Sommaire pour Issue 5 de Project Calm

Each and every night, the natural world puts on the most spectacular light show for us all to enjoy, for free. Simply fetch a warm blanket, head out of the front door and turn your face upwards to the sky. With constellation stories and old moon wisdom in mind, we’re rediscovering the awe we felt as a child. By gazing out beyond, we also gaze within, finding our place within the universe. With a renewed sense of respect, thoughts turn to looking after ourselves better. Take a look at our healing recipes that make the most of nature’s bounty.…

ATACAMA DESERT, CHILE Stars, planets and clouds of dust and gas – from Saturn to the surface of the moon, remote Atacama has one of the clearest skies on the planet. It is both high and dry, shielded by the Andes Mountains, which create a barrier from the Pacific. HIGH VOLCANOES OF HAWAII With its position so close to the equator, high volcanic peaks – including the tallest sea mountain in the world – and lack of light pollution, Hawaii is an idyllic stargazing spot. Expect to see the constellations of the zodiac, Saturn and the Southern Cross. WESTERN AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK Due to Australia’s remoteness the night sky is vast and filled with stars. The view of the Milky Way, Magellanic Clouds and Southern Cross is beautifully clear, as are…

1 GRANNY STAR SQUARE This is a great pattern to start with if you’re a beginner at crochet. Using Milk ch6, ss to first ch to join into a ring. Round 1 Ch3 (counts as tr), 2tr into ring, ch1, *3tr into ring, ch1; rep from * four more times, ss to top of beg ch-3, ss to top of next 2 tr and ch-1 sp to start next round. [6 groups of 3 tr, 6 ch-1 sps] Round 2 Ch3 (counts as tr), (2tr, ch2, 3tr, ch1) in same ch-1 sp, (3tr, ch2, 3tr, ch1) in each rem ch-1 sp around, ss to top of beg ch-3, fasten off. [12 3-tr groups, 6 ch-1 sps, 6 ch-2 sps] Round 3 Join Ikat in any ch-2 sp with a ss,…

In our wish to be more in tune with ourselves this season, we’re focusing on three things: natural ingredients, meditation, and Yin yoga. Discovering how easy it is to make our own planet-friendly beauty products, we’re creating gorgeous concoctions for ourselves, friends and family – use your exclusive sticker sheet to decorate your scrubs and balms. From paying more attention to what’s on the outside, we shift inwards too to learn about the effects of holding yoga poses while we meditate. The key is Yin – softening, accepting, feeling.…

“Shibori, or resist dyeing, is a Japanese technique that creates patterns on fabric using folds, ties, pleats, wraps, wood blocks and stitches,” explains Jessica. “With stitched shibori you can achieve more elaborate and controlled imagery, like this wave pattern, called seikaiha, that we’ll use to make beautiful, bold placemats. The fabric is folded into a narrow strip, stitched, dyed in lush indigo, and then the stitches are removed to reveal a repeating pattern along the inner folds. “You can choose to stitch by hand, a meditative process, or with the aid of a sewing machine. Each gives a unique effect, but the process is similar. If you’re stitching by hand make sure to use a good, strong thread since you’ll want to pull your stitches tight to create the resist.…

What does travelling bring to your life? It enriches my life in so many ways. It makes me appreciate all that I have (and all that I don’t) in a way that’s sometimes difficult to put into words. It brings feelings of joy and gratitude mostly. I am often enamoured by different cultures and the ways people live. Kindness is truly universal and a simple smile goes a long way anywhere in the world. How many stamps do you have in your passport? Forty-three, since 2010. I had never counted before you asked! Who do you travel with? My long-term partner, JC, and our little boy, Jack. How long can you stay away before you yearn for home? It really depends on where I am and how long it takes…

