Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

"Bohea" - art doll with tea dyed fabrics, tea bag paper and polymer clay   Here's another post in my series of tea thoughts on a Thursday... I had never thought I was fussy about tea .... I prefer tea made in a pot, but will happily drink tea bag tea of all varieties.   However, here are a few discoveries I have made about my tea drinking practices - tea does taste better when drunk slowly and even better when the preparation is not rushed. ( hence the quotation above) -   there are some  tea bags ( I recently purchased  them for dyeing) which really are not worth drinking and I don't! So it's definitely true -  not all tea is equal  despite the labelling. - tea taste does improve if the temperature of the water is right  and the period of steeping time is appropriate . I have included the table below for reference. Although it is suggested 175degrees F (79.5 degrees C)  for green tea , I must admit that I like about 86 degrees...

Towards Nobbys Lighthouse  In my series of blog posts about "Arty Places" the iconic Nobbys Lighthouse is the latest... right in the heart of the city where I live and I didn't really appreciate its beauty until I walked up to the lighthouse last Saturday. from Nobbys Lighthouse  Harbour entrance, from Nobbys Lighthouse The day was perfect - clear skies providing a palette for the occasional fluffy cloud, a sea breeze singing of Spring,and the lighthouse shining white at the top of the headland. The lighthouse is usually open to the public only on Sundays and is a popular tourist attraction, adopted as a symbol of Newcastle. It wasn't always ... Historical image fromlakescan.com.au  Captain James Cook was the first European to note Nobbys Island from the ship "Endeavour" in 1770,and was described by Cook as "a small clump of an island lying close to shore". It was not until the discovery of coal by Europeans in 1797 by Lt. John S...

Fifteen minutes ago (5.15pm  Australian Eastern Summer Time), an independent competition official put all the names of  the blog/Facebook  giveaway participants  into a quirky container. A little shake to ensure all the cards are evenly distributed.   Just making sure - a bigger shake  Picking the first winner who is .... drum roll... Super Jen . Congratulations, Super Jen! .   Second winner is ... Carolyn  Third winner is Lululiz ... Thank you to all who left comments to be in the draw for this giveaway. It was so much fun that I think I'll have a few more before  the end of the year - perhaps with a Christmas theme, so be positive you could be the next winner. I will contact the three winners and will try to mail the tag sets off as soon as I get your postal addresses... Congratulations

Visiting " Leaves of Distinction " Exhibition- Rebecca and Andrais from  the Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea  To say the last month has been busy is an understatement. This weekend, my work will be in three art exhibitions in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley. "Leaves of Distinction" continues at Timeless Textiles Gallery, 90 Hunter Street, Newcastle East until 12 October. I have been overwhelmed by the number of visitors to the exhibition already and the positive response. Thank you to all who have visited either in person, or the online virtual tour here  or  photographer Henk Tobbe's Flickr page  . Today, NCEATA (Newcastle Creative Embroiderers and Textile Artists) opened a group exhibition at the Cessnock Regional Art Gallery, which will continue there until 26 October. I have two art works in this exhibition - Valley Girls - one depicts the colour of the tourist aspect of the wine industry in the Hunter Valley and the other, with eco dyed fabr...