#fabric — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

mythologyandhistory @[email protected] · 2026-08-12 · 04:56 UTC

Did you know that there's an #Italian woman that may embellish #history a tiny bit to preserve an #ancient #art?

Chiara Vigo is a #craft woman who works with byssus - the beard hairs of a #mediterranean clam.
The resulting fiber is spun into a thin but warm golden #fabric.

The clam used is Pinna nobilis & unfortunately, its harvest is now illegal. Vigo claims to be the last person able to work with the fillament, & that she swore a "xuramento da auga" (water oath) to do so without profit.

Vigo says she harvest Pinna nobilis without harming the clam - a claim disputed by the curator of the Muschelseide ("clam silk", in Eng. ususally sea silk) Museum in Basel, Switzerland.

Curator Maeder has found at least 2 more women in #Sardinia who work with donated sea silk.

#history #secret

#secret #sardinia #fabric #mediterranean #craft #art

mythologyandhistory @[email protected] · 2026-08-12 · 04:56 UTC

Did you know that there's an #Italian woman that may embellish #history a tiny bit to preserve an #ancient #art?

Chiara Vigo is a #craft woman who works with byssus - the beard hairs of a #mediterranean clam.
The resulting fiber is spun into a thin but warm golden #fabric.

The clam used is Pinna nobilis & unfortunately, its harvest is now illegal. Vigo claims to be the last person able to work with the fillament, & that she swore a "xuramento da auga" (water oath) to do so without profit.

Vigo says she harvest Pinna nobilis without harming the clam - a claim disputed by the curator of the Muschelseide ("clam silk", in Eng. ususally sea silk) Museum in Basel, Switzerland.

Curator Maeder has found at least 2 more women in #Sardinia who work with donated sea silk.

#history #secret

#secret #sardinia #fabric #mediterranean #craft #art

Ink In My Coffee @[email protected] · 2026-08-11 · 11:39 UTC

Tues. Aug. 11, 2026: A Colorful, Creative Weekend

image courtesy of Pixabay.com

Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Dark Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Chiron Retrograde

Cloudy, warm, humid

I hope you had a lovely weekend. You can read the Community Tarot Reading for the Week here.

It was hot and humid on Friday. I kept waiting for the promised storms. I got the ghostwriting assignment off my desk and onto theirs. I wrote and submitted a book review (there’s been hardly any work from that client lately). I approved the final proofs for “Gorgeous Mess” in the MIDNIGHT MOUSERS anthology, and finished the rest of the admin paperwork they needed.

I doubt I can get copies in time for the author fest in September, but I can probably have copies for the Boiler House reading in October.

It was hot and humid, and I was grateful for fans and coolers.

I cooked tuna steaks for dinner, and made basil cream to go with it (a recipe from Anna Pump’s cookbook SUMMER ON A PLATE). It was so good, and I can use the rest of the basil cream on sandwiches, in salads, and on other things. I used more basil than the recipe called for, but it was great. I used the whole bunch of regular basil from the CSA in the recipe.

I got my act after dinner, got dressed, slapped on some makeup, and trotted down to FutureLabs Gallery for the opening. Of course, it started raining as soon as I left the house, but I’d brought an umbrella for insurance. It was only sprinkling.

I ran into Andrew Fitch on the corner of Main & Eagle, where he was meeting potential voters. We had a good catch-up, and I assured him both my mom and I planned to vote for him. Because I do think he is the best person for this particular job at this particular moment.

The opening at FutureLabs was a lot of fun. I had some good conversations with people, and conversations for future shows. The co-founder is excited by two pieces we discussed, so I am shuffling what I place where, and work on when. The co-founder wants a controversial piece I want to create for the January show, so that will be my focus for that show.

Came home to discover our mail-in ballots. Yay!

I used the coolers overnight in my room on timers, and kept waking up to turn them back on when they timed out. At 3:30 on Saturday morning, I moved to the couch and turned on the ceiling fan and the fan my friend sent me, and Tessa rolled over like, “oh, thank goodness!”

I got up around 5 and started the morning routine. Friday was Day 350 of the morning free-write. This past week, ideas have come in batches like cookies, and it’s good to have one place to put them, so I don’t misplace my notes.

