Moravia Day 1

Last Thursday through Saturday we took a whirlwind textile tour of Moravia (Southern Czech Republic).

The bus didn't have great air conditioning and you couldn't open the windows. On the final day the temperature was in the 90s(F) and I accidentally trailed dog poop onto the bus. After the poop ordeal the teachers decided it was a sign to leave early, and now everyone calls me "poop shoe".

But I'm going to start with day 1.The first stop was a textile history museum.

Hanging all over the museum were photos of the women who worked in the textile factories. I loved how powerful and feminine they were at the same time. Incredible textile ladies!

They had an entire wall of Czech wood block prints. There are only 4 or 5 traditional indigo printing studios left in the Czech republic.
I love textile history but it always breaks my heart, most traditions are dying or completely dead. Everything is made in China.


Our Czech lace teacher, Jiŕina (sounds like Ur-zjean-ah) is a famous Czech textile artist!
For lunch we went to a Castle.
Sitting across the way was the Countess! I snapped a sneaky photo of her, but during our tour she popped out of a secret passageway and we got to pet her pugs and speak to her.
We weren't allowed to bring our cameras on the tour so no beautiful photos.
Jacquie and I also came in contact with a ghost during the tour, to which the tour guide shrugged and said was "normal". I was too embarrassed to tell the Countess about encountering her possible relative.
I got my food first!
Pistachio ice cream is the most amazing thing ever created.
We saw a handmade lace museum afterwards, but again, I wasn't allowed to take photos.
We stopped for dinner in a town that had the other astronomical clock. I committed a traveling sin here and ate Mc Donalds. I regretted it for the next two days. In case you were wondering it is just as awful as it is in the States!

Last Thursday through Saturday we took a whirlwind textile tour of Moravia (Southern Czech Republic).

Design School Envy: The Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design

Our fibers class took a visit to the Academy of Arts down the street in Prague. After a presentation on a pattern making project an Art & Design class was working on, we were let loose to discover the school.

I found someone's painting hiding spot behind a bunch of junk in a spare classroom.

The doorways and halls seemed to be decorated however the students wanted.

I bought some prints and little books inside matchboxes from the graphic design department. Each of the prints was a dollar, my mind exploded a little, but I'm still so cheap I only bought three.
At the end of the day I was treated to a rainbow at the end of the main square.

Studio: Lace and Indigo Printing

Indigo block printing, we made our own blocks out of foam and used traditional Czech "pap" as a resist. Lucia indigo dyed our fabric at her home studio. After she was done, we came over to her house for tea, cake, and to watch how the process worked. Of course I forgot my camera, so click on over to Susannah's blog for photos of that day! She also updates more quickly than me ahh....



Lace! After two weeks of making lace, we're still at pre-beginners level.


Because I'm obsessed with it, here's a panorama of the desk drawings I've collected.

Flea Market and Hillside Food

After getting some pastries, we headed out to the flea market. I haggled in Czech and browsed the local trash/treasures.
I got a few pins and a really cool plaque of my favorite deity, Saraswati. Before leaving, I got a really great blue lock that I didn't get a picture of yet.


Then I went to the Laundromat, which is the coolest place I've ever been to wash my clothes. They offer free coffee, tea, and water while you wait! While there, I talked to a lawyer from San Francisco who told me about a really great local place to eat. He even pointed it out on Google maps for me. This solidifies my personal philosophy that you should always be nice to everyone!

The place was on the other side of Prague on a hill. It was a courtyard filled with lots of people and dogs. The menu was only in Czech, and there were no tourists in sight, which was really intimidating. Jay and I tried our best guess at ordering food, and we each got dollar beers while our food grilled.



All the spots with a view were taken so we settled down in the grass. I lucked out and got a chicken kebab, Jay on the other hand, we're pretty sure got Pork Tongue.


The neighborhood and view were incredible.

A Meditation on Getting Lost and Being Found

Here is a small collection of places I have found unintentionally.