craft a twined basket to hold objects of value
contemplate the various materials and ways of making vessels to carry, store and transport objects throughout time
learn about different plants used for weaving and how to gather, store and prepare them
craft within community and make lasting connections
listen to and with the land, weaving songs, stories and connection into your work

Alternatively, bring your own project to work on, OR craft a medicine blanket or piece of story cloth to serve as a foundational ‘document’ in cloth for your work or life.

About Twined Baskets

Learn how to use natural materials to make small baskets using the traditional basketry technique of twining. Twining is the twisting of two strands of flexible material around a vertical support. This technique creates strong surfaces, as well as adding stability to baskets. Participants will learn how to create a couple of rim variations when completing their baskets. Materials such as day lily, jonquil, red-hot poker and combungi bulrush will be provided as well as information about how to collect, dry, store and rehydrate materials for weaving. All materials provided.

About the facilitator

Jodie Goldring is a notorious gleaner, an Artist and Teacher who has a broad range of creative experiences to share. She joined the Basket makers of Victoria in 2005 when she learned skills and techniques that she explores in the creation of sculptural artworks.

“Since making a tree change to the Central Highlands of Victoria in 2013, I have been supporting people of all ages and abilities to weave in diverse environments.”

“I suggest the appeal of basketry is that it allows me and the people I teach to slow down and experience the satisfaction of creating something hand made.”

“Craft Camp is not just a place to learn new techniques; its a sanctuary for the soul, where we find solace in the rhythm of crafting and the beauty of creation. It is a journey of self-discovery, where craft becomes a sacred practice, and every creation tells a story of spirit and resilience.”

Gisele

Day 1 (Friday) - Plants

Arrive and settle in. Opening gathering.

Check in from 2pm onwards on Friday 19th of September. Take time to settle into your accommodation, set up tents, grab a cuppa, wander into Hopetoun, greet Lake Corrong, or swim in Lake Lascelles. Gather at 4pm for our opening gathering and meet your fellow campers, facilitators, and organisers. Be introduced plants as healers, helpers, guides and teachers. Meet some of the plants that we will be working with over the next few days. Shared bring-a-plate dinner. After dinner, hear an old story about a basket that changed the course of history. Space for dreaming, conversation, and reflection.

Day 2 (Saturday) - Place

Self-catered breakfast in the function room kitchen or at one of the camp kitchens. Morning walk in Lake Corrong and plant connection exercise.

This day is about allowing yourself to arrive deeply into the space and from there, to start work on your basket, allowing your experiences of place and plants to inform the activity of your hands as you begin to give it form. Morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea provided. Shared BBQ dinner, bring your own meat / meat alternative, salads and carbs provided. Fire in the fire pit by the lake.

Day 3 (Sunday) - Condense

Self-catered breakfast. Full day of crafting.

Day three is set aside for working intensively on the construction and creation of your basket, gathering and adding adornments, edging, and finishing touches. As you finish, reflect on what your basket might hold - parts of yourself, treasures, practical items, or whether it will hold hopes, dreams, intentions. Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea provided. Self-catered dinner (or dinner at the community-run Hopetoun pub). Invitation to dream with your container.

Day 4 (Monday) - Disperse

Self-catered breakfast. Finishing up. Sharing. Parting ways.

Morning check in. Time to finish up what you are working on, or gather all that you need to continue at home. Check out of all accommodation by 10am, Monday 22nd September. Morning tea provided. Closing gathering and story sharing at 11am.

Bookings can be made online here on humanitix or by contacting us via the Centre for Creativity and Consciousness facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CentreforCreativityandConsciousness/

Responses to common questions.

When is it?

Stitching the Sacred, Spring 25 runs from Friday 19th September (check in from 2pm onwards, arrive earlier if you are camping or want to look around) to Monday 22nd September (check out at 10am, camp finishes at midday).

Can I bring my children?

Children are very welcome at camp and parents or caregivers are expected to supervise children at all times. All our activities take place on the edge of a large unfenced body of water. Children under 10 attend free.

Where is it?

The Mallee Bush Retreat is a gorgeous multi-purpose facility with a large function room in which we will gather for meals, spacious lawns for outdoor crafting on sunny days, a large fire pit, architect designed cabins with bush themes, and hundreds of campsites around the perimeter of Lake Lascelles in Hopetoun. The facility is owned and run by volunteers, members of the Hopetoun community. Donations are encouraged!

Is transport provided?

No. You will need to find your own way to Hopetoun, however we can arrange car pooling if multiple participants are coming from the same place.

What are the arrangements around food?

Friday - afternoon tea provided, bring-a-plate for a shared dinner

Saturday - self-catered breakfast, morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea provided, shared BBQ dinner

Sunday - self-catered breakfast, morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea provided, self-catered dinner / dinner at the pub

Sunday - self-catered breakfast, morning tea provided

What is the weather like in Hopetoun?

Hopetoun is in the Mallee district of North-West Victoria. Daytime is often sunny, but the winds can be cold. Average daytime temperatures in September are 21C. Nights can be cold with an average of 5C.

Do I need to have crafting experience?

Absolutely not. Craft camps cater for all levels of skill and ability in crafting. No matter what your level of experience, if you come with a willingness to learn, to use your hands, and to experiment then you'll deeply.

Who are the traditional custodians of the land?

The Wimmera region includes the traditional lands of the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagulk People represented by the Barengi Gadjin Land Council Aboriginal Corporation. Click here to listen to some River Yarns.

Are there places to get food nearby?

Hopetoun has a small independent supermarket and a pub that is run by the community, within walking distance of the Mallee Bush Retreat. There is also a butcher, a bakery and a petrol station.

What can I do in my time out?

Walk, swim, rest, or make use of the healing corner which is set up with a hand-woven raw wool sleeping mat, willow charcoal and paper, story cloth making materials, and other items to help you process, recalibrate, settle or gather your pieces.

Meet the vision holders

Shalome and Bianca are passionate about the practice of crafting and as a way of preserving and transmitting cultural and spiritual knowledge as well as maintaining and developing practical hand-crafting skills for wellbeing and longevity.

Bianca Patetl-Flowers

Visionary, teacher and guide.

Bianca is an accomplished artist, weaver, and visionary who excels in guiding people to bring their soul's wisdom to light. She has qualifications in naturopathy, fine arts, teaching, and transformational creativity. She has worked extensively with individuals and groups to hone and refine their intuition and deepen connections with plants, place and spirit. She brings a rigorous intellect, a profound depth of connection, and a beautiful creative intuition to all her interactions and to the process of guiding others.

Shalome Lateef

Administrator, creator, host

Shalome is an eighth generation Australian woman of European and UK descent. She brings delight to the experience of hosting, drawing on her experiences in intentional community, Indigenous communities, middle eastern hospitality, and her deep love of the earth and its systems of cooperation and community living, to creatively re-imagine the way we work together on camp, incorporating elements of ritual, ceremony, ecology, activism, gift-giving, and relationships of obligation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

Centre for Creativity and Consciousness is located on Wadawurrung Country in Ballarat. We recognise that this is a gathering place, a place where food and resources were and are plentiful and where people gathered for generations to enjoy and tend each other, the sacred, the land and waters. We acknowledge the Wadawurrung peoples, their elders, ancestors, and the new generations to come, grateful for their living connections to place and their tending through story, song, ritual, and action.

Stitching the Sacred takes place in Hopetoun on the shores of Lake Lascelles on lands tended by the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia, and Jupagalk Nations. We acknowledge their continuing presence and connections to country, and pay our respects to their elders, past, present and emerging.