Showing posts with label baby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baby. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Birth Photos and Art

Pregnancy and birth are a journey to remember.  This pregnancy, we are taking a lot of pictures and forming a baby book from 5 weeks pregnancy, on. 



5 Weeks


















18 Weeks



Part of the baby book will feature artwork.  What do we think of when we say, "pregnant", "baby", "birth"?  Each person in the family has a different outlook -- a personal interpretation of what this special time means for us.


39-40 Weeks

Each of us created a piece of artwork by drawing over the past couple of months.  Once the baby is born, we will do this again.  It is fascinating to see the differences in the styles, medium choices and content. 

We look forward to including these beautiful pieces of artwork in the baby's book after she is born!

Wilson's Birth Art - Colored Pencils

Joey's Birth Art - Colored Pencils

Ricky's Birth Art - Pencil

Jennifer's Birth Art - Block Crayons

Rick's Birth Art - Oil Pastels

Friday, June 3, 2011

Growing and Growing....

Syrendell is growing!  Our family and our business are blossoming this year, and we feel very fortunate. 

Baby #4 is due early October.  With each baby, Jennifer's belly seems to pop out earlier! 



















Joey is ending her Grade 6 year with Medieval Games (variety of Waldorf schools participate) and camping at Cache Creek.  She's almost as tall as Mommy!


















Wilson is finishing up Grade 1, reading, writing and loving math.  He grew out of his indoor shoes, so he and Mommy made a new pair by wetfelting wool.  He's excited about the baby!

























The baby kittens are almost full grown.  They still love to hang out with their mom. 


















Ricky has grown this year in grade 8 at Davis Waldorf School.  He did a 20-minute presentation on the clarinet, including performing his own composition.  To end the year, his class went to Kroka wilderness camp in New Hampshire and visited colonial sites in Boston, MA.













Our summer garden is planted, and growing!  Corn, peas, beans, pumpkins, watermelon, cantaloupe, various squash, tomatoes, onions, beets, radishes, daikon, rutabaga, potatoes, carrots, bell peppers, hot peppers, tomatillos, strawberries, cucumbers, and a variety of herbs. 















Our consulting services, workshops, and private lessons are expanding at Syrendell!  We thoroughly enjoy our adventures with homeschoolers, Waldorf schoolers, and others who want to learn more about fiber arts, art, aromatherapy and music.  eCourses in crocheting and Anthroposophy coming soon through Little Acorn Learning!















New patterns, eBooks, handwork supplies and handspun yarns are in the making for the Etsy shop.  The baby is inspiring Jennifer to create some Tunisian baby clothes and patterns, as well as publish the 6-years-in-the-making mothering meditations eBook.  The family is also busy crochetng, knitting and sewing baby toys and clothes!  Grandma knitted the white hats, and Wilson knitted the bear and cat.















Growth and change are all a part of life...and we are enjoying it!  Thank you for reading our blog and joining us on Facebook.

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!