10 days!

mjd - 2013

this year i work in fibers,

exploring thoughts of 

connection 

&

strength in unexpected places.

tying it all

into wishes for peace.

Om Ah Hum...

Peace from New Orleans

 These prayer flags have been with us for over 15 years.  Today I finally put them all together.

They were hung out in front so that I too can enjoy them every day.

What a beautiful day to be hung.

Peace comes from within.
Do not seek it without.
~Buddha

Namaste
Kalaya

Prayer Flags/Kitty Mantra Laundry Line

I've been enjoying my tiny peace/prayer flags for a couple weeks. I've loved the process and how uplifting they are to have in my small studio. To read more about how I made them you can read about the process on my blog by clicking here.

Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of this gathering of peace!

- Beth Hemmila

one more day

and i am still working on my projects... 

if you are planning on posting tomorrow - do remember that you can always set it up today and schedule what time you would like it to go live... 

if you haven't become an author yet, feel free to give me a shout and i can get you set up... i will be checking my email today frequently for that purpose... 

looking forward to seeing all of the posts tomorrow as we make our way around the world!

and remember, even if you have shown us your flags over the past months, please feel free to post an image again tomorrow - (that would make me really happy!)

mary jane

21 days!

fair trade recycled muslin pillow

in just 3 fridays, international peace day will be here!

i am finishing up my 'big' set for outdoors...

how are you doing?

and remember, if you would like to be able to show your flags (and you really want you to), please email me or leave a comment - you will be added as an author on the blog...

thanks so much - 

mary jane

Hand painted peace flags for International Peace Day

First of all, thank you Mary Jane for the opportunity to post to the blog.  I loved the idea of peace flags when I first heard Mary Jane mention the project over at the Love My Art Jewelry Blog.  I did a little research about peace/prayer flags and really loved what I found out about Tibetan prayer flags.  I learned that it was traditional for them to be hung in the wind and that it was thought the wind would carry the prayers and wishes to the whole world.  I also loved that it was not only OK, but expected for them to sort of fade away due to exposure to the elements and become part of a greater cycle.  I loosely based my flags on the Tibetan concept without the more denominational aspects.  I wanted my flags to have meaning for any and everyone.  I went down to a local yardage store and got 2 yards of fabric which I then cut into rectangles.   I melted a candle and used the wax as a resist to write my wishes of peace, love, health, joy and freedom for everyone in the world.  I used Setasilk paint by Pebeo to color the flags, and affixed the flags to 1/4"bias tape with double sided fusible webbing.  They may fall apart with the first rain...and that's totally OK, because for once it is totally true that "it's the thought that counts".  Peace everyone.

first set complete

my first set of flags are in the darchor style - or vertically oriented... 

and, yes, they are small!


i used my carvings of the 'om' symbol and an opening lotus blossom to etch metal... i liked the idea of an opening flower here - to me it acknowledges the difficulty we can have being vulnerable... unlike the natural growth of the lotus, we often have to work at being open... i think many of us at times stay tightly bud-like, but the only way to experience and share love and peace fully is to blossom...

there is a lapis drop at the bottom... 


this was interesting for me - while flags are traditionally on fabric, my jewelry/metalworking background clearly guided my decisions... the carvings were first intended to use on a soft material... but i had to try them with etching on copper and brass and am glad i did... 


i really want to tell everyone how pleased and grateful i am for all of the participation, the community that is very present here... by having you signed up already as authors, i get to be just as surprised by the blog posts that regularly appear as everyone else... it's a gift and i thank you! if you aren't already an author and would like to be, please just let me know...

Prayer Flags Printed on Dryer Sheets

I thought this video shows a really clever way to recycle dryer sheets and use them to make prayer flags. If you don't have a printer or one that prints color, I'm guessing you could also use block printing techniques by carving some rubber stamps like Mary Jane spoke about in an earlier post. I love the delicate transparent feel and the possibilities for layering.

Serendipity

As I walked to the car yesterday morning, I noticed several of my peace flags had been swept up by the winds from our thunderstorm the other night. I started to flip them back down, but stopped.

Mother Nature's been playing...and creating patterns. Either that or someone in the neighborhood is having a bit of fun with me and not fessing up. My girls can't reach high enough yet and my husband wouldn't do it so...I'm believing Mother Nature did it. What are the odds?

supplies in, making a start

for my flags, i knew i wanted to be able to create rubber stamps with symbols of my choosing... it's something i had never done before - so with the arrival of the supplies this morning, i decided to give it a try... 


i wanted my first one to be of a lotus - i found this image in robert beer's book 'the encyclopedia of tibetan symbols and motifs' - and used an eraser (instead of the good carving sheets i had ordered)... 

while i was carving, my daughter came home from a photography workshop she had been working 


and handed me this -

a lotus petal!


she had no idea that i was working on this today (then again, neither did i until an hour earlier)

this stamp is under an 1" square... my stamps for the flags will be at least 3" x 4", maybe 4" x 6" ... i like its rough woodcut effect... 

it was a nice affirmation of what i was doing and the start that had been made... 

Sketching Prayer Flags

I've just started pondering and gathering ideas for my prayer flags. I'm never someone who just dives in head first and makes something. Usually, I like to daydream on it for awhile and infuse my projects with symbols that have the most meaning to me at this point in my life. So here are some tidbits taken from my sketchbook.

One thing I like to do is clip out magazine photos that inspire me, and you can see pictures of tubs of ice cream that I thought created a neat color palette that I might use.