TAP HERE TO JUMP TO YOUR PRINTABLE GLOBES AND TEMPLATES We have included three pages for you to print, featuring colourful images of old maps and a lovely antiquated celestial map with templates. You’ll find enough to make one large, pink globe, two medium sized green globes, and three smaller, blue globes. It doesn’t matter which one you start with, but a larger or medium globe will probably be a bit less fiddly until you become familiar with the construction. The small ones will then be easy-peasy! 1. Take one template and cut out the three strips. 2. Using a craft knife, score along the dotted, curved fold lines. Apply a firm pressure to create a strong groove, making sure you go right along to the tips. Take care not…

My mother was the storyteller in our family. But because we were so Westernised I heard more about Snow White and Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytales than about the fabled Malay mouse-deer, Sang Kancil, or the famous warrior of old, Hang Tuah. I had to learn those in school. When I was growing up Malaysia was still very much a Third World country, and we carried a sense of shame and inferiority. Everything Western was considered better. I was more interested in Western stories than in our own. Yet, even though I knew the tales of Snow White and Rapunzel and read The Secret Seven avidly, there was a fundamental way in which I failed to relate to these characters. We had jungle, not forest; I didn’t know anyone with blond…

1 COUNTRYSIDE FORAGING Somerset forager, Martin Bailey, runs regular foraging walks. Identifying, picking and eating delicious edibles, he also discusses seasonal eating and the nutritional values and medicinal use of plants. The conservation of species and their habitats is also a key element of his work. And, of course, there’s use and storage of wild food, and recipes. In September, Martin’s Bristol park walk examines the edibles growing there as well as exploring the fruits that can be foraged later in the season. Sample some of Martin’s tasty chutneys, vinegars and syrups. Or go on a mushroom hunt in October and November. In the New Forest and Bristol, these hunts cover the identification of fungi and the preferred habitats of different species. goforaging.co.uk 2 A SPOONFUL OF SUGAR SYRUP New…

AN AMERICAN ADVENTURE Back in 2000, I spent three months travelling across the USA with friends. We took in so many landmark sites by day and by night but my favourite memory was arriving at the Grand Canyon after the sun had set. The sky was clear and vast, and we sat outside with a cold beer, gazing up at the stars and listening to the unfamiliar sounds of coyotes echoing across the cavernous rocks. We woke just before dawn, heading outside to watch the stars fade, the sky lighten and the sun rise. As with most things in the States, the Grand Canyon was so much bigger than we’d imagined (and our cabin disturbingly close to the edge!). The sky turned from indigo to aubergine to fiery orange to…

1 MIND, BODY & SOUL CARE Ritual Botanica makes it easy for plant-based products to become a natural part of your personal ritual. This smallbatch herbal apothecary supplies organic body care and ‘spirit medicine’ for the complete being – body, mind and soul. Hand-harvested ingredients are tended, gathered, prepared and mixed by clinical herbalist, Ash Sierra. Each product is full of wild plants and entirely free from harmful chemical synthetics. We love the sound of its Sweet Earth Body Scrub with hints of vanilla, chocolate and cinnamon, cardamon and peppermint. See the full range at ritualbotanica.com 2 DISCOVER NEW CRAFTS Ellie Beck, better known as Petalplum, has a wonderful year-long e-course called ‘A Creative Year: Make, Connect, Inspire’, which showcases and explores traditional crafts in a modern way. Ellie teaches…

There is something magical about that deep indigo blue. Created from nature, indigo is the only natural and long-lasting blue dye. The process is slow and mindful, and because it is unlike any other natural dye, the techniques surrounding this brilliant blue are often elusive. This once rare pigment is deeply woven throughout history. It was used to colour the linen cloths in ancient Egypt, the original American flag was made from indigo textiles, and it is still used today to make our jeans that distinctive blue. Currently, there is a resurgence in how to create that perfect indigo colour the natural way, but where did our love affair with indigo begin? And what is it in indigo’s past that makes it so desired? India is frequently thought to be…

