Wieteke Opmeer

Iris van Herpen Exhibition

2012-04-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

Some time ago I travelled all the way to the other side of the Netherlands (from Rotterdam to Groningen) to see the exhibition about Iris van Herpen, a dutch fashion designer I really admire, at the Groninger Museum. It was a really beautiful exhibition. It was amazing to see her dazzling pieces in real life. The only down point was that my camera after 10 minutes suddenly had no battery life anymore. But that became a good excuse to buy the beautiful book that was specially made for the exhibition. If you are in the opportunity to go to this exhibition, go! It's such a beautiful exhibition you won't regret it. More information about the exhibition check the site of the Groninger Museum. If you want to see more about this amazing fashion designer check the site of Iris van Herpen

Opening Secret Gardens at CBK

2012-04-06T08:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a very nice opening of the exhibition and shop with the theme "de geheime tuin" (translates into "secret garden") which also had my collection "leaves Impression". This all happened at the CBK in Rotterdam. It was a great opening with lot's of people, lot's of flowers from the charming flower-girls walking around and lot's and lot's of talent that was displayed! Got in touch with some very interesting people! Some of them where Renske Versluijs, Barbara Smit, Madeleen Bloemendaal, Jörgen Smit, Susanne Vuyk and Niels van Hout , they are all worth checking out! I went home not only very inspired and happy but also with a cute little gift envelope containing some sunflower-seeds.

Secret Gardens

2012-04-03T13:40:00.000-07:00

This week I've been a busy bee perfecting my "Leaves Impression" collection for a new and improved Artshop and exhibition of the Centre of Art of Rotterdam. They exist for 30 years and celebrate this by having a wonderful exhibition called "de Geheime Tuin" which translates into "Secret Gardens". The very Exciting thing is that I will be featuring most of my "leaves Impression" Collection in their new and improved shop! If you are in Rotterdam and have time on the 5th of April around 17.30, come and join me for a drink at this amazing opening! Check their website for more details.

Nov'82 architects

2012-03-23T07:18:00.000-07:00

Recently I am working on an exciting project that will be in shops soon! In the process of developing my product, I visited the two wonderful architects of NOV'82 architects in their studio. I must say they have one of the most interesting studio's I've ever seen! The Building is just two meters wide and has a lovely interior that perfectly suits their needs. I got really inspired by their way of working. Visit their site for info about their projects and vision. Later more about the project I visited them for so keep an eye on my blog!

column!

2012-03-17T05:40:00.000-07:00

Wohoo I am the new columnist for "de groene offerte" an initiative of the BNO (organization for dutch designers). If you can read dutch follow the link and enjoy my first column! You can read my column here! I'm gonna try my best to monthly produce something funny and interesting about my green design work and the dilemma's surrounding it.

Rigorous spring cleaning!

2012-03-16T16:45:00.000-07:00

I love this time of year, new buds everywhere and the promise of green and lush surroundings, it all makes me more than happy. This is for me also the time to start new things! For example this blog, I thought it could do with a little more than some dusting off! I changed the lay-out and made it a bit more fancy. I thought it was time for a new look, so here is my blog with a new coat on. But don't be afraid, I'm still the same. When the radar was silent there where some quite interesting things happening, so soon some more interesting new things to catch up on!

Dutch Designweek WNF auction

2011-10-28T14:32:00.000-07:00

During the dutch designweek in Eindhoven there is a special auction for WNF.

WNF Asked me to donate a scarf from the Leaves Impression Collection to this wonderful auction, and off course I said yes to this very good initiative! I've selected a beautiful scarf of the eucalyptus dyed collection Leaves Impression that also featured in the issue of Libelle Balance before!

This WNF auction is filled with beautiful products that are made with good materials or have interesting subjects that stimulate consciousness or are made from recycled materials.

Most important of all is that all the income of this auction will go to a good cause, so we all donate to the good cause! What nicer than that? Well, you also have a chance to start bidding on my scarf for a very reduced price! So check out the website, make a beautiful bid of at least 50 euro, and maybe you are the lucky owner of this beautiful hand dyed antung silk scarf! And next to that the highest bidder will also receive next to the scarf a personal letter from me explaining the whole dyeproces, a businesscard and a beautiful card from the Leaves Impression Collection. You can also start bidding on E-bay so be quick to try to be the highest bidder on this beauty because the auction closes at the 30th of October 18.00! Here is a direct link to this beautiful scarf on the auction website. And don't forget, it's all for a good cause!

eco dye workshop in Tilburg!

