Day 19 | STATIC #cdccreativechallenge26 A spark leaping. Handspun 2 ply yarns with supplementary tresses. • #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

A bio-inspired robot crosses paths with a real insect , 400 million years of evolution face to face with human engineering.

Day 18 | UNBIND #cdccreativechallenge26 I am my mother’s savage daughter, The one who runs barefoot, Cursing sharp stones - I am my mother’s savage daughter, I will not cut my hair, I will not lower my voice. -Sarah Hester Ross Handspun yarns with tresses. #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

Day 17 | MISFIT #cdccreativechallenge26 Misfit or neurodivergent? I thought I was one for most of my life but it turns out I’m the other. Handspun yarns with supplementary tresses. • #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

Day 16 | FERMENT #cdccreativechallenge26 It starts unseen, bubbles to the surface and builds to a head. Ferment and foment are not so far apart in meaning. Handspun 2 ply yarns with supplementary tresses. #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

Day 15 | MEND #cdccreativechallenge26 Creative visible mending challenges the waste of fast fashion. Vertical lines in tapestry create deep channels that need to be sewn up invisibly - I made them visible mends. Handspun yarns. #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

Day 14 | GATHER #cdccreativechallenge26 Little watercolour now translated into tapestry. Handspun 2 ply yarns with supplementary tresses. #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

Day 13 | NOISE #cdccreativechallenge26 Flooding the zone. Handspun 2 ply yarns with supplementary tresses. #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

Day 12 | EMERGE #cdccreativechallenge26 A seeding emerges from the soil, full of promise and tenacity. But whether it is good or bad - that’s all a matter of perspective. • Handspun 2 ply yarns with supplementary tresses. • #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

Day 11 | FREEDOM #cdccreativechallenge26 Perhaps, when everything costs, an act of dissent can be to free your mind. In meditation I was taught my mind was the sky, and my thoughts clouds which drift by. Handspun 2 ply yarns with supplementary tresses. • #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

Day 10 | QUACK #cdccreativechallenge26 A duck and a Victorian medicine bottle. Isn’t the English language grand? 😊🦆 Handspun 2 ply yarns with supplementary tresses. • #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

Day 9 | GRACE #cdccreativechallenge26 Grace Tame - a courageous young woman who fought back against her abusers, would not smile when powerful men thought she should, and who speaks up for those who have no voice. Handspun 2ply yarns + supplementary tresses. #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

Day 8 | PROVOKE #cdccreativechallenge26 Poking the bear. Handspun 2 ply yarns with fine tresses. • #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

Day 7 | ARTIFICIAL #cdccreativechallenge26 Brain in a bell jar. Handspun 2 ply yarns with fine @austapestry tresses. #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

Day 6 | PLAY #cdccreativechallenge26 Play and finding joy in play is a subversive act when big money interests want you angry and unhappy and dissatisfied so that you continue to want and consume. Handspun 2 ply yarns with supplemental tresses. #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

Day 5 | WHISPER #cdccreativechallenge26 This was a dark fantasy riffing on bot farms and the corrosive whisper of algorithm-targeted, AI-created disinformation. Handspun 2 ply yarns with fine @austapestry tresses. #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

#cdccreativechallenge26 Day 4 BLOOM ‘…people are entitled to their sexual proclivities. Let there be a thousand blossoms bloom... But in the meantime, every 3 months, a person is torn to pieces by a crocodile in north Queensland.’ Bob Katter MP, 2017 #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

#cdccreativechallenge26 Day 3 | JUSTICE Trans rights are human rights. Handspun 2 ply yarns with fine commercial tresses. #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

#cdccreativechallenge26 Day 2 SMUDGE A small smudge fire for your billy, smoke wreathing the trees at dawn. Magpies herald the day as you drink strong sweet tea, while the smoke stings your eyes. Peace. 5cm x 5cm handspun 2ply yarns with fine tresses. #australiantapestry #handwoven #dissent

I’m doing a creative challenge in July. Day 1 | UNCEDED #cdccreativechallenge26 Another day living on unceded land. 5cm x 5cm Handspun 2ply yarns with fine tresses. #australiantapestry #handspun #handwoven #australian #craft

Still 100% correct. #auspol

Teeny tiny swatch - this is handspun laceweight mulberry silk. #australian #craft #handspun 🧶

Finished test octopus, knitted in handspun yarns. Glad I made a test one, because I made plenty of mistakes, which I choose to call learning opportunities 😊 Next one will be handspun silk! #octopus #showusyourknits #australianhandspinnersandknitters 🧶

Black cockatoos at sunset.

