Thursday, July 8, 2010

Recreating the Human Vessel - Handcrafts...and a Baby!










Jennifer had the great fortune of attending a handcrafts conference at Steiner College in Fair Oaks, CA this past week called "Recreating the Human Vessel: Educating through Rhythm and Craft."  The conference featured staff from Ruskin Mill Educational Trust in England (please take a moment to see what their amazing colleges offer).  Woodworking, iron forging, soap making and felting all occured throughout the week, along with in-depth lectures by Dennis Klocek, William Bento and Aongus Gordon, and a vibrant Movement class!


















The felting group started off the week by observing sheep on campus.  We teased apart fresh (unclean!) wool and made felted balls.













A trek through Raphael Garden revealed lovely flowers for dyeing.  Using weld, indigo, cochineal, chamomile from England and coreopsis, we dyed up a rainbow of colors with our wool.
































Felting pictures was an experiment in color and design, layering bits of brown or white wool on the bottom, and continuing with layers of color to form an image.




































Then, it was time to do feltwork in 3-D!  Wool slippers were created by tracing feet for a template, cutting a piece of plastic, laying wool on both sides of the plastic, wet-felting, cutting open...then, voila!  Slippers were turned right-side out, and the design that was created in the first layer was revealed.






















































Wet, soapy slippers were massaged onto feet.  What a treat!  Molding and shaping continued with hands, and then fine details were needlefelted.






























Here are some pictures of woodworking, iron forging and soap making....




























The felting group had a little extra time and wool left, so each person felted a handprint, and then felted the hands into a large vessel (thus the theme of the conference!), complete with a lid.  The vessel was presented to the wonderful felting teacher, Marianne van der Tas, on the last day for her birthday.




















The final plenum was filled with sharing projects and insight about reflection topics of the week: challenge, effort, rhythm, gift and gold nuggets...the words were profound and the projects absolutely beautiful!











Jennifer then found out that she truly had become "the human vessel" at the end of the week...pregnant with baby #4, due in March, 2011!

30 comments:

momma rae said...

yay for you!!! congrats on the baby!

looks like an amazing workshop! i am so envious of all the opportunities you have there! ;) the slippers look absolutely scrumptious.

Jen said...

HOORRRAAAYYYY!!! What fantastic news, Jennifer! So excited for you and Rick and for the children :D What a blessing this baby is and how wonderful to be born into your creative and loving family! HUGS!
Jen

*erin* said...

wow, great workshop and congratulations on baby #4!!!!

Beth said...

So lovely, and congratulations!!!! That is so wonderful! What a joyful time for all of you.

Kelly said...

This looks like a blast! And ,what gorgeous goodies you all made ~
Congrats again on that little one!

Andrea said...

How wonderful! I love those slippers...and congratulations on the new addition!

Restless Prairie Farm said...

Congratulations!!!

dongdong said...

Those shoes are beautiful!! Congrats on your 4th. So exciting.

suzanne said...

Hello Jennifer

I scrolled down at lightning speed to read your final words of your post. What happy news~! Really wonderful....

Lovely slippers that I have been wanting to give a try for quite some time. Thank you for the post.

A happy day to you
Warm regards
Suzanne

Mama Rose said...

Oh my goodness Jennifer...HOORAY for you sweet Mama!!! A big congrats to you all!! An absolute blessing :D

Kelly said...

such a fantastic workshop. I am familiar with Ruskin Mill - it is in our area here in England!
And the beautiful news about your baby - absolutely wonderful!! Congratulations. Enjoy a peaceful, precious pregnancy!

Blessings to all your family!

Grandma said...

the conference looked wonderful, and so do you!

W-S Wanderings said...

Congratulations! Such happy news.

And such a delightful photo of the feet all snug in their slippers, forming a circle of warm colour!

Anonymous said...

oh what a perfect ending to this post! Congratulations!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Tan Family! : ) May this new journey provide you will all of the joy that you deserve. : )

The classes looked amazing, and by the smiles on Jennifers face, I would say she had a great time.

Much happiness to you all. : )

MamaWestWind said...

Looked like such amazing workshops! And great surprise ending! Congratulations!

Becca

Dyer said...

What a wonderful workshop and Marianne is a great teacher, I am sure she is thrilled with her hands on vessel.
Andie Luijk

Little gamer said...

Congratulations!!
What a wonderful workshop!

Honey Pumpkin Mama said...

Congratulations Jennifer! Wonderful news for you and your family! Thank you for spinning the wool. I received it and its beautiful. Maria

sarah said...

Hay! I an a frequent visitor to your blog and lovelove it! I also have listened to your shows on Donna's pages--and I have to say congrats! You are doing what we did! Baby #4 came in March 2010 and he is such a lovely addition to our family. I hope your journey into this new part of motherhood is wonderful. Blessings!

Jen said...

Hey again pregnant momma! I wanted to LYK that I gave you (another) Sunshine Award :D NO pressure to participate, but just wanted to honor you!

http://ancienthearth2.blogspot.com/2010/07/sunshine-award.html

xoxo,
Jen

Crooked Moon Mama said...

Woo-hoo! Happy baby blessings to the Tan family!! I am so happy for you, even though I've never met you. Ha!
LOVE the slipper picture too by the way...better make a baby pair...

TCallihan said...

Oh what a grand week and thrilling news! I just can't wait to see all the wonderful things that are going to be created for the new little one. Your family is such an inspiration of truly loving and living!

kendra said...

congratulations!!! how wonderful!

Bending Birches said...

I very much enjoyed the journey through your beautiful experience...I am an aspiring waldorf teacher! thank you so much for sharing:)

Anonymous said...

Felicitaciones que gran noticia!!
mucho amor para ustedes y el nuevo bebe
bendiciones
PS: hermosas las fotos

momto5 said...

WOW what great news! we will be welcoming #6 in January!

heather

Castlequeen said...

Blessings on your new gift from heaven. The conference looked awesome, I would so love to attend something like this. My boys are and I are enjoying spinning (on our new drop spindle) thank you for your advice.
Love & Light
Alison, NZ

Anonymous said...

Amazing work at the conference! I just love those slippers. I wonder if I could make those ... Hmmm ...

Sending love and light your way.

Waldorf (inspired) Moms said...

Congratulations on the baby! I too attended this conference at RSC college a few years ago and hope that everyone who loves Waldorf handwork can one day attend as well. It was transformational. Thank you for sharing!