After placing an order with Anna at Bodypeace I went looking for Ecodiva, found them. Some new designs and colours there as well. Ecodiva is an even newer label than Bodypeace. They are also all about fair labour which makes me happy. Ruby and Katie started up less than two years ago. I was really blessed to find them before the expo since Greenroom Gallery now will stock Ecodiva exclusively for this region. 
The silk kaftans/kimonos are colourful and versatile. You can dress anything up with these. They look great on all different shapes and sizes. I still haven't bought one for me but I will. I'm just having trouble deciding on a colour. 
For winter, Ecodiva has got some double thickness tunics and pants in the modal. Soft and warm!

I pulled myself away. Time for mini seminars. I went to quite a few on merchandising, layout, social networking, more merchandising and on it went. Between all the listening sessions, I went looking for organic cotton. Occasionally I saw a label that looked lovely. Being the tactile me I would have to have a feel. As the representative/owner of the label would come and say hello, I would ask if by any chance they did an organic cotton  range. I got everything from looks of disbelief that someone would ask something so ridiculous, to  "well, it's cotton what do you mean" to one lady who proclaimed "apparently they use more pesticides than usual to make it organic".  I actually felt ridiculous. No one had any idea of what I was talking about. There was a lot of cotton but none of it was organically grown, that became painfully obvious.
Now, I don't want you to think I am intentionally having a go at the people I met. For me personally, I can't do conventional cotton anymore, not after finding out how much pesticides are used on the crops. However only a few years ago I was as ignorant as any of them. My mother-in-law used to make me wash anything new that she had bought for us. "There's pesticides in them you know" she would say and I would roll my eyes but oblige. I don't know how much can be washed out and possibly the worst chemicals are the ones that get sprayed on the growing cotton plant and ends up in nature but my mother-in-law was right about the chemicals. 

Back at 'Fashion Exposed'  I had mixed feelings by the end of the day. I felt slightly overwhelmed by so much clothing in one spot. Especially when most of it is fast fashion, in today and out tomorrow. But I must also admit, it was a show case of colour, design and innovation from clothes to shoes to bags to jewellery.

I walked to my hotel room, got some indian take away and fell asleep to a  program on SBS on the universal source code. Don't you hate that, when there's an interesting program that you've been wanting to watch for a week ...........and you can't keep your eyes open. 

Went back the next morning to order some very colourful necklaces made by artisans in Indonesia. 
Spent the rest of the day with a friend and a long lunch at QVB before the slightly bumpy flight home. 

I have a confession to make. It's embarrassing but going back a few years, I was quite suspicious of anything Hemp. I was of course, void of any real knowledge, had plenty of preconceived ideas and assumptions. I thought that anyone who had anything to do with hemp, smoked it and wanted to grow it to be able to smoke it. So very ignorant and stupid was I. So I know better now, much better. I had no idea about Hemp and what a brilliant plant it is. 

Here's a little of what I have learnt about Hemp. 
Hemp and Marijuana are both - Cannabis Sativa L.  Hemp contains only about 0.3% - 1.5% THC (Tetrahydrocannabinoids) which is the psychoactive ingredient. Marijuana is what's used for drugs and it has THC levels of 10% or more THC. Hemp, apart from having extremely low levels of THC also contains CBD (Cannabidiol ) which in fact is the anti psychoactive ingredients that works against any THC. In other words, Hemp cannot be used as a drug. 
Marijuana and Hemp, look and grow very differently. Hemp is very tall and stalky as high as 25 feet so you can't hide the small and very bushy Marijuana plants in a Hemp plantation. Actually, a Hemp farmer doesn't want to be any where near a Marijuana plantation because it will cross pollinate. It will inhibit new seeds and the crop will not perform the following year. 

Hemp fibre is the longest, strongest and most durable of all natural fibres. Hemp cultivation requires no chemicals, pesticides or herbicides. Grown in rotation with other crops such as corn and legumes, hemp farming is completely sustainable. Hemp produces four times as much fibre per acre as pine trees. Hemp tree-free paper can be recycled up to seven times, compared with three times for pine-pulp based papers. Hemp is easy to grow, and actually conditions soil where it grows. The seed and seed-oil are high in protein, essential fatty and amino acids, and vitamins. Hemp would be an ideal source of biomass for fuel, and hemp Ethanol burns very cleanly.
Hemp and humanity have been linked for over 10,000 years. Hemp was our first agricultural crop, and remained the planet's largest crop and most important industry until late last century. Most of the non-Western world never stopped growing hemp, and today hemp for commercial use is grown mostly by China, Hungary, England, Canada,France, Italy, Spain, Holland, Germany, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, India and throughout Asia. Hemp is also grown in Australia but it is against the law to consume the seeds or the oil which makes no sense to me.

Whenever I go to my sisters place there are always candles burning through the house. It's lovely. It's very welcoming and homely. I want to stay, have a cuppa and relax. 
Being scandinavian, having grown up with months of darkness every year where candles goes without saying......I love candles. 

I grew  up on burning normal paraffin candles. The conventional candle is made out of the left over sludge from petroleum. It gets bleached and texture is created with acrolyn. When you burn a paraffin candle there are toxins released. Some claim they are very toxic and bad for our health, some claim it's quite alright. I don't use them at all these days. 
Soy candles are very popular. They burn 50% longer than paraffin candles. Soy candles are made of hydrogenated soy, palm- and coconut oil. The soy is most likely sourced from the massive genetically modified soy production in the US. Personally I am not won over by the soy candle. However each to their own. 

For me now, there's only beeswax candles. Beeswax it 100% natural made from the 'caps' of the honeycomb. They are more expensive than other candles but they last twice as long as soy and 3 times longer than paraffin candles. When you burn a beeswax candle it releases negative irons, just as breaking waves do. They smell like honey, don't drip and are pretty much smoke free. 
A few tips on burning candles.
*Keep the wick short. You can cut it if needed before burning. 
*Burn candle in draft free spot.
*Choose thickness of candle depending on what kind of candle burner you are. Each burning session you need to let the candle burn until it reaches the outer rim. If you burn a 8cm thick candle for only half an hour and it only melts 1 cm from the wick, next time you burn, it will of course start from the middle again. You do this a few times and you will end up with a candle that melts deeper and deeper, creating a hole in the middle and not using the outside at all. 
So choose from big fat ones, to tapers, to tea lights to 'beeligths' (see photo) depending on how you will use your candles. For example, the 'beelights' are perfect for giving light during short dinners. You can light them for 10 minutes if you like. If you like burning candles for hours on end, choose a thick one.

It's raining here in Mullaway on this Australia Day 2012, as it is all along the coast. Today I get to hang at home so I think I'll go and find me some candles, some thick ones to brighten up this wet and gloomy day. Hope you enjoy your Australia Day. 

As you may know we stock Queen B at Greenroom Gallery. The candles are made the old fashioned way in Sydney.
Queen B herself is passionate about what she does. That is clear from the packaging to the candles themselves. 
We know that beeswax candles burn longer than other candles. But Queen B wanted to see how her quality candles compared to a couple of other beeswax candles. 
If you click on the photo here, you can check out her little short you tube clip. 

Lovely Kim, editor of  The Coffs Coast FOCUS Mag came down and to have a coffee and a chat. I had planned to take my time to answer questions and consider where I wanted the interview to go. However I think I raved on, don't I always. Poor Kim, I think she got herself an overload of information on fibres, fibres and more fibres. There was so much more I wish I'd said. However Kim managed to put together an article that does make sense and if you'd like to see the above photo (of me) in colour or read the interview just follow link (as in click on photo).