolling Stones were the headline act with their debut appearance at Glastonbury. Although I am not such a big fan, I joined what appeared to be the entire population of the festival to catch the ageing Mr Jagger sing a few songs that were hits before I was even born.

The Green Crafts area was again filled with a wide variety of activities where people of all ages came to learn new skills or appreciate the work of talented artisans. We'd like to thank all those who came to visit our stall and very much hope to have the opportunity of exhibiting in the Green Fields next year.

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/

Himal Hemp Shirts

This classicaly simple cut shirt is part of our 2013 collection and uses two fabrics that we love. Until now we have been usually  tailoring our shirts and kurtas from beautiful hand loomed hemp-cotton fabrics. These two new fabrics have been machine loomed which results in a much tighter and tougher fabric.

Our Himal Hemp Shirt was created with hard work in mind as the tougher fabrics hold up well during physical work. In 2012 I had a pair of Thai Fishermans' Trousers made from the darker hemp fabric and was very pleased with the fabric's durability. The warmth of the fabric suited me from spring to autumn in the UK climate, even managing to keep me cool during the summer.
This last production period gave me the chance to use this fabric for tops, and of course more Thai Fishermans' Trousers!

The second fabric we have used is a finer machine loomed hemp-cotton blend. Lighter in both weight and colour it should be great for keeping you cool in summer and providing warmth when the sun disappears. We have kept these fibres undyed giving you a choice of shades that were intended by nature.

To learn more about this garment, please follow the link below:

 www.sorazora.com/shop/sub_category/unisex_tops_trousers.html

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/

Nettle Pesto

With our love of nettle fibre as a craft material we often forget the nutritious benefits that this plant holds.

It's that time of year where new leaves are springing up all around and our recent move from Essex to rural South Devon has given us greater access to wild food, both flora and fauna.

Nettle pesto was our first try at bringing Urtica dioica into our kitchen and tasty it was too!

 This spring's new nettle tips were blanched before being mixed with raw garlic, olive oil, sesame seeds and finely chopped Parmesan cheese. Apart from being great with cheese or salads, it also makes a good pasta sauce (pictured below).

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/