A so-far single-tentacled octopus. And even that single tentacle needs to be ripped back, as I made an error no amount of blocking will fix 🫩 #showusyourknits

There’s no bird quite like an Australian magpie - smart, curious, bold and occasionally terrifying. Their little red eyes look hard and full of evil intent, but they sing like angels. Win their trust and their whole family will embrace you.

Saw the wonderful 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial: After the Rain at the National Gallery of Australia on the weekend, the exhibition’s last day. These four pics are a glimpse that don’t really do the whole justice. Moving and thoughtful works.

In my current sample, I’m experimenting with some of the shapes and colour elements I may use in my planned tapestry. Still playing with texture, especially in that green section.

Not my city, but I like it - Wednesday night in Melbourne 😊

Starting the next sample. In the last, I used handspun Border Leicester as the base for the white, knowing it wouldn’t pack down as much as the ATW yarns. However, I was also playing with texture, and the bulkier handspun yarn shows it more clearly. Next is back to handspun mothers with ATW tresses.

The first sample wasn’t working from the moment I started, but better results from the second. Sadly though, the second has none of my handspun in it. More thinking to do. This is why we sample! 😊

Mulberry silk, spun laceweight. Lovely stuff - I plan to knit a little octopus from it 🐙

A blank canvas - my little Mirrix loom warped up and ready for some sampling for my next tapestry project.

This is my biggest tapestry so far. My edges are still wonky but I’ve had good advice on how to manage that for the next piece. Despite its wonky edges, I’m super proud of this. Second pic shows a comparison to the first attempt at the same subject. I’m amused they both ended up the same shape. 😂

Welcoming new friends - it’s taken many months of patience for the local magpies to trust us 😊

Brought my art journal along for a fortnight in Seoul with my daughter.

I’ve got my birches tapestry to a stage where the next tree is ready to go in - but it will have to wait. I’ll be working on nothing but a simple knit for the next few weeks while I’m travelling with my daughter. • #australianhandspinnersandknitters #canberraspinnersandweavers #australiantapestry

Haven’t been sleeping well - last night after only 2 hours of sleep I decided up and doing was better than lying awake in bed. Another 3 hours disappeared in quiet creativity that ended with the first big tree. • #australianhandspinnersandknitters #canberraspinnersandweavers #australiantapestry

Slow progress - 20cm completed and I’m a little concerned there’s not enough contrast on the trees, their shaded sides are getting lost. Considering options! • #australianhandspinnersandknitters #canberraspinnersandweavers #australiantapestry

I’ve been playing with tiny tapestries this last week. • #handspunyarn #australianspinnersandweavers #canberraspinnersandweavers #australiantapestry #notenoughhoursintheday

Revisiting the idea of making a complete tiny tapestry in a day, now that I’ve found all the missing yarns 😊 This is inspired by the brilliant sunsets over the Bullen Range and the Brindabellas. • #handspunyarn #australianspinnersandweavers #canberraspinnersandweavers #australiantapestry

November craft - I didn’t complete anything, the month was all about packing and moving. I made a little progress on my tapestry though, and managed a little spinning, which I never photographed 😊

New home, new view - the kitchen is the WORST but this vista more than makes up for it. #canberra #ngunnawalcountry #tidbinbilla

Birches are coming along, but I need to start spinning again, the pondscum will run out by the end of the week 😩 Mother yarns are handspun Shetland while the tresses are from Australian Tapestry Workshop. • #handspunyarn #australianspinnersandweavers #canberraspinnersandweavers #australiantapestry

Saturday’s Weave Your Moves workshop hosted by craft+design Canberra - we were weaving airy structures with muscle wire that changes shape when a current is applied. This is a proof of concept, and will look better when I cut it off the loom. • #australian #craft #electronics

Second piece featuring electronics and hand weaving - this one will get a pressure sensitive switch. A fun make! #australian #craft #australianspinnersandweavers #canberradpinnersandweavers #electronics 🧶

No notes

I spent yesterday afternoon at a craft+design Canberra workshop learning to incorporate electronics into weaving. This piece uses insulating wire as passamenterie to form a simple circuit with a single LED light. • #australianspinnersandweavers #canberraspinnersandweavers #electronics

Ruairi snoozing in his donut. Hopefully his stitches come out tomorrow and he can return to a life without Big Blue.