Ok, so I've taken a different direction here. I had initially considered developing a stripe design which I may pursue if I have the time, but I decided to play around with a combination of the two ideas.

Here I have also used a base cloth that I dyed back in Sydney which I will be making my shirt from, it's a cotton drill with a green wash, uneven and slightly dirty.

I've been able to get them to work with a cotton/poly thread rather hen the silk and I'm really happy with the results so far. In some ways it feels like a shame, coming all this way and not using any beading/ sequin work but I'm making a point of learning what I can while the artisans work on my designs. 

I think what is beginning to happen in this piece is that its beginning to move away from a really neat and finished look which is really exciting. I think the biggest challenge is communicating what exactly it is that I want, it occasionally gets lost in translation which can lead to happy accidents but not always.

Ashok and the artisans work incredibly long days, they are there a few hours before we get there at 9.30am and when we leave at 6pm each day they work on for a few hours still. I'm intrigued as to why all he artisans are men but I am yet to get any answers from anyone.

I've had a minor bought of gastro overnight, delightful! A few girls have come down with it quite badly so I appear to have got of lightly considering. I made the call to take the day off from the studio, it feels a shame to miss out but I've been feeling so ordinary that I thought it best to rest up and be ready for it all tomorrow.

I took the opportunity today to take a few photos of the ashram we are staying in. Robyn who is our hostess with the mostest is looking after us so beautifully, it's quite an incredible experience. When we arrived a few days ago and were being shown around she mentioned that George Harrison stayed in one of the rooms and recorded some stuff while he was here. I think Robyn found it hilarious that I was so impressed and in hindsight I can see why, coming all this way to India there is far more to be impressed and inspired by.

Vrindarvan is quite incredible in a number of ways, it's like stepping back in time. What I'm finding the most confronting is the smells, both good and bad. 40 degree heat and open sewers take awhile to adjust to.

Ok, so I know I said this was a menswear project but I just couldn't help but get a little pink in there. I don't intend to use this within my menswear collection but I really just wanted to try and move away from a more literal interpretation of the rose motif, and I have a thing for pink...

There are elements of this piece that really work but its feeling very 'tight' and neat still. I think given my concept I really want a slightly looser, more dishevelled look. How to get this across will be an interesting process!

What has completely blown me away is how quickly the artisans work, it's so hard to keep the new designs up!

Wow! This is the beautiful work I came in to find this morning. 

I'm realising that the silk thread is maybe a little to shiny for use in my menswear collection but this piece is really giving me lots of ideas. There are so many beautiful textures created just through simple thread work that I can apply to my next deign, very exciting! 

So, I've taken the leap and started my first design today! Here you can see Ashok (left) translating to Chand what we will be doing with this piece.

Above you can see the original drawing of my design, in an attempt to try and move away from the traditional and literal translation of the design I abstracted the original image but Ashok knew immediately that it was a rose!

I've approached this first piece almost like a sampler, the amount of different pieces of incredible embroidery we have to reference here is so overwhelming but as I am focusing on just thread work I've asked Ashok and Chand to show me lots of different stitches, both long and short needle.

The above photograph is where you can begin to see the way this is turning into into a more traditional rose. Ashok and Chand have treated the top section literally as leaves adding a dark green detail stitch over it.

This is how I have left it at the end of the day, can't wait to see how it's progressed by tomorrow.

Before I begin to show you some of the embroidery work I've been developing with Ashok and the artisans I want to give you a little background into where I hope to use this work.

I intend to apply my menswear collection concept to this trip and experience, as a bit of a background we have each been given a designer in which to emulate within our designs. I am working with a Japanese designer called Miharayasuhiro (I have to think about it everytime I say it). His work is quite utility and workwear inspired and he uses a lot of beautiful fabrications. He often creates a lot of texture within his digital prints but he also plays around with quite beautifully worn and distressed pieces too.

Mihara often uses very traditional techniques in new and surprising ways, an example is the creation of a camouflage style textile which was woven the traditional way kimono silk is made. It is not until you see it up close that you realise he has used traditional Japanese cloud iconography to create this 'camouflage' design..

As well as emulating Miharayasuhiro I have developed a concept to tie in with his aesthetic. The beginning point is the below quote from a favourite John Steinbeck book, The Winter of our Discontent: 

' In June man, hustled by instinct mows grass, rifles the earth with seeds, and lock sin combat with mole and rabbit, ant, beetle, bird, and all others who gather to take his garden from him. Woman looks at the curling-edge petals and sighs, and her skin becomes a petal and her eyes are stamens. '

Taking the above quote and imagery I am creating a Fifties workwear inspired collection and the beginning point for this trip has been the above image. I have explored multiple ways of playing with this floral motif as I want it to end up quite abstract and undone, not obviously a flower, it will be interesting to see where this adventure takes me...

Another day in the studio today, my first attempts at long needle were not so successful but we've discovered that Mandish is a total natural and she is already working on some beautiful techniques.

After the studio today we visited a temple and were fortunate enough to see it in full swing. Lots of beautiful music and a really incredible energy.