I'm also feeling drawn the symbol of a butterfly, so I was playing around with the idea that in Tibet a prayer flag is called a "wind horse" and started imagining butterflies as pulling the sun across the sky.

Other things that I write in my journal are musings on what medium to use. Do I want to do photos, paintings, drawings, prints, or digital textile design?

A nifty idea I came up with was using my Lemonade Mantras positive affirmations and creating some quotable teabags to hang on a string. I'm tickled by the concept of some kind of herbal offering in a pouch with a mantra hanging on a line like little prayer flags.

When I started conceptualizing the project, I tried to look for other similar symbols inhabiting my life that I could draw from. The first memory I came upon was a line of laundry blowing in the breeze. How many of us grew up with family that hung our laundry out on sunny days and watched it dry and flap in the breeze? There was something comforting about that domestic process of hanging laundry out to dry. Can I cross this traditionally female domestic chore with prayer flags?

Another memory that makes me think of prayer flags is seeing a string of colorful papel picado banners during Day of the Dead celebrations in San Diego. Can I use paper cut to create my prayer flags?


I have a lot of choices to make, but just putting them all down in my sketchbook helps me begin to narrow my focus. For the time being I'm going to let them marinate and see which one keeps calling me to back.

What memories and symbols from your life do you connect with the concept of prayer flags!
Beth Hemmila

A temporary home

My flags are finished

and some have found a temporary home

on our front porch.

Peace in progress

I finally had time to do 

what I've been wanting to do for a bit...

work on the prayer flags.

Or are they peace flags?

Or simply soul flags?

Small steps

It was a bit of a bleak weekend here again so we were inside mostly. I thought I'd make a start on my indoor flags.  Very simple, I am using tracing paper with one letter per flag, with the word peace being spelt out in rainbow colours.

Peace will appear seven times - 35 flags in this set.

I am planning to stitch them together with a ribbon at the top and will then hang them inside somewhere (the ink might run in the rain I think).

Then it will be on to my outdoor peace flags which have a lot more work in them!

here, there and every where

pearl street bagels, jackson hole, wyoming

my daughter is on her first young adult adventure.

a photographer's assistant, she will be providing support during a summer solstice workshop at yellowstone national park and then grand teton... 

she had breakfast here this morning and shared it with me -

peace, love and living life - 

it does a heart good!

i would love it if you would share images of where you find flags... 

Peace flags in Connecticut

I became aware of the Flags for Peace Project - 2012 when Fiona wrote about it on Paper Ponderings. A quick look at this blog and the ideas started to flow. I could picture rows of colorful prayer flags running from our front porch to be anchored by the trees surrounding the yard. The breeze from the trees causing the flags to frolic on the currents...currents that circle to earth and connect us all.

A trip to a local quilting shop on Saturday had me selecting some traditional prayer flag colors and adding a few favorites. [the halogen lights in my studio had the colors going all wonky, but you can tell the real colors in the photo below]

It was lovely here yesterday on Mother's Day. Just perfect for wrapping and discharging the cottons for my prayer flags

 as well as the odd t-shirt or two that had become stained over the winter.

I'm thinking 9" x 12" will be a good finished size. There's cutting and sewing to come.

Thanks to all for allowing me to participate and post to this blog!
Jennifer

Peace across the oceans

I have been thinking a lot about how this little idea, this little seed has been planted and has spread across the world so effortlessly and so willingly. It seems wonderful to me that the interweb allows us to connect, find kindred spirits and best of all share. And peace is a wonderful thing to share.

A mention here, a comment there, a blog post over there... and the word is spread and others join in and show their support for peace.

My mind is wandering across all sorts of options for my flags, but I am thinking paper so it slowly disappears in the weather, as it faces rain and sun and wind and fog and dew.

I'd love to hear what others are thinking and doing. I know Lesley has put her recent indigo dyeing to great use already and so the flags across the world begin.

inspiration

this tumblr account is dedicated to images of prayer flags,


there are so many breathtaking images - 


thank you so much to the moderator for all of their work... 


..................................................................................................................

did you know -

traditional prayer flags are flown in the order

blue - sky

white - cloud

red - fire

green - water

yellow - earth

relating to the five  elements and the five buddha families... 

if there are any links of inspiration or information that you know of and would like to share, please let us know... we will add them to the developing pages... 

thank you - 

welcome

on march 21 i proposed a peace flag project on my personal blog and it met with interest... as fortune would have it, i have found myself in the midst of some wonderful people - people who make me feel as if i belong to a larger tribe... and so the hermit who loves to sit at a bench and 'make' is now involved in something bigger... 


peace flag/prayer flag projects are not uncommon... we even came upon a dream flag project in philly at the children's hospital a couple of years ago... 

what moves me so much about these projects - and about the prayer flags themselves as traditionally used - is the intention of spreading good to all... it is the cooperative effort, the linking of intentions that makes them so powerful... 


and so you are invited... 


you are invited to make a peace offering in flag form to fly on international peace day 21 september 12... so that we can join our wishes with those of so many others across the globe... and to create a ripple with our blogs by posting about it all on the same day... 


pages will be appearing here with links and such - we will be assembling participants and their blogs... 


if you would like to post at any time, please ask - i am hoping this will be a living blog... with a  project focus? yes... but also with a focus upon sharing your stories, art, thoughts on a daily basis... 

thank you to the friends who so enthusiastically responded to the idea and who will be participating on the blog... 


in peace and with gratitude (and excitement) - 


mary jane