July 08, 2009

Shwe shwe boxes, picture frame from Phumani

There  is a nice post on the Babazeka Blog about shwe shwe covered boxes.    I saw some in Clarens a while ago and posted about them, but  did not know anything about the company that produced them.   

Phumani Paper   makes the  covered boxes  that I saw  and picture frames with shwe shwe as well as all their recycled paper products.

I have seen many of their  paper products  like the nguni cow tea light tins and the paper mosaic frames that I loved - so its good to know where they are made.

Frames2[1]

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July 06, 2009

Book Bags

Book bg My mom, who is a primary school teacher and the librarian, and cares for books, spends her school holidays making bags for the kids in her classes to keep their books in when they take them out of the library.

I was home with her this weekend and we sat in bed drinking tea, chatting and threading the tie cord through all the bags, so that more kids can keep their library books clean and scuff free next term.  This time round some of them were done in some shwe shwe off cuts my mom had too.

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July 03, 2009

Africa Fashion Week

Here is a great article about  Bongiwe Walaza's collection at the Africa Fashion Week  from the Sowetan today. 

Bongiwe Walaza’s showing at the Africa Fashion Week recently had tongues wagging about the stunning effect of the collection she put out.

Unassuming yet extremely talented, she opted for Isishweshwe, the Basotho traditional fabric.

I remember pinning a magazine article about her on the board in my office when I started this blog, because I loved the designs of her dresses so much.    That same office has bits of shwe shwe all over the desk now that I wanted to sew into something. I have not been able to get to my sewing machine for a few months, but these pictures have inspired me to get back to it this weekend.

Walaza

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June 26, 2009

But wait... that is not all

OrangeI felt  I needed to break this down into two posts   - as bright pink shwe shwe was enough excitement for one post.

However, the new colour range also includes the same small flower print ( that I loved so much in blue and hope I still have some pieces left, because its not made in blue at the moment)  and a bold spot in ORANGE .

Bought quite a bit of this - for some yoga bags for the  lovely  yoga warrior studio as well as just to leave on my desk in a happy folded heap for me to look at.

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Pink - YES PINK - shwe shwe

My husband suggests that I measure the  delight I feel about this great new discovery.

Coming home and saying "I found the most amazing thing today, you will never believe" followed by squeals of delight  - to then  produce 'only' some  pink material he feels might not match people expectations .

Pink My sister in law showed equal squeals of delight when I showed her,as did Len from the office who always show my new shwe shwe purchases too.

I have yet to decide what to do with it all, but I think that Tau and Modgadi will be getting new dresses and some I will save somehow to use for myself

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June 16, 2009

Youth Day Open Crowd Festival - Cosmo City

IMG_1832 This picture is taken on the corner of South Africa Drive and  Liberia Road, in a new mixed income developement in N/W Joburg.

The woman in the leopard shwe shwe skirt did not want to turn and face me, but the kids with the balloon hats over their beanies were very keen to be photographed.

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Open Crowd Festival in Alex- with shwe shwe

Alexxclose2 Alex shweshwe

Alexclose up

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June 12, 2009

Beware elephants in the garden - This is Africa after all

This morning I woke up to find my garden full of elephants - a common occurrence in Africa in you live,  say in a camp in the Tuli Block, but not so common if you live in  Johannesburg close to the inner city.

That as it may I did wake up this morning to find the most lovely elephants swaying in the mist of my gardens.  We have had uncharacteristic  winter rain in Jo-burg and so there is  swirling mist and steam, and rain drops dripping off all my plants this morning.

Fri jun12 Josephina has taken the next big leap in her sewing prowess.  She has been asked to make waste coats from shwe shwe for a school play - having only learnt to sew two months ago, and so this was her  elephant shwe shwe that she had pre washed last night to turn into lovely hand works.

Seeing washing hanging up on the line is one of those odd simple things that makes me happy, when I travel down to my parents in Mpumalanga  I anticipate some of the areas I pass through where there is always washing out on a railway line that stretches for a long line as the families that live in shacks along the railway line hang up their washing.  I think its all the colours in rows and rows that make me happy, as well as the thought of all that different material out on display.

The one thing that makes me happy than  seeing clothes dancing on a washing line, is seeing long lines of material waving about in blocks.

Elephants I am trying to take slightly more intelligent photos with the photos with the awesome Canon  G10, and after trying a few shots was thrilled with this one, that shows some of the sun catching the leaves, and the mist rising off the wet ground.

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May 26, 2009

Wedding Dress

We attended the very happy and lovely wedding of Helen and Tim this weekend. Two people who make me so happy to know them, and make me even happier to know them as a warm, caring, fun couple.

One of the guests at the wedding had an extraordinary she shwe dress on with  applique design on the front.  Saliwe  There is also  loads of delicate stitching around the square neckline and the  skirt hem that must have taken quite some time to get right.

Saliwe ( I think her name was) said that she had bought her dress ' in Town' ( i.e Johannesburg down town) as a dress for special events.  We had a quick chat about all the lovely new shops opening in town that sell shwe shwe dresses - and how fun it was to see all the dresses available in these shops.


I realise in retrospect that I should have gotten her to straighten the front of  her skirt for a clear picture of the skirt applique of a women with a head scarf.

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May 22, 2009

Sells sanctuary on the street corner

IMG_1601 I passed this street vendor earlise this week, and was intrigued by her skirt, so when I passed this way again, was stopped at a red traffic light and had my camera on ame ( a rare and serendipitous combination), I asked her if I could take a picture. She was visibly disappointed that I did not want to buy the wooden crosses she sells, but agreed to be photographed.

What caught my attention is that her skirt is made or preprinted panels, but that the panels have been printed to look like  a skirt made of panels with the reverse in the pleats of the panels.

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