Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Soapmaking Workhsops

Some of the soaps - de-ee-lish!!
I love handmade soaps - I've been making my own for about 15 years now and recently, a bunch of my friends have been asking if I'd teach them how...so I decided to do a little Intro to Soapmaking class one Satruday...Well, the response has been overwhelming!!! I have run two full workshops the last couple weekends and plan to do one or two this coming weekend too!

They've been a blast! A real mix of people attending - Spa managers, teachers, fellow designers, curious adventurers! And last weekend we were joined by the writer of a great new blog - Island Scene 758 - a blog highlighting all the happenings in St. Lucia - with a growing calendar of events so you will know in advance what's interesting to do and not just after the fact about the things you missed! Take a look at the post about the Soapmaking Workshop here

lining the moulds
Interested? Drop me a line - just $75 EC for a fun and info-filled few hours!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

To Everything its Season

Mount Gimie in the Dry Season sunset yesterday
Sitting watching the gray skies above the yellow-dry grass this morning, willing the rain to fall - the met office rainfall records for the past how many days have remained the same;


"24 HOUR RAINFALL ENDED AT 2:00 PM AT HEWANORRA............NIL.
                                  AT GFL CHARLES..........NIL.       
TOTAL RAINFALL FOR THE MONTH THUS FAR AT HEWANORRA.....1.6 MM.
                                      AT GFL CHARLES...0.7 MM."


We could really do with some rain...but there's always something else that is good for the season

Yesterday I was drawn outside by the sound of bees...bees! Finally! I've been slowly (very slowly) becoming a beekeeper over the last year and have become very aware of the complete lack of bees in my yard - where the thyme, always flowering, would always be busy with bees, it has remained silent this year or so...so when I heard that familiar buzz, I went outside to look up to the tree and sure enough, the bees had come.

They were there with the birds too - lots of hummingbirds, lots of banana birds

But the gray skies kept their rain

So this morning again, the bees were buzzing, so I went out to see them and realized of course, the earth, dry and shrinking, would surely yield up some rocks...here's what I found
'Moon Rock'

4 Quartz pieces picked up under the Flambouyant Tree

3 Jaspers (ish) 

Look at that colour!
I'd still like those clouds to drop the good stuff for us, but to everything its season

Perhaps one day soon I'll have my bees in the back yard making honey, my rocks on the lathe transforming to jewelry and my kiln turning the earth into vessels, beads, shapes and textures full of stories

Leaf Art

Leaf Art too

Flower from the tree the bees are visiting