MENDED WITH LOVE Attend to that mending pile with these simple DIYs – fixing things fixes your mood. 1 SWAP BUTTONS Sewing on a button is one of the simplest ways to revive a garment in need. But forget the emergency hotel darning kit, instead opt for a ritual approach. Carefully select your buttons, perhaps replacing the whole lot if you’re after a different look. Spool out the cotton, take time to thread the needle, and sew. Enjoy taking time to focus. 2 FROM THE GROUND UP There is something inherently de-stabilising about a shoe with a damaged sole. Get regrounded by gluing back a flappy footbed and, while you’re at it, take time to clean, polish and shine your shoes. Replace laces (new colour maybe? Ribbons, even) if they’re…

Take a journey with us and learn about modes of storytelling around the planet. Making sense of the world in words, performance and art is how we create culture, and we look at the creative ways we can capture stories in travel journals this issue. Then onwards, around the globe with a painter and an author, stopping for some history on the way. As you feel inspired to get out and navigate new places yourself, spend some time folding and assembling our antique map origami globes. Hang each orb up for a constant reminder of the desire to explore.…

A lot of people are surprised by my job when I first mention it. I get a lot of fascinated queries that modern globe-making at Bellerby & Co even exists, and that the company’s standards and artistry is so high. They’re also surprised the company has quadrupled in the past four years and that our order book is currently a year ahead of us... Yes! A lot of people want a globe! Handcrafted globes are fascinating. So much work goes into each one of them; it was a dying art… but we have rescued it! We are living in a time when people have a newfound respect for traditional crafts. People want something with fingerprints on it, something one of a kind. I run the team of painters at the…

"The world is shaped by two things - stories told and the memories they leave behind." - Vera Nazarian We all remember the stories we were told when we were young. Whether it was a fairy tale with a moral lesson, a bedtime story cuddled up at night, or a spooky ghost story relayed around the campfire, some resonated with us more than others. Often there was a question of truth; does Prince Charming really exist? The Fairy Godmother must! Or shivers of fear thinking maybe that ghost will appear at any moment... Yet therein lies the beauty of a story – the lasting effect it can have on us, spiritually, emotionally, even physically. The story that lingers in our mind, makes us think, frightens us, inspires and educates, or…

After breakfast one morning, Father appeared in the dining room bearing in one hand a shallow box made of sandalwood and, in the other, sheets of rice paper. The reddish-brown box, heavy but devoid of carvings, was familiar from my childhood. Father set it down on the table alongside the rice paper and threw me an enquiring look. ‘Shall we, Mei Foong?’ ‘Father, I haven’t picked up my brushes for years. I won’t be any good.’ ‘It doesn’t matter, Daughter. When there is ugliness all around, we must remind ourselves that beauty exists in this world.’ Father looked hard at me from behind his round lenses. He seemed strangely happy, his normally stern features soft in the Malayan sunlight. ‘Remember your first lesson?’ he asked. I nodded uncomfortably, throwing him…

Up until the age of 32 I’d never allowed myself to really heal from a heartbreak. I went from relationship to relationship, always running from my pain into the arms of someone new. This worked up until the day the man I loved with all my heart died suddenly, and without any warning, from a heart attack. In the months and years that followed his death I had no choice but to work through my grief and learn how to heal my heart. As often happens when you go through something traumatic, his death opened the door to all the other pain I’d avoided in my life, and as I unravelled and healed the layers of my loss, I discovered the relationship I’d need to nurture all along: the one…

Preserving in the home tends to focus on sweet treats: cordials, jams and perhaps, chutneys. However, fermentation has been gaining huge popularity over the past few years as people switch on to the potential of this process. Fermentation is the metabolic reaction which turns the natural sugars within fruits and vegetables into acids, gases or alcohols. Rich in probiotics, fermented foods range from those we can drink such as kefir, cider and kombocha to pickles and vegetables such as sauerkraut and kimchi. Fermenting can seem a little intimidating as it involves getting comfortable with encouraging bacterial growth. However, it allows us to harness the best of what these foods have to offer and has excellent benefits for our digestive system and more. The intestinal tract, also known as our enteric…

