African Safari

Next on Your Safari - Gorgeous Giraffes

2008-10-10T13:00:00Z

TALL , GRACEFUL AND ELEGANT- GIRAFFES

The Giraffe, the tallest animal in Africa is both elegant and graceful. Its height allows it to keep in contact with other giraffes over large distances as well as spotting predators from afar. It is not uncommon to see other animals following a giraffe using it as an early predator warning system. The neck is so long the giraffe must spread its front legs apart so its head can reach the ground to drink. It has unusually elastic blood vessels with a series of valves that help offset the sudden buildup of blood (and to prevent fainting) when the head is raised, lowered or swung quickly.

The giraffe's high shoulders and sloping back give the impression that its front legs are much longer than the hind legs, but they are in fact only slightly longer. The giraffe stands at eighteen feet and weighs up to 3000 pounds. Giraffes are herbivorous browsers. When protected, giraffes can flourish in areas where food is abundant year round. Although they drink water when it's available, they can survive where it is scarce. Giraffes occasionally eat grass and fruits of various trees and shrubs, but their principal food source is the acacia tree.

Before we begin our visual safari, let's refresh with the basic rules of African Folklore Embroidery. Whatever color you choose to stitch is the right color - there is no wrong color. If you wish to stitch your giraffes pink or your sun blue - go for it! Your stitches do not need to be perfect - there are no needle art police who are going to come and inspect your work! The needles are only to be used for stitching, no poking anyone or sewing yourself! (obvious- but worth mentioning) You do NOT NEED A HOOP! Have fun- you are creating a visual art, a fiber art, a wearable art. Whether you are an accomplished quilter, sophisticated stitcher, wonderful knitter or have never held a needle before, you will be stunned by the ease and beauty of African Folklore Embroidery.

Chain stitch is the dominant stitch in African Folklore Embroidery and like most ethnic types and folklore embroidery, chain stitch is the popular stitch used. It is a very rhythmical stitch, easy to do and flows beautifully. Once you are in the rhythm of the chain stitch with your African Folklore Embroidery, it is easy to do other things such as watching television, riding on a plane or train, watching a basketball or soccer game. I usually take mine with me wherever I go; I fold it up and put it in my purse. Since you can take needles on a plane, I have found that taking this traveling allows me guilt-free time to pursue my favorite hobby.

Here is an example of what the design will look like on completion. I will take you step by step through this project, which is the same design I worked on for the television show Uncommon Threads on the DIY channel (HGTV, Uncommon Threads). Since my kits include the design, a needle and African threads, all you need is scissors. Please remember that this is just one interpretation of the giraffe. Should you desire, you can incorporate and add African hand-dyed and variegated threads and beads. Any beads can be used - I suggest beads with a good-sized eye - and bright colored beads are great to use, along with needle threaders (to help with threading the needle). Look at your design and decide where you would like to begin and what color you would like. I suggest starting with the outline of one of features of the design, so for example the outline of the giraffe or the outline of the sun or the tree.

Once you have chosen your thread color, thread your needle. Only use one thread and do not split the thread. You want to single thread your needle and tie a knot at the end about an inch away from the end. If you have a child working on one of our designs, my suggestion is to double thread the needle. Starting with chain stitch, bring the threaded needle through the fabric at the beginning of the design, and hold it down with the left thumb. Thread the needle into the fabric from the front (where the thread last came out) and bring the point of the needle out of the fabric a short distance away. Do not worry about the spacing and size of your stitches. If there are spaces that's great, as later we will use different colored thread in between the spaces.

Bring the thread up at the top of the line and hold it down with the left thumb. Insert the needle where it last emerged and bring the point out a short distance away. Pull the thread through, keeping the working thread under the needle. Pull the needle through and keep working the thread under the needle point, making the chain. You will find that you develop your own level of consistency regarding the size of your stitches.

Happy stitching and see you next time with your camera for our visual safari

Best,

Leora Raikin

MONKEYS AND OTHER ANIMALS YOU CAN EXPECT TO SEE ON SAFARI

2008-09-19T18:38:00Z

Do you have your binoculars ready, camera and hat? Remember, keep your hands inside the jeep. While on this visual African Safari remember the animals are not in cages, do not pat or feed them and most importantly remember you are a guest in thier environment!

You can expect to see plenty of monkeys not only on safari but in various part of South Africa, in cities as well as rural areas. Troops of monkeys have made their home in different parts of South Africa, primarily in Kwa-Zulu Natal in Durban and the south coast of Durban (maybe its all those easily accessible bananas that grow so well in the climate). You can also can see monkeys in Cape Town in Chapman’s peak and outside of Johannesburg near Sun City and Pilansberg Game reserve. Monkeys are not in cages in these places and roam freely. They like swinging from trees, climbing onto roof tops , and on top of cars they often hang out with their families, with the babies clutching onto the bottom of their mothers tummies as they run, walk and climb. They are very cute to observe, however it is strongly suggested that you do not pat or feed them human food. Sometimes if you are too close to a family of monkeys they will feel threatened and do not always appreciate you taking pictures. They will let you know how they feel. If a male monkey does not want you coming close or taking photographs, he will start flaying his arms and hissing. Since this happened to us on a trip to South Africa, we learned from my father-in-law never to turn your back on the monkeys.