2011-10-16T04:09:00.000-07:00

There is a unique chance to follow one of my workshops! There are a few places left for a workshop dyeing and printing with eucalyptus, It is in Tilburg (Holland). In this course I will teach how to dye different colors with just leaves water and a little love. You're also getting the chance to print with the leaves and you also get lot's of tips and tricks from me! I will give the workshop in English and in Dutch.

So grab this chance and follow this amazing workshop I'm giving! It is going to take place on the 27th of October, so be quick! Hope to see you there!

See more info and how to enroll on this page!

Libelle Balance meets Leaves Impression.

2011-08-26T01:00:00.000-07:00

There is a nice article in the dutch magazine Libelle Balance showing a scarf from the collection "Leaves Impression" with an explanation of the process involved in making the lovely leaf prints. Enjoy!

staindress premiere!

2011-06-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

After working long hours and having had great help by lot's of sweet people, my newest project "Staindress" is a fact. It had it's premiere at the wonderful event Fashion clash in Maastricht. The Project "Staindress" is all about creating things that are interesting from simple materials, and most of all I wanted to convey that "mistakes" can make things more beautiful instead of ruining them.

I designed and constructed the dress myself with (much needed) help from my lovely mother (as I have never made clothes before!). The material of the dress is a high quality organic silk. Which I silkscreened with a homemade PH value changing silkscreening ink. I made this ink from inviromentally friendly materials that are used in the food industry.

To really understand and see the effect happening, I decided that this had to be captures in a short film which would also was an opportunity to really create the fairytale like atmosphere I had in mind when I made the first sketch on paper. This made me search for a professional to help me with this. I found a real professional in Rico Sohilait who has a company named "laid back productions". I wrote a script, found locations to use as filmset and Rico decided to help me. Which he did wonderfully! This video really portraits what I had in mind, so thank you Rico and his assistant Robert Jan! This video needed also unique music, the music is composed by my new love! Jolle Roelofs who is a great Composer and pianist.

Below the video showing the transformation of this dress and underneath some photo's of the performance and also of the presentation in Maastricht

The photo's are made by Jolle Roelofs and the Film by Laid back productions, enjoy!
PS: If you want to use the photo's for your blog or something else, that's cool but please remember to mention the project and a link! Thankss!

next blogpost is all about, "the making of staindress" plus the people that helped to make it reality!

staindress from wieteke opmeer on Vimeo.

New developments!

2011-05-07T06:20:00.000-07:00

After having a busy couple of weeks and a small trip to get away from everything for a few days I'm back at work again!

I'm filling my days lately with a very interesting project. I am doing interesting experiments with lovely organic silks and home made formula's to create interesting effects on fabric. I can't tell everything yet but I can tell that it is promising to become a very interesting en beautiful project! This all I am doing for the event "Fashion Clash" in Maastricht. This event will take place in the beginning of June this year, For the exact dates check out their website. The organization for this project did a nice interview with me which you can read through this link (very Happy with it!)

Next to this I have become a columnist for the website Duurzamelifestyle.nl, A very nice dutch website what writes about everything that has to do with incorporating sustainability in daily life. You can read my first column about my work as a designer (written in dutch) through this link, so enjoy!

And of course in the last blogpost I was giving away a limited edition art catalog from a communal project I did. The person who got this is Dorie! So Dorie if you want to send me an email containing your postal address then I can send you your gift as soon as possible!

Below some pictures from my dyeing adventures for the upcoming fashion project!

never-ending-art publication 2011

2011-04-05T05:43:00.000-07:00

A while ago I had the start of an exhibition called Never ending art (see the my blogpost about that here). At this exhibition I presented the work "Bosfeestje". A few days ago this Exhibition came to an end and this was celebrated with a lovely day in the forest where the whole project started and with the presentation of a beautiful publication of this project. All the artists who participated worked together to make a communal art piece in the forest to announce the start of a folly which will be build later on. I took some photo's during this day, so enjoy!

And to celebrate this closing of the exhibition with all you readers I want to give one publication box away! (a description of this box is found below) If you want one of these publications let me know why you want this box plus your postal address and send this in an email to wieteke"at"wietekeopmeer.nl . I will announce who the lucky winner is in the next blogpost! The publication will be send to you! (if you live abroad please understand that I will charge just the shipping costs because otherwise it will be a very expensive gift) Please note that this publication is in dutch!

We started this day with the presentation of the publication of this art project and giving the first issue of this publication to the director of the foundation of city and nature, Hans Warrink (picture above)

Also nice was that the landscape architect who designed this area was also present. He could tell us a lot of interesting features of this lovely forest near Almere in Flevoland.

The publication consisted of a box with a small booklet containing a description of all the interesting art projects produced for this exhibition.

