Thank you Color Ashram for creating this beautiful video. I am honored to share this space with Gasali Adeyemo!
Category: India
Check out this lovely video from Aranya Naturals
Take a look a this video from my friends at Aranya Naturals!!!!!
You can find their beautiful scarves at here
The book is finished!
Good news! My book on my travels in India is finally finished and I can’t wait to share it with you!
For those of you who requested it as perk it will be shipping the first week of May.
For the rest of you, if you would like to purchase a copy it is available as both a soft cover and an e-book.
Soft cover: http://blur.by/1JL2gk9
e-book: http://store.blurb.com/ebooks/526876-india
Silk Scarves from Aranya
The last days of my trip to India were spent at the Srishti Welfare Center visiting the Aranya Natural Dye Unit. The Center is located in Munnar, Kerala, Southern India nestled in the midst of a tea plantation. I worked with the amazing artisans to help them create three new colors for their palette of natural dyes. It had been five years since my last visit – it was wonderful to see them – there was so much catching up to do!
I also brought back lots of beautiful scarves they had dyed and a few handmade journals from the paper making unit, Athulya.
The sale of the scarves and journals benefit both Srishti and Stories of Hope!
You can purchase these beautiful items on The Yarn Tree’s website:
The beautiful children of Anwesha
Here are images of some of the 61 beautiful children of Anwesha
Our first morning at Anwesha
Our first morning at Anwesha began with a colorful welcoming ceremony. There was tribal singing, drumming, dancing, smiles and laughter. We were adorned with red marks on our foreheads, blessed with special herbs, draped in marigold garlands and festive scarves! This truly set the tone for the rest of our visit.
back from India
I returned home to Asheville two weeks ago. After playing what seems like non-stop catch-up, I finally have some time to reflect on my time in India.
Every moment was amazing – I won’t go into great depth today – I am just so excited to finally be able to start uploading photos for you all to see!
My last morning in India
This is my last morning in India – sunshine and blue skies welcome Diwali – the Festival of Lights!
Here in Kerala it is a one day festival – other parts of India celebrate for five days.
Fireworks and firecrackers, special tiny terra cotta cups are decorated and filled with oil and a wick then a lit to give a beautiful soft light to everything. People shop for gifts, new clothes, gold jewelry and special sweets!
Last night I attended an amazing Diwali party – I had never seen so many beautiful Saris in one place. Even some of the men wore more traditional Indian Garb. There was even a mini-flash mob doing Bollywood dances – they had practiced for a week and it was a great surprise for everyone.
Yesterday the artisans of Aranya and I made one more color and tried different over dyeing techniques on the silk scarves we had previously dyed. Can’t wait until I can once again upload pictures to show everyone their beautiful work.
I am so thankful for my time here and look forward to returning.
Aranya Naturals
Rainy day in Munnar – worked at Aranya with the wonderful folks making color.
Today we worked on lovely silk scarves dyeing shades of soft purple and magenta using Lac and Cochineal. Tomorrow we will make those same colors on superior Pashmina. We will also try for a lavender. The dyers were so excited to create new colors with me and I am so happy to be working with them again.
It was so much fun to see all the new techniques they have learned – some of their own creation. They loved showing me what they were doing – shibori, dip dyeing, block printing, sewing and pressing and more was going on. Great color combinations – everything so beautiful!
A day of smiles all around.
Munnar, Kerala
I have arrived in Munnar.
The weather is the polar opposite of the Thar Desert. It is cool with an early morning mist on the mountains. On the drive up from the Cochin Airport there were several waterfalls. I could only think of what all that water coursing over the rocks would mean to the desert dwellers. I have the morning free – something that I have not experienced for three weeks. It actually feels a little strange. But it does give me time to go for a walk and reflect on my time in India as the sun slowly emerges from the clouds.
Madderlane 