Glass, Rosacea and Cannabis

Three totally unconnected themes as it turns out.

The glass window I am making is for here:




It is in the little log cabin joining our 2 yurts.
This is the view from outside:



I've made a begining and it is mostly going to be clear and blue glass as you can see:



So far, so good.

I realise that I have been sounding pretty miserable on my blog and I guess I have been pretty miserable. When I analysed it there were lots of accumulative reasons and one I think I have never mentioned as it is so hard to explain how frustrating it is. However after reading my blog a spinning friend here rang me and we got talking. She explained how her life was made miserable by ocular rosacea for some years but now after lots of mistakes by health professionals she had done her own research and finally had it under control. It was so wonderful to talk to her as I had not been able to talk to anyone who understood about the total frustration of the condition. My eyes feel dry but they water all the time (at least one does) if I am outside for more than half than hour I can't see properly (which means I stay in unless absolutely necessary). I can see well but it is a struggle as focussing especially when it gets bad is a constant difficulty, but in testing things are ok. My vision is distorted, and my eyes are sore, burning and irritated most of the time. Because of being inside a lot, being over 50 and with darker skin I may be at risk of vitamin D deficiency. Of course all of this often leads to depression and certainly to irritability. So the relief of talking to someone who understood was overwhelming. She came round the same day to lend me some books and give me some stuff that helped her. One of the books was on the beneficial effects of fasting and I am seriously thinking of giving it a go. Has anyone else tried this?

So thank you Diane. She has a blog too, say hello at The Spinning Shepherd.

Another thing that happened recently that cheered me up was getting a cheque for 100 euros expenses from the Musee de Tisserands (Weaving Museum) in my nearest town of Ambrieres. This was for a spinning demonstration I gave in July when they had a fair for their 20 th anniversary.

This was my stall.



I was sharing with a wonderful woman called Marie-Terese who gave me this at the end.



It is a beautiful cloth she made. She was demonstrating the technique which was so easy it was magical. Do you know how it was done?

She gathered fresh plants sandwiched them between layers of cotton and hammered them. She used a wooden mallet and had a marble slab underneath. After not very much hammering you peel the cloth apart and have two perfect full colour imprints on the cloth. If there is plant matter left, let it dry nd brush it off. She uses old cotton sheets as they are very absorbent. The imprints are not permenant if left in the light or washed but last a good 6 months and I can see from the cloth she gave me that there are previous layers of plants under the current one, which just adds depth.

She was helping people to have a go so I picked some plants and had a go.



And yes that leaf is exactly what it looks like. The area was a hemp weaving region and there are cannabis plants growing by the front door. In fact almost half the stalls at the fair were to do with hemp. The stall on the end of this row was run by the (apparently) largest hemp producer in the world.