And next to the booklet the box is filled with A6 format cards with pictures of the artworks. Each artist has their work presented on three of those beautiful cards.

After the presentation the artists all went for a long walk through the forest to determine the perfect spot for our communal artwork, during this walk we found the forest just preparing for spring, which was very nice to see.

After this walk we determined the best spot for a communal spontaneous art work made with recycled materials.

sharing news and capturing sun

2011-03-17T14:58:00.000-07:00

I have some great news to share with you all!

I applied for the fashion event in Maastricht some time ago called "fashionclash" because the creator of this interesting event encouraged me to apply and well, that I did. I applied for the exhibition part with my graduation project "zaaisieraden" from the collection "seeds of wonder" and with an exciting new project I wanted to make now for a while. I thought this was the perfect chance to let this get it's premiere, and guess what! Both projects got selected! I am over the moon and a bit nervous, the fashionclash event will be in June. So I've ordered fabrics and I am going to start very quickly with the first experiments for this new and experimental project. I will keep you up to date and uncover later on what this mysterious project is about!

next to that ,

A stylist for a dutch magazine, found me on the internet and contacted me, she wanted to use my work in a fashion photoshoot where every item was eco! I loved the concept she explained to me and that resulted in that I send her as soon as I could some scarfs of my collection "leaves Impression". The nicest thing is that the photoshoot was in Miami! I am very very proud, my darlings travelled around the world and came back to me after their adventures still as beautiful as before. The magazine will appear in July and of course I will keep you up to date when it will appear exactly!

I was a bit jealous off my lucky scarfs that got to travel all the way to sunny Miami. Luckely I could capture some sun because I got the chance to dye a big eco wool blanket with eucalyptus for a client, it turned out beautiful! Enjoy some photo's of the process of dyeing and I've also added some photo's of the end result! And before I forget Let me thank my sweet mother who helped me with this big heavy project! Without her I couldn't have made this beauty!

And here the result after a long day of work and a lot of patience! The result is a large eco woolen blanket with a scattered leaf print of eucalyptus. It's on it's way to the lucky buyer!

Mode Museum Hasselt meets Wieteke Opmeer!

2011-01-31T10:20:00.000-08:00

As you may have read in the earlier post I was asked to show my jewellery collection "zaaisieraad" at the Fashion Museum of Hasselt, Belgium. (Mode Museum Hasselt). I went back to Belgium to be present at the press conference and also at the opening itself. The museum had arranged a hotel for me so I wouldn't have to rush back in the middle of the night so that was very nice! On Friday morning the 28th of January the press conference started and after explaining my work to the journalist there luckely was some time off to have a nice dinner and buy a nice souvenir. After that small break it was time for the big opening that same evening! Lot's of conversations and lot's of given business cards later I went to sleep proud and tired thinking, I've gotten the taste of this :) On to the next!

On my way to the press conference.

Explaining my work to the journalists.

My work in the beautiful designed surroundings by Lien Wouters.

The party in the central hall of the museum.

Very proud to see my name between the international artists and to see my photo in the catalogue of the exhibition.

If you want to visit the exhibition or find more about the Museum and the exhibition on their website !

fashion museum dreams

2011-01-26T16:11:00.000-08:00

I am asked to show my jewellery collection "zaaisieraad" at the Fashion Museum Hasselt, Belgium (Mode Museum Hasselt). The exhibition is called "alter nature: The future that never was" This is a very interesting exhibition which show an overview from the sixties until now with all kinds of futuristic fashion designs. I must say that I am proud to be part of this exhibition! Last week I personally visited the museum to bring the necklaces and prepare them for the exhibition. Just to make sure everything went right.

Now only a few days away from the big opening at friday evening the 28th of januari I'm already packing my bags. I'm traveling to Belgium tomorrow afternoon to prepare for the press conference that will happen on friday morning (exciting!). If you became curious you can visit the site of the Museum to read more about the exhibition. Below some pictures of preparing the necklaces for the exhibition.
Later more about the opening of the exhibition!

you all know what time it is!

2010-12-24T15:56:00.000-08:00

Wishing everyone a beautiful christmas and a lovely new year!
In the new year I want to start fresh and I am planning to clear out some of my workspace storage. Meaning I want to make other people happy with all kinds of interesting fabrics and other materials. I'm gonna organize this all in the new year, so keep an eye on this blog!

love you all!

Bosfeestje!