Natural beauty experts, Elsie Rutterford and Dominika Minarovic are friends who met at work. While creating video for digital ad sales, the pair bonded over their shared love of health and wellness, and realised they both had a passion for natural beauty. The hugely successful Clean Beauty Co blog and website was born, where Elsie and Dominika share easy and affordable recipes and tips for looking after your skin and hair yourself. A book – Clean Beauty: Recipes to Manage your Beauty Regime Naturally – has followed and the pair are now developing an exciting new range of natural skincare – BYBI (By Beauty Insiders) – to fill a need for high-performance skincare products that are 100% natural. Elsie and Dominika chatted with Lara Watson about the huge benefits nature…

This issue we’re interested in the care and mindful attention that goes into mending and looking after our possessions and surroundings. As we take pride in darning a favourite old woolly, we also delve into the ancient textile traditions of indigo dyeing. When things are made with love, they are precious and unique, and there is great peace to be found in caring for what we already have. Learn about the psychology of mending, and be inspired with our aromatherapy and herb-burning ideas to welcome a healing atmosphere into your home.…

FLORA ARBUTHNOTT Explore indigo vat dyeing and shibori resist techniques to create beautiful patterned textiles. Flora Arbuthnott teaches how to dye with, maintain, and dispose of an organic indigo dye vat. Learn traditional shibori resist techniques; folding, clamping, scrunching, and stitching to create repeat patterns. Bring your own natural clothes and textiles to dye, or purchase linen and organic cotton (available on the day). floraarbuthnott.com INSTITCHES Investigate the magic of indigo with InStitches in a one-day workshop. Suitable for beginners or those with some experience, there will be an introduction to some resist techniques such as clamps, poles, stitch and soya wax. You will be able to take your indigo vat home with you at the end of the day to continue experimenting at home. Bring your own fabric (or…

To mend the atmosphere, wise ones of old burned the herbs that grew around them, and many cultures and traditions still use scented smoke in ceremonial settings. Discover your own calming ritual in the process of bundling, drying and lighting sweet-smelling plants. Gather together the following items. A selection of longstemmed herbs – sage is the classic ingredient, but use what grows locally in the garden or your countryside. Try rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, lavender, rose petals or spruce. Woodstemmed herbs are ideal but mix in softer elements, too. Cotton or jute string (avoid synthetic strings as they can burn irregularly or give off an unwanted aroma when burnt). A pair of scissors. A box of matches. And a small bowl to contain the burning herb stick. 1. Arrange your…

BEGIN WITH THE BASICS Yes, storytelling can be taught! Join a class at The International School of Storytelling Land on The International School of Storytelling homepage and you’ll read this heartfelt message: ”A storyteller is more than a teller of tales. Storytellers are entertainers, teachers with a long spiritual tradition. To be true to this tradition requires ongoing renewal and inspiration.” If you’re unsure as to whether a storytelling course would interest you, this is a great place to begin. Based in East Sussex, The International School of Storytelling allows you to explore the basics; how to remember a story and how to make it your own. Their focus is to nurture a supportive setting between you and the other participants, giving you more confidence. With both taster and intensive…

HELEN DUNCAN Helen is a freelance writer and grantseeker based in Oxford. She finds inspiration in the natural world, landscapes and folklore, and celebrates simple, seasonal living on her blog, The House at Nab End. In this issue she explores the world of Renaissance astronomy and astrology, on page 108. www.thehouseatnabend.com JESSICA MARQUEZ Jessica Marquez is an artist living in Brooklyn, NY. She loves to teach photography and hand embroidery and has authored Stitched Gifts. This issue she explores Japanese shibori dyeing (page 75). When she’s not making, you can find her eating vegan treats, or cuddling her four rescue animals. miniaturerhino.com SARA HUNTINGDON Sara learned to knit as a child and taught herself crochet one rainy weekend 17 years ago. She now works as Editor of Simply Crochet –…