I did some housework, tended the plants, and took out the garbage. I emailed the curator and the gallery founder with vision for the piece I’m working on, and they wrote back a lovely response, and look forward to the finished piece. I worked on the photos for the piece. I had to pull some of them off my old Macbook. Other then not being able to connect to the internet, the old Macbook is better than the newer PCs. By old, I mean I got in in 2010.

I’ve narrowed it down to about 2 dozen photos, and will narrow it down further to about 7 or 8, once I figure out the background fabric. All of the photos I’m using are ones I’ve taken myself over the years. The one photo of a photo of my Playland Painters has no attribution, but the original has disappeared. I have a photo of the two photos of these women, and now Westchester Archives has copies of my photos of the photos, and I will attribute it as best I can in the label. I realized that, since the original prop pieces have also vanished, I probably have the only remaining photos of those, and I should get copies of them to the Archives in the coming weeks. Once I have the background, I will print out and arrange the photos, fasten them down, and embellish.

It has to be done and photographed by Aug. 15 for consideration in the show.

Am I feeling pressured and insecure? Why yes, I am.

I put together a pasta sauce and set it in the slow cooker to do its thing while I was out in the afternoon. That’s what I love about slow cookers. You set things up, and they safely do their thing while you are busy, and there’s good food when you return.

I showered, changed, slapped on some makeup. Of course, as soon as I headed out the door, we were under thunderstorm watch again.

I went to Theatre 62 at Williams College. We were in a different part of the dance studio this time, with a different project. This was also part of the Fertile Ground New Works Residency, but this was a workshop of Jessica Bauman’s Anyone There? Featured six performers, including one of my colleagues, Louise Heller, from WAM’s literary committee. You can learn more about it here.

The space was set up in a circle, and the actors welcomed and chatted with us as we entered and got settled. There was a really joyful energy about the space and the piece. The piece itself ran for a little over an hour, and was a mix of scripted (from interviews the creator held on the topic) and interaction with the audience. As an extreme introvert, I usually shy away from that kind of interaction, but it was set up so skillfully, it was inCLUsive rather than InTRUsive. As a member of WAM, I would have gritted my teeth and played along no matter what, but there was no need to grit my teeth, I actually enjoyed myself. The themes were about isolation and connection, and depicted beautifully. There was movement and music along with the script, along with a section embodying specific Edward Hopper paintings. I told Jess after how my eyes kept getting wider and wider, because I’ve done ekphrastic work with every single piece she chose, especially “New York Movie.” She said every time she uses Hopper’s work, that one is relevant.

We had a talkback after, which was terrific, and then a chance to chat over coffee and muffins. One of the actors from NY and I exchanged information to keep in touch (and hope to work together someday), and one of the local actors may well be my Timothy in THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE if/when I get the grant for the reading, and if he’s available.

It was a truly wonderful experience. Both Fertile Ground pieces have supported dynamic artists, and I can’t wait to see where their work goes next.

It was raining fairly hard when I left, but the drive home was easy. My parking space was open, so that’s all I really cared about.

The Chewy cat litter order had arrived while I was gone, so I hauled that up the stairs and started the pasta. The sauce was perfection. It was a hot, sticky night, but cooled down a bit.

Up early on Sunday, usual routine, worked out a couple of scenes on the play in the morning free write. I did the Community Tarot Reading for the week, which you can read here.

We headed up to Bennington, VT in the late morning. It was a lovely drive, even in the heat. We hadn’t been up there in far too long. My mom needs an oversized shoe/croc for after her surgery, so we decided to look in thrift stores first. We found a pair that should work (don’t worry, I disinfected them when we got them home).

We were early getting back to Williamstown, too early for our next stop, so we stopped at the Clark for a little while and enjoyed the peaceful, lovely grounds. Perk of being a member – one can stop in there while out and about doing other things.

We then headed to Karen’s Quilting Corner (once it opened). I needed the background fabric for the collage. I’d hoped to find something with a Ferris wheel or carousel horse pattern, which I knew was a long shot. I’d sourced some of that print online from another store, but there was no way I could get it shipped in time to build the piece by the Aug. 15 deadline. So I went to Karen’s to see what I could find.