2010-10-04T04:01:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I had a very fun project! I called it "Bosfeestje", which translates into "Forestparty". This is a project I made for a forest next to the city of Almere in the province of Flevoland. This province is a quite recent addition to the Netherlands. And to celebrate this fact, I designed biodegradable little partyhats made from paper with poppyseeds imbedded in them. The hats are finished with strings of wool from a sheep in my neighboorhoud spun personally by my mother and for the visitors who can't tolerate wool I specially made some hats with organic silk ribbons. The purpose was to walk the art route through the forest and place the little hats on a place as a gift to the forest with the goal to help the forest grow. The day was wonderful and the hats made it lot's of fun!

Afgelopen weekend heb ik een erg leuk project in een bos in Almere gehad! Het project heb ik Bosfeestje genoemd. Het Bosfeestje heb ik als initiatief gemaakt om te vieren dat het bos nog heel jong is, dat verdient een feestje! Het project bestond uit kleine biodegradable feesthoedjes gemaakt van papier waar klaprooszaadjes in verwerkt zijn, met als afwerking touwtjes gemaakt van wol van een schaap uit mijn buurt wat tot draad is gesponnen door mijn moeder, en voor de mensen die niet goed tegen wol konden had ik een aantal hoedjes gemaakt met ecologische zijde lintjes. De bedoeling was dat de hoedjes gedragen konden worden aan het begin van de kunstwandeling door het bos, en op een gegeven moment kon het hoedje in het bos worden achtergelaten als kadootje aan het bos, zodat de bezoekers het bos helpen mooier te maken. Ik heb een geweldige dag gehad en er is heel wat afgelachen met de grappige hoedjes!

keeping calm and trying to carry on.

2010-09-28T13:26:00.000-07:00

You all must have noticed that my blog has been silent for a long time. This has a reason. My life has made a turn. After 8 wonderful years together, my relationship with my love has ended. And as you can imagine it wasn't and still isn't easy. This made it difficult to keep posting regularly.

In the meanwhile I have been busy with basic things, like finding a new place to stay, finding a good second job next to my work as a designer. I haven't made a full recovery with the practical side of finding a good place to live but I have already managed to find a perfect second job. In the mean time I'm just trying to keep calm and carry on....

There still have been exhibitions of my work and even new developments. I will keep posting about new developments and projects because that's what's life is about! I will not stop my work as a designer. So let's say hello to a fresh new future filled with all new things to discover. I will keep you posted again!

Wishing you all lot's of love, Wieteke

miscommunication?

2010-06-19T12:53:00.000-07:00

Recently I was send an email with a message that was suprising to me. It was from someone who had read something about the course I am going to teach at the end of this year at the textile museum in tilburg about dyeing with eucalyptus. India Flint didn't seem to be very pleased that I did this. I was suprised to read this through her blog, you can read what she posted here.

Because there are always two sides to a story I wanted to share you mine. In advance I also want to make clear that I am not doing this because I'm mad or something like that. I just think it is important to see both sides of the story and then form your own judgment on the issue. Below I am posting relevant email conversations between India and me. I changed nothing of the conversation or the context. the only one thing I left out is India's address and email of course for privacy reasons, I just copy-pasted it from my email inbox.

India if you might read this there is always a possiblilty to discuss the text featured on the website of the textile museum, if you don't agree, I am open to conversation.

----- Original Message -----
From: Wieteke Opmeer
To: india flint
Sent: Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:05:57 +0100
Subject: Hai India!

Hai India,

It's been a while and I want to share that I have posted some pics on my blog of my latest collection all dyed with Eucalyptus.
From the designfair where I presented it, I got a lot of nice
reactions, from wich a lot of requests, if I could give workshops in dyeing in Eucalyptus.
I haven't reacted to any of them because I think I don't know enough to teach people everything there is to know about eco dyeing.

I hope you like the collection. If you want to see more I can send you some nice pics of some discovery's I've made with the eco print.
http://blog.wietekeopmeer.nl/20 09/11/eco-eucalyptus-dyed-collection.html

Love Wieteke

ps: If you are okay with it, could you send me your adress so I can send you a thank you supprise? ;)

3-11-2009 7:36

dear Wieteke,

i do follow your blog [it appears in a little window on the side of mine] and saw your lovely pictures and also that you were kind enough to thank me, for which i thank YOU. so many students simply think that after one lesson they can go and teach what has been my life's work

that they can then make collections and present my ideas without acknowledgement. You on the other hand are taking an honourable path and it makes me very happy.

lots of love

India

(left adress out because of privacy reasons)

----- Original Message -----
From: Wieteke Opmeer
To: india flint
Sent: Mon, 31 May 2010 12:36:42 +0200
Subject: Hai

