Hi everyone, you may not know this about me but i’ve been a practicing Buddhist for about 17 years now in the Tibetan tradition. In this tradition the number 108 is very auspicious- thats why there are 108 beads on every full size mala! 😊 So, now that we have reached 108 members in this community I’d like to post this small celebration. May you all have happiness and the causes of happiness. 🥰🙏 Enjoy these pics of my flowering cactus from a few days ago, and feel free to post your own pics of the beauty around you down in the comments! Whatever we focus our attention on grows in our life. ❤️

...with red cabbage of course! Here are my results from two rounds of dyeing with red cabbage. These are silk and wool, scoured first, and then mordanted with alum. Straight red cabbage water gives a beautiful purple. Adding baking soda gives a blue or green depending on how much baking soda you add. Adding vinegar or lemon juice gives a magenta. The wool had a yellow tint to it, so that warmed up the colors quite a lot.

Hi everyone, Happy Friday! On Saturdays I teach art online, and then I meet in person for a drawing lesson. My online student is making a watercolor and collage animal flip-book with me, and my drawing student is working on a skull! Here are some pics of each project. Anything can be creative- even housecleaning or gardening, if you take a creative approach. I added a few pics of beautiful flowers from my yard. Reply to this thread and tell us what your weekend plans entail.

I’m unable to join on Sunday as I’m traveling. Wanted to share an interesting experience I had with collage while in Vietnam a few weeks ago. I spent one morning visiting Lang Van Phuc, a silk village 30 minutes from downtown Hanoi. The village is well known for its traditional weaving, and silk products. 90% of the people who live in the village are involved in the silk industry. We saw beautiful silk, watched it being woven on traditional looms. But the highlight of the visit was when we happened upon Vun Art, an organization that employs disabled people (mostly autistic and deaf/mute) to create fabric collages from scrap fabric. We were invited into their workshop. Around a table were maybe 10 adults who were cutting fabric shapes from scrap cloth following specific patterns. They people were extremely friendly, a few actually spoke some English, they asked our names. Then we learned more, visiting two other work spaces and seeing some of the finished work. To be in this space where people who are often seen as less than being treated with respect and value was so moving. We met and spoke with the founder of the organization at length. The tasks were divided as the individuals were not all capable of completing a piece from start to finish And of course we bought something. This was my 3rd time visiting Vietnam. On our first visit, in 2014, we traveled to Sapa, at the north end of the country, almost at the Chinese border. Among our many activities was a trek through terraced rice patties and a home stay. Sapa is populated by minority peoples including the Hmong. We were fortunate to have lunch at the home of our guide. How special it was to be welcomed into her home, with its dirt floor, exposed lights bulbs and her grandmother sitting by the fire. A woman who had seen few white people in her lifetime (per the guide). Lunch was delicious, I often think, these are the people who will survive in an apocalypse. They grow their own food, raise their animals, spin thread and weave their own clothes. How generous to open their lives to us. I’m attaching a photo of our guides grandmother. Why am I telling you this, well im also attacking a photo of the fabric collage we bought. As you will see it was a circular experience.