Tag: travel
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This week’s Spotify playlist
Each week the blog is accompanied by a playlist on Spotify. You can hear the playlist on the player above or search for any of them within the app by the title “Music to read a blog by”. Paying subscribers to Spotify will hear an uninterrupted playlist, those with a free subscription will have advertising…
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Chromite
Chromite is an ore that contains the mineral “chrome”, used to make colourfast dyes and paints. In the 19th Century chrome was recognised as a useful mordant for wool dyeing and for leather tanning. It was widely used to make the colour “Chrome Green” for artists and is still in use today. Chromite was mined…
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Blick Cloth
Nelson, in common with Wellington, boasts a nature reserve created out of the town’s old water supply. The Brook Waimārama Sanctuary is the largest fenced area in the South Island for the protection of endangered plants, birds and animals, and successfully ensures that many of the introduced predators that have decimated native species are prevented…
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Puhihuia
The story of Puhihuia and Te Ponga is a 17th Century Māori love story. Mt. Eden, in days long gone by, was called Maungawhau and was the fortified stronghold of a very large tribe. Te Ponga came from Awhitu to visit the Maungawhau Chieftain. Te Ponga was a handsome young warrior and while we was…
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Wool Day 2024 – Hokitika
This weekend the Cool Little Town of Hokitika held its Wool Day. The event is held in the Heritage Park near the airport in town. Here there are collections of vintage and antique machinery ranging from steam engines to fire trucks. There is also a big collection of sewing machines and looms, a private collection…
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This week’s Spotify playlist
Each week the blog is accompanied by a Spotify playlist, a curation of music and sound that reflects the articles in the newsletter. To preview the playlist, click on the play button on the player above. For those with a subscription you can click on the Spotify logo in the top right-hand corner of the…
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Threads of History – an article
A reader (thank you, Laura) has sent in this fascinating article that describes the work that went into the making of a varafeldur, a Viking cloak woven from the locks of sheep wool. As you might imagine, the weather in the North where the Vikings ranged required specialist garments. The varafeldur not only fulfilled the…
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This week’s Spotify playlist
Each week a playlist of curated music and sound goes along with the blog. The playlist references articles in the blog and includes pieces from across the globe. Those who have a paid subscription to Spotify will hear all the playlist uninterrupted. Those with a free subscription will have advertising interspersed and everyone else will…
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Tapestry – but not as you know it
The Dovecot Studio in Edinburgh is currently showing a tapestry at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London’s South Kensington for International Women’s Day. The piece is designed by Christine Borland and was woven at the Dovecot from cotton, linen and nylon. It is based on the Edinburgh Seven, women who matriculated in 1869 as…
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Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, the most populous of the Pacific islands, the world’s third largest island country and the most linguistically diverse with 839 known languages, boasts rich cultures, some of which include the making of tapa (barkcloth). Tapa is made by pounding and crushing plant material, drying the resulting layer, and then using it for…