Hey India,

I wanted to let you know that I am asked to give a dye workshop at the textile Museum in Tilburg. After long thinking I have decided to give a one day course but I will only teach what I think I know best at this moment and that is eco dyeing and printing with eucalyptus. It will be a one day course about the basics of dyeing and printing with eucalyptus, I am also giving a presentation about my work as well as your work. I am not planning to copy your beautiful style or steel your work. I hope you understand that I will do this with the highest respect to you and your work. And that I will give you credit for the things I learned from you.
I just wanted to let you know before you might find this out another way,

Kind regards and with deep respect
Wieteke Opmeer

31-5-2010 15:10

thanks for letting me know, Wieteke

warm regards

India

100XSUMMERDESIGN in Almere

2010-06-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

This sunday the 6th of june I was at 100XSUMMERDESIGN in Almere (NL) here I showed my sowing jewellery. It was a very intresting day! The location was very remote and had the charm of Almere, surrounded by unfinished houses and lot's of sand, it was for me the most remarcable location I ever showed my work during an exhibition. I liked the fact that this neighboorhood was so new and unfinished. The weather was at the start of the day beautiful and warm. After a lovely vegetarian lunch there was a very interesting opening speach by designer Jurgen Bey. It was a nice day but unfortunatly the weather turned on us around three in the afternoon. It started to rain slightly so unfortunatly I had to decide to safely pack my watersoluble necklaces. This day was plannend to last until seven in the evening but unfortunatly most of the designers had to pack earlier to save their beautiful designs and go home. Sometimes nature has it's own agenda and we where not on it I guess. I left around four in the afternoon but still the day was very intresting and if the weather was good I would have been able to enjoy the whole day!
Below are some pictures to give an impression of the day.
The first two aerial photographs are from the website of "Museum de Paviljoens" and were taken by Maarten Feenstra.

Zondag was ik aanwezig bij 100XSUMMERDESIGN in Almere. Ik liet hier mijn Zaaisieraden zien. Het was een erg interessante dag! De locatie waar de tentoonstelling werd gehouden was heel afgelegen en had zeker de charme van Almere. Ik vond het heel interessant dat de wijk nog zo nieuw en onaf was met overal om ons heen onafgebouwde huizen en veel zand. Dit maakte de locatie tot een van de apartste locaties waar ik heb geëxposeerd. Na een heerlijke vegetarische lunch opende Jurgen bey de tentoonstelling met een interessante speach. Het was verder een interessante dag alleen het weer had helaas zijn eigen agenda. Het begon helaas rond drie uur te regenen waardoor ik mijn water oplosbare sieraden moest opbergen. De dag was gepland om tot zeven uur 's avonds te duren alleen door de regen waren de meeste ontwerpers gedwongen hun ontwerpen in te pakken en zijn de meeste eerder vertrokken. Ik ben ook eerder terug gegaan om de sieraden een droog plekje te kunnen geven. Het was een interessante dag en een aparte locatie alleen zat helaas het weer niet mee. Hieronder een aantal foto's die een impressie geven van de dag.

De eerste twee lucht foto's zijn van de website van "Museum de Paviljoens" en zijn genomen door Maarten Feenstra.

I'm alive! And kicking!

2010-06-03T04:09:00.000-07:00

It has been much to long ago that I posted something! So no excuses and let's just catch up with everything that happend! Because there has happend a lot! I haven't posted in a while because I started to illustrate a story written by my father that we will try to get published! Below some sketches, it is far from finised so these are sketches.

Het is veel te lang geleden dat ik iets gepost heb! Dus geen excuses en laat ik even vertellen over alles wat er in de tussentijd is gebeurd, want er is veel gebeurd! Ik heb een tijdje niet gepost omdat ik heel druk bezig was met het illustreren van een verhaal geschreven door mijn vader, dit gaan we proberen te laten uitgeven! Het is verre van af dus hieronder een aantal schetsen.

Besides that I've been asked by the Textile Museum of Tilbrug (NL) to design and make a collection of ecodyed scarfes that they will be sell in the museumshop! So that's great news! In the same spirit I am going to give a workshop in october of this year at the Textile Museum where I will teach everything you need to know about how to dye with Eucalyptus, If you would like to join, you can register at this site here you can find more about what the program of the workshop is!

Hiernaast ben ik gevraagd om voor het Textiel Museum van Tilburg om een serie ecologisch geverfde sjaals te ontwerpen en maken die verkocht zullen worden vanaf het einde van het jaar in de winkel van het Textiel Museum. In hetzelfde kader ga ik in Oktober een workshop geven in Tilburg bij het Textiel Museum. Tijdens deze workshop van een dag behandel ik alles wat je moet weten over het verven met eucalyptus. Als je het leuk vind om hier aan mee te doen kun je je inschrijven via deze site. Hier kan je ook meer vinden over wat ik behandel tijdens deze workshopdag!