Perhaps because of the climate and lush vegetation in Durban, South Africa monkeys abound. From my in-laws' house in Durban, South Africa, you can see monkeys from the window. When we go down the north coast and stay inside a monkey reserve, frequently we will wake up to find monkeys on the roof, on the patio, and swinging from branches outside. As long as you do not try to feed the monkeys or bother them and their babies, they are quite content to let you observe them. I love observing their mischevious behaviour and often human-like manner. Baboons and chimpanzees are popular mammals you can expect to meet. This picture in my blog was taken while at San Lameer, we were having breakfast on the patio and before i knew the monkey had grabbed my toast, I could not resist this picture.

Durban, which is also the home of the Zulu tribe, is where you can expect to find many hand woven baskets. In rural areas in South Africa, people create art out of indigenous materials, such as clay, wood, and grass, and make richly decorated items for household purposes such as serving spoons, silverware, bowls, etc. Beading of these items is very common and is a craft practiced by many in southern Africa. Some rural communities even create art out of recycled items such as Coca Cola tins. Traditionally, the men do most of the wood carving and the women the beading. Women make most of the items that are sold commerciallly, and do this while raising their children at home in the rural communities, while husbands work in the cities. Many of these women are now being encouraged by development agencies to produce work for outside markets to be sold in the rest of the world - an example of this is the Ndebele dolls that I showed you in my last post. You can read more about African tribal arts in my book "Safari through African Folklore Embroidery", now available on AnnTheGran's website.

With all this talk about monkeys, I've included a picture of our African Folklore Embroidery Monkey Super kit. I've also put in another picture of a pot, because the inspiration for these designs is from the many African women who make and weave beautiful baskets out of grass. This is from our African Basket Kit. Traditionally these baskets and pots were used to store grain and other items, these days they are produced to be sold and to earn income for the women. Speaking of earning income for women, I am giving readers of this blog post 15% off all of the African Folklore Embroidery kits for this week. You can see the whole selection by clicking here.

Look out for my next post on the BIG FIVE, THE RULES OF AFRICAN FOLKLORE EMBROIDERY AND ANIMALS YOU WOULD NOT EXPECT BUT WILL SEE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Salang hantle! ("Stay Well!", in the Sotho language)

Leora

Safari in Africa

2008-09-01T17:53:00Z

Hi, my name is Leora Raikin, and my company is African Folklore Embroidery. I am so excited to be a new blogger on the ATG website. I have just returned from four weeks in South Africa,(incredible!). In this blog I will be sharing with you a little about my experieince there, my connection to South Africa and what I do here in Los Angeles, CA.

I grew up in Cape Town, South Africa. my parents and grandmother of 95 stil live there today. My mother sewed our clothes, my grandmother was a milliner and my father made all our toys with his own hands out of wood. My grandfather had more hobbies than I could list. We were encouraged to create and take pride in work created with our hands. Like most African traditions that are passed from one mother to daugther and father to son (in future blog posts I will be sharing some of the art forms of the various tribes passed down through the generations) I was taught African Folklore Embroidery by my mother. Since I have a son, I have passed this art form on to him. When my son was nearly four years old and I was recovering from both the phyiscal and emotional impact of intensive infertilty treatment and several miscarriages, my mom came to visit me from South Africa. She told me I needed to start doing something with my hands, she placed an African Folklore Embroidey design in my hand and for the next hour she and I sat side by side stitching. It felt so relaxing, I could not remember the last time I had felt this at peace and creative at the same time. I started taking the African Folklore Embroidery design with me whereever I went, folding it up in my purse and taking it out to stitch, when I was waiting, watching my son play soccer or on a train or plane ride.

Wherever I was, complete strangers would come up to me and ask me to show them what I was doing and ask where they could buy a kit with the designs. I loved every time I interacted with someone who wanted to learn African Folklore Embroidery. It allowed me an opportunity to talk about the country of my birth. I found the interest in South Africa refreshing and inspiring. Soon friends would invite other friends to their house for me to show them the designs and teach them how to do African Folklore Embroidery. One friend told another, then quilting and embroidery guilds started asking me to come and lecture and give workshops and my hobby and pasion had grown into a small business. Since all the designs and threads come from South Africa, I feel in some very small way what we are doing is helping create jobs, employment and self esteem for women in Africa, South africa is a beautiful country, but one of extreme contradictions. There are elements of first-world industry in the midst of third-world poverty. The unemployment rate is at a crisis level of 30% and AIDS is an everyday reality for many of the poeple of South Africa.

Since most people will not have the opportunity to visit South Africa - the airticket is exhorbitant and the twenty-six hour flight very long - I wanted to share with people the wonder and beauty of South Africa. So I am proud of annouce the release of my new book, Safari through African Folklore Embroidery. Essentially, this 88-page color book with over 500 color pictures, takes the reader on a visual safari of South Africa, educating about the wildlife, the art forms of the various tribes , the people and the land, through a needle art medium called African Folklore Embroidery. Each of the designs illustrates some element of life in South Africa. Many of the designs are inspired by the Ndebele tribe, who are famous for thier bead work and beaded dolls. In the pictture you will see me standing with some of the life-size dolls made by the women of the Ndbele tribe. Each doll is unique and symbolic of a different life stage (more about that in another post)

Future blogs will include a step-by-step instruction of how to complete an African Folklore Embroidery design, the basic rules and of course some fun embelishment techniques! I'll also share stories of my time on Safari in the Umfalozi game reserve, where an elephant almost sat on our car, my time staying at a nature reserve where a monkey stole my toast from the breakfast table, my visit to the AIDS charity that I support, KIDZPositive and much more. I look forward to getitng to know you and hearing your comments. I find there is something very special about people who do and create with their hands! Of course if you have any questions about about South Africa, I will be happy to answer them!

Warm Wishes,

Leora