I found oh so many things I will use for various projects. But I didn’t need all of it right this second. I found an art deco small fan print in the colors that the buildings in the park are painted and trimmed, which will work. It will pick up some of the colors in the photographs.

They are so delightful at Karen’s that I should always just go there first.

We had what we needed, so we didn’t go to Old Stone Mill (I plan to go there in autumn and see what’s what)

Next stop was Ocean State, looking for kiddie pools. I hoped to find a 36”, but they only had the 42” and they only had three left, at an excellent price, so I grabbed one. I figured I could always return it if I found the smaller one, but looking at it, I think I might actually need this size. And it’s the exact shade of blue I wanted (for thematic meaning).

This is for the piece in January’s show, the controversial piece. I wouldn’t be able to find the kiddie pool in late fall/early winter, so I grabbed it now. I’ll paint/distress it in late October/early November out back when it’s cool enough to dry quickly, but not cold enough to crack.

However, that means storing it. So what did I do? Right now, it’s living on the bed in the sewing room, with a fleece blanket in it, because you KNOW the cats will want to explore. They’ve sniffed the perimeter, but haven’t hopped in yet. My bet is on Willa being the first to try it.

On a whim, we stopped at another thrift store, where I grabbed a small globe. I’ve always wanted a globe. This was inexpensive, and makes my map-loving heart happy.

The clerk at the store showed me on the globe where he grew up in Russia, and all the places he’s visited in the world over the years, including 49 states (he’s never been to Hawaii). He used to be a hockey player – started as D, then moved up to L wing, and travelled a lot. So we got to talking about hockey, since I used to cover it. So that was an interesting side aspect to the day.

It reminded me of the connection themes in Saturday’s workshop.

Home, hauled everything up the stairs. My neighbors are very curious as to the wide variety of objects that go in and out of this house. Nothing wrong with being an enigma, right? 😉

It was hot and sticky in the apartment, so we got the fans and the coolers going again and had some white cranberry-peach juice. Cleaned and/or disinfected things as appropriate and put them away.

Heated up leftovers for dinner and had a quiet evening, pondering various projects.

It cooled down enough to be decent sleeping weather. I was up at the usual time on Monday. Morning routine was fine. I did some planning on a project I’d talked about with a cohort friend a few weeks back. I need to do a little more research before I can put together a viable proposal, and I have to figure out when I can fit it into the schedule, because it would be a long-term project. I also got an email from another friend about our collaboration (on a different project).

I like having different facets in my working life. They feed each other, when I balance them properly, rather than draining each other.

I had a lot of admin to take care of when I hit the desk on Monday morning. It always stacks up over the weekend. I worked on some scenes for the play, but I have to rearrange a few things, so I didn’t get as far as I hoped. I dashed up to the library when it opened because I had to send a fax. I picked up some books while I was there. I finally got the new vacuum put together and used it. It’s fantastic! And I realized that part of the problem with the last one may have been there were bits missing (and no instruction manual). The replacement has all the bits, and, so far, it works really well. Maybe it will last for more than six months?

After lunch, I switched over to the ghostwriting, and had a solid session on it. I went a little farther than the minimum I wanted to hit today.

I was very tired, but I did a few end-of-day relaxing yoga poses before I started dinner, and that helped. I read a bit at night.

For the next 30 days, I’m trying to do 10 minutes/night of Legs-Up-the-Wall pose. On the back of my bedroom door, because we don’t have free wall space here, just lots of bookcases. I read an article describing the positive aspects of doing it nightly before bed. According to that study, after Day 7, one stops waking up at 3 AM, which is something that appeals to me. So I began last night (Charlotte supervised), and we will see what happens.

I woke up at 2:30, rather than 3, which was not in the plan!

Morning routine was fine. The air is very heavy and humid today. I’m out the door shortly to attend a performance at a farm (I’ll fill you in tomorrow). When I return, it’s the play, the collage, the ghostwriting for the rest of the day. I hope to make it to yoga tonight, but we will see how the day goes. I have a feeling the LOIs won’t go out until tomorrow.

Hope you had a great weekend, and are having a good start to your week!

#art #connection #cooking #fabric #freelance #playwrighting #theatre #writing

#art #connection #cooking #fabric #freelance #playwrighting