I have also been invited by Museum de Paviljoens to showcase my sowing jewelry and picknickblanket at the event 100xSUMMERDESIGN Almere at sunday june 6! So that already upcoming sunday! Looking forward to that day! It's bound te be lot's of fun with all the designers. You can chat with everyone so if you have the chance come and visit! visit their site for more info about this day.

Ik ben ook uitgenodigd door Museum de Paviljoens om mijn Zaai Sieraden en mijn picknick kleed Kiem Kleed te laten zien in Almere op zondag 6 Juni tijdens de tentoonstelling 100xSUMMERDESIGN. Dus dat is al aankomende zondag! Ik heb zin in deze dag, het beloofd een hele leuke dag te worden met veel interessante ontwerpers waarvan er veel aanwezig zullen zijn op deze dag. Je kunt dan met veel ontwerpers praten dus als je dat ziet zitten moet je zeker even langs komen! Je kunt meer info vinden over deze dag op hun site.

And also something very exciting! From the 24th till the 27th of June I will be selling a new eco product on which I am working hard now! It will be affordable and very much fun! The sales weekend will be during the graduation exhibition of the HKU in Utrecht. When that date is coming closer I will let you know more about that!

A bit further on the summer calender there will be a big exhibition where my work will be showed at an exhibition in Utrecht during 6 weeks in this summer. The exhibition is called "Steunkleur Groen" which translates into "Supporting Color Green" More about that exhibition later on!

I am also invited to very interesting project at the end of this year in Almere (NL) again. This is promises to become a very interesting project in which lot's of interesting eco oriented designers will show new work and me included!
So I haven't been sleeping! I will keep you all posted on new developments

En nog iets interessants is dat ik de 24ste tot en met de 27ste Juni een nieuw product zal gaan verkopen tijdens de afstudeer tentoonstelling van de HKU (Utrecht). Ik werk op dit moment hard om dit af te krijgen. Het word leuk en betaalbaar dus laat je verrassen! Als deze data dichterbij komt zal ik hierover ook meer vertellen.

Nog iets later in de zomer is mijn werk te bewonderen gedurende 6 weken tijdens een tentoonstelling in de binnenstad van Utrecht genaamd "steunkleur Groen" waaraan allemaal interessante groen georiënteerde ontwerpers en kunstenaars deelnemen. Later daarover meer!

Aan het einde van dit jaar ben ik weer te vinden in Almere. Hier ben ik uitgenodigd voor een interessant project over ecologie cradle to cradle enz. Dit word een interessante project waarin er nieuw werk te zien zal zijn van allerlei interessante ontwerpers en kunstenaars die werken met de natuur, waaronder ikzelf! Later hierover meer.

Zoals je wel gemerkt heb ben ik niet in slaap gevallen, ik ga weer posten zodra er weer nieuwe leuke vorderingen zijn!

family treasures

2010-03-31T12:39:00.000-07:00

A short time ago, the grandmother of my love visited. (As a side note, in the family I'm known as "the creative one" and they know I love fabrics and everything that has some connection with it.) The grandmother who visited said that she had a little present for me, she said: "I've had this for a long time now and I never did anything with it, so I hope you can do something with it." I was very curious what she would give. She unpacked a small plastic bag and gave me a very old cardboard box filled with different kinds of yarn and two bags full of lace bobbins! I was very suprised, it really was a beautiful gift, I told her I had to look up how I should use the lace bobbins so I could make my own lace. And not long after that she said she had a second gift to complement the first gift, she said: "it's just an old book that is standing on my bookshelf and I never read it", she told she got it a long time ago from her old aunt. The book is beautiful and very handy, every handwork technique is explained even techniques I never heard of, and the book is written in the old dutch language (words are differently written), which makes it even more a treasure. Also the making of lace and the use of the bobbins are explaned so I'm over the moon with these gifts! The most beautiful small gift I found when I carefully flipped the pages, I found a small piece of lace made by the old aunt of my love.... beautiful