I'm finding it really difficult to put into words so much of what I am experiencing in India so far but I can tell you how I feel about the monkeys. They are menacing, like the Wheelers from Return to Oz, none of the girls get the reference but if you watch this you'll see what I mean. It's the stuff of nightmares (for me anyway) and we've begun stomping through the markets to get to the studio and today we even started taking big sticks in case any of them get too close. Ironically we're the ones that are living in cages.

Day Three:

An early start again today, straight in a car and on our way to Delhi as the sun rose. It's amazing how beautiful pollution and smog can make a sunrise look. I'm quite pleased to be escaping Delhi as I've been finding the dust really hard to deal with, I'm looking forward to some fresh country air (here's hoping).

We had a smooth ride along a new expressway then a random turn off and we were driving through villages on tiny roads between houses as girls in lilac uniforms were on their way to school.

We had fun pulling faces at a car full of young kids (who started it first, I promise) and then we hit Vrindarvan, the city of monkeys. I saw a monkey sitting and eating from a packet of chips just casually, hilarious. Monkeys, peacocks, pigs and camels.

I think it was as we were driving into the gates of the ashram that I finally realised I was in India. We settled into our rooms and had the most delicious breakfast, a semolina dish with saffron, cardamon and raisins which we are all hoping to learn how to cook before we leave. We had a beautiful blessing ceremony, a pooja and then we were straight to Ashok Ladiwal Embroidery School where we were greeted with another very special blessing ceremony.We each were blessed by a priest and we blessed the beginning of the school, a really beautiful way to start the next two weeks.

Ashok and his artisans showed us how to set up a loom, transfer a design and then we all oohed and aaahed over so many beautiful samples, he had set up different styles of embroidery on a series of curtains and it was very theatrical as he pulled each one aside to reveal another.

When we returned to the school after lunch it was straight into learning some sequin techniques which we very happily spent the rest of the day practicing. We were also introduced to the long needle technique, which Ashok trains his artisans to use by only allowing them to twist the needle in there right hand for three months before they can even begin to sew, we lasted about five minutes before our hands started to cramp up...

On the way home we were passed by a funeral procession which was both quite confronting but in hindsight quite a beautiful thing to experience. The ashram is very simple, thank goodness we packed some toilet paper. It will be interesting to see how we adjust to ashram life as we are all so used to our usual comforts. More on that to come.

Some Delhi details.

Slept well and we were up and into it again this morning, it already feels like we have been here a week. Straight into cars where we were taken to another market which is known for its fabric off cuts from garment manufacturing.  This was a slightly more confronting and intense experience and we were quite the novelty and talk of the whole market apparently.

The onslaught of smells and honking horns was quite a shock and we were all very happy to jump on the back of a rickshaw and be swept down the tight lanes to our destination.

We arrived at a store that was four levels high and went straight to the top to see floor to ceiling silk in every colour and print imaginable and then some. I have to confess that I may have gone a little crazy in here and bought up big on some beautiful plains and prints in both silk and silk/cotton.

Then it was home for a quiet afternoon where we had  a little wander in the local markets and bought some local clothes to suit the climate.

Fresh off the plane with time for a quick breakfast and a shower we were straight into it. Jumping into cars we were taken to Old Delhi on a sourcing expedition which was both confronting and overwhelming, fortunately we had Swarthi to guide us to the best suppliers in the area.

Starting with braids and trims, then the biggest bead and sequin store which had an incredible colour selection as well as a few other stops along the way. Being so jet lagged and completely overwhelmed I was quite restrained in my purchases and am already regretting not getting more. Fingers crossed we will have the time to visit again on our last day in India so that I can fill any gaps in my suitcase.

Sadly I managed to lose my bag of trims/braids somewhere along the day, I keep secretly hoping they will show up but I think they're lost for good.

We enjoyed a really delicious Southern Indian lunch at a cafe that was the recommendation of Swarthi, a really lovely way to start the trip. I was really beginning to hit a wall at this point so it was a nice way to  prepare for the afternoon ahead.

We visited a local designer, Rajat Jaine in his studio where we were able to see some really exciting approaches to traditional embroidery within his work. Then it was more fabric sourcing at Nahru Place - we really only hit the one store but it was three levels of beautiful fabrics, again too much to choose from but I'm hoping to get back there before we fly out too!

Home for a quiet night and a decent sleep.

Ok, end of day one, lets see if I can't get you up to date over the next day or two....

So much to tell you, such little time (and sporadic internet).

We've been busy stitching away, enjoying the ashram life and settling into things.

Hoping to get some posts up here later today but I'll leave it up to the internet gods. The above is a shot from a beautiful blessing ceremony we were part of, the beginning of Ashoks embroidery school.

Day one has been overwhelming in every sense. We've fitted so much into the day straight off the plane .

Delhi is crazy, it's impossible to not be wide eyed and shocked by everything that you see. I'm finding it hard to put it into words so consider the photos a little taste of just a little of what I've seen today.

I'm feeling ready for a good nights sleep and another day of it tomorrow.

Arriving in Delhi as the sun rises.

Stop over in Singapore, beautiful orchids.

Saying goodbye to my usual comforts for a few weeks, off to India!

Not long now...!