Een korte tijd geleden, kwam de oma van mijn lief op bezoek.(Als kleine notitie, in de familie sta ik bekend als "de creatieve" en iedereen weet dat ik weg ben van stoffen en alles wat daarmee verband heeft.) tijdens het bezoek zei dat ze een klein kadootje voor me had, ze zei: "Ik heb dit al een lange tijd en ik heb er nooit iets mee gedaan, dus ik hoop dat jij iets mee kunt doen." Ik was erg benieuwd wat ze zou geven. Ze pakte een klein plastic tasje en gaf me een verweerd oude kartonnen doosje gevuld met verschillende soorten garens en twee tassen vol met kantklosjes! Ik was heel verbaasd, echt een prachtig cadeau, ik vertelde haar dat ik moest opzoeken hoe ik de kantklosjes zou kunnen gebruiken zodat ik ook mijn eigen kant kon maken. Niet lang daarna zei ze dat ze een tweede kado zou geven om het eerste kadootje aan te vullen, ze vertelde me: "het is gewoon een oud boek, dat op mijn boekenplank staat en ik heb nooit in gelezen", ze vertelde me ook dat zij dit boek lang geleden kreeg van haar toendertijd oude tante. Het boek is prachtig en erg handig, elke handwerk techniek is uitgelegd zelfs technieken waar ik nog nooit van gehoord had, en het boek is geschreven in oud Nederlands, dat maakt het boek voor mij nog waardevoller. Ook het maken van kant en het gebruik van de kant klossen staat uitgelegd dus ik ben in de wolken met deze kado's! Het mooiste kleine kado was toen ik het boek eens rustig doorbladerde en een klein proef stukje kant tegenkwam tussen de bladzijden, vast en zeker van de oude tante die ooit dit boek heeft gelezen en er prachtige dingen uit heeft gemaakt...

The small treasure I found between the pages

De kleine schat die ik tussen de pagina vond

freezing spring for later

2010-03-24T09:51:00.000-07:00

It's spring! My garden is already blooming like crazy, filled with snowdrops and flowers of a blue purple kind of crocus. They always suprise me by popping up while I think it is still winter. They look so nice, but after a few days of rain most of the crocus flowers looked a bit sad and wilted, so I decided to pluck them with help of my mother (the hands in the pictures are from my lovely mother) and use them for a dyebath in the future. I decided to freeze them to use them for the iceflower dye method to obtain the most of color from these beautiful flowers. So in the future you will see the result of this experiment!

Het is lente! Mijn tuin staat nu al vol met bloemen, gevuld met sneeuwklokjes en bloemen van een blauw paarse soort krokus. Ze verbazen me altijd door op te duiken terwijl ik denk dat het nog winter is. Ze waren zo mooi, maar na een paar dagen regen zagen de meeste van de krokus bloemen er een beetje triest en verwelkt uit, dus besloot ik om ze te plukken met hulp van mijn moeder (je ziet haar handen in de foto's) en ze te gebruiken voor een verfbad in de toekomst. Ik besloot om ze te bevriezen om ze te gebruiken voor de Iceflower dye methode zodat ik de meeste van kleur van deze prachtige bloemen kan benutten. Dus in de toekomst ziet u het resultaat van dit experiment!

Different tones for this Melody

2010-03-15T15:54:00.000-07:00

The past week was a special but also busy week. This because I was asked by fashion designer Melody Deldjou Fard to ecodye fabric for a dress she was working on. It was great fun to experiment and eventually dye the fabric. But I have to be honest that it also was quite stressfull because there was not much time and not much room (within the metres of fabric) for mistakes. But I did manage to dye the fabric and happily she was satisfied with the result. I personally delivered the fabric in Utrecht after which we had tea in her small but beautiful appartment, we finally had time to catch up, because we hadn't seen each other for more then a year. She really is a wellharted person who works hard and makes beautiful fashion. Make sure to also check out her site to see all the interesting projects she is working on. I will later write about the dress she made from it!

Afgelopen week was een speciale maar ook een drukke week. Dit omdat ik was gevraagd door modeontwerpster Melody Deldjou Fard om een stof voor haar te verven die voor een jurk gebruikt wordt die ze aan het ontwerpen is. Het was geweldig om te experimenteren om samen tot een idee te komen wat mooi zou zijn voor de jurk. Maar ik moet ook eerlijk zijn, het was ook best stressvol doordat er niet veel tijd was om de stof te verven en vooral omdat er (binnen de meters stof) bijna geen ruimte was om veel fouten te maken. Maar uiteindelijk is het me gelukt om de stof te verven en ze was er gelukkig heel tevreden mee. Ik heb de stof persoonlijk afgeleverd en het was leuk om samen met haar thee te drinken in haar kleine maar prachtige appartement in Utrecht. We hadden eindelijk de tijd om weer eens bij te praten want we hadden elkaar al bijna meer dan een jaar niet gezien. Melody is echt een persoon met een goed hart die heel hard werkt aan haar prachtige modecarrière. Bekijk ook zeker even haar site om al haar interessante projecten te bekijken. Ik zal later ook schrijven over de jurk die ervan is gemaakt!

Here some nice and beautiful samples I dyed.

Hier een aantal prachtige proeven die ik heb geverfd.

Here a piece of the final fabric I dyed.

Hier een stukje van de uiteindelijke stof.

And some nice pictures of pictures I took in her lovely appartment

En een aantal foto's van heel erg mooie foto's die ik kon maken in haar mooie appartement

museumnight 2010!

2010-03-10T09:01:00.000-08:00

previous weekend, I visited "museumnight" in Rotterdam just like last year. It was filled with party's, strange art and beautiful performances during the night. All museums where open during this night and each museum organized an event. So it was lot's of fun! There was so much to see that I did'nt get the chance to visit every museum. But I have, just like last year, some great pictures and some movies from this years Museumnight.

Afgelopen weekend heb ik net als vorig jaar de museumnacht bezocht in Rotterdam. De nacht was gevuld met feestjes, rare kunst en prachtige optredens. alle musea waren open en organiseerde een evenement. Het was erg leuk! Er was zoveel te beleven dat ik helaas niet alles heb kunnen bekijken. Maar ik heb, net als vorig jaar, weer leuke fotos en filmpjes gemaakt zodat iedereen een beetje mee kan genieten.

As tickets we had to wear these nice pins. With a little flashing light in it.

Als toegangsbewijs kreeg je een button die je moest opspelden met een klein knipperend lichtje.

First up we visited the Kunsthal which organized a concert and had all kinds of exhibitions for show, like this picture from artist Nicole Segers. Showing a man who prepares a balloon shooting "booth" for the next game.

Als eerste zijn we naar de Kunsthal geweest, ze hadden een concert georganiseerd en er waren een aantal tentoonstellingen te bezichtigen. Zoals bovenstaande foto van fotografe Nicole Segers. hierop is een man te zien die zijn schiet "kraampje" voorbereid, hier kunnen mensen voor een kleine prijs ballonnen schieten.

And also seen in Kunsthal fascinating ceramic sculptures from artist Carolein Smit, called "huid en haar" which translates into "hair and skin".

En ook gezien in de Kunsthal fasinerende keramieken sculpturen van kunstenares Carolein Smit, genaamd "huid en haar"

Next we visited the Museum of Natural History, they live prepared dead animals for taxidermy, You could follow their actions on various large screens outside and inside. They explained a lot about the anatomy of the animal during the dissection. Here they are dissecting an harbour porpoise, a kind of dolphin, they also dissected other animals during the night. I found it kind of creepy but also fascinating. And don't worry the animals dissected where not killed, they where found dead and brought to the museum. If you don't like to see dead animals being dissected please do not watch the movie.

Het volgende museum wat we bezochten was het Natuur Historisch Museum. Hier ontleden ze dode dieren live vanuit de kelder wat je kon volgen via verschillende grote schermen buiten en binnen. Tijdens het snijden werd er veel over de anatomie van het dier verteld en uitgelegd. Op het beeld hierboven zijn ze net begonnen aan het ontleden van een bruinvis, een soort dolfijn. Gedurende de nacht hebben ze verschillende dieren ontleed en voorbereid voor het opzetten of op sterk water zetten om het dier te conserveren. Ik vond het soortvan eng maar ook wel fascinerend. En maak je geen zorgen de dieren die hier ontleed werden zijn niet dood gemaakt maar dood gevonden en naar het museum gebracht. Als je er niet tegen kunt dat dode dieren ontleed worden kijk dan niet het bovenstaande filmpje.

In the museum of natural history there where beautiful collections containing butterflies, insects, eggs and all kinds of taxidermia. Sometimes scary and creepy bust mostly beautiful.

Verder waren er in het museum grote collecties vlinders, insecten eieren en allerlei opgezette dieren te zien. Het meeste was mooi maar soms ook wel wat griezelig.

And last but not least we visited the Maritime Museum where we found a beautiful performance of the "Legendary Movie Orchestra". It was impressive to stand so close in the dark to such beautiful live music, visible with blacklight. It was a very beautiful ending to a very exciting night. Next Year is the 10th aniversary of the museumnight! So it should be a lot of fun!!

En last but not least hebben we het Maritiem Museum bezocht waar we een prachtige optreden vonden van het "Legendary Movie Orchestra". Het was indrukwekkend om zo dichtbij te staan in het donker en de live muziek te kunnen volgen doormiddel van het blacklight, het was heel indrukwekkend. Een prachtig einde van een geweldige nacht. Volgend jaar is de 10e editie van de museumnacht en dat beloofd een leuk spektakel te worden dus wie weet tot volgend jaar!