blogging anniversary

Two years blogging. This was my first real post with animation and all.
Last year i was so busy that the date passed without me being aware.This year we'll remedy that.
Drop by and leave a comment and from those i'll draw a name on Wednesday. The keeper of the ATC pictured here will be announced next Thursday.

neki desu

kakishibuzome- the return

My friend Rosa graciously hauled around 5kg of green persimmons from the country. Not only that, but she brought them to my doorstep on her motorbike. Talk about having the right stuff!

This morning found me in the kitchen cutting up and mashing the persimmons. i first begged them to forgive me for not treating them the traditional way, beating them with a wooden mallet instead of using a blender.
On the other hand i don't think the fruit really cares that i had to adapt the process to a city kitchen. A small city kitchen. But i wanted to cover my back just in case. Traditionally water is added to the mash, but i had to add water to the chopped fruit, 2 cups, give or take, per 4 fruit. This gave me around 8 liters of mash and water and i added some more water for the pot

Now the mash is resting outside on the terrace until it ferments and is ready for the juice to be pressed out. This will be in about a week's time. Then the juice will be aged for.. horns tooting loudly ...2 or 3 years!
i have already written up my will in case something happens to me Rosa inherits the
aging liquid and has to complete the process.


neki desu

multi tasking

Still indigo dyeing and more excited about it after i found this web page. There's the reason to keep trying to get command of the fermentation vat. Nevertheless that will have to wait for next summer.
But right now between dips there are lots of things to take care of,the rush before Japanese classes begins is alive and kicking badly. There's still something on the loom that hasn't been tended for a while. That one also has to be finished. Some ATCs in different stages have to be pushed. And designing.

Don't know if this one will ever make it to fabric either digi printed or dyed and worked on. But i liked the way it turned out, so here it is. The colors are fractal images with layers and layers of textures. It reminds me of Shinjuku in Tokyo.

neki desu

buttonhole band

This week finds me uploading last week's TAST and without the benefit of Elisabeth of Quieter Moments who fuels my imagination.As a result this sample is very plain, almost verging on the boring.
Presently i'm getting my kicks from indigo dyeing which is going so well it has me walking around with a silly grin. Husband is another chapter in the story, he's ready to file for divorce because of the smell which is no big deal, just the characteristic indigo vat smell.

i used DMc embroidery ,spun silk for texture and silk doupioni dyed by myself.
For the ladders i used perle cotton recycled from a shibori dyeing session. Sometimes i keep the yarns i use for arashi shibori as i like the results and it is also instant gratification for being frugal.

i think there are possibilities with the diamond shapes but need to be worked better.
And there's also a lot of play with curved ladders. i have to get back to this stitch during a winter night.

neki desu

almost gone

Asagao ya
ichirin fukaki
fuchi no iro

Buson

Ah! the blossoming
morning glory-
deep pool of blue

Buson

neki desu

aizome or at last i'm in a roll

Perhaps it is because my friend brought this ai back from Japan. Perhaps because i spoke Japanese to the vat or maybe because after ditching 2 fermentation vats as useless this summer the aizome gods had pity on me. At last i have a functioning vat. It only took me 9 summers, mind you.
The ai in question is synthetic Indian indigo from Tanaka Nao.
There is something that separates adults from kids and that is trying to run a fermentation vat. This indigo was comparatively a cinch to get reduced.

There's also another component. i was following the recipe from a well known natural dyes recipe book and quite frankly it is a royal pain, not to mention error prone to follow a recipe whose quantities are listed in cups, tablespoons, ounces, quarts and fractions of those measures.In every conversion for example from tablespoons to fractions of cups you're dealing with a fudge factor that adds on and as everybody knows, indigo dyeing is rocket science.. Maybe standardizing would have helped.

As a result this year i dumped that book and followed the Lewis and Proctor recipe. It follows through like a cookie recipe. And best of all there's a trouble shooting guide for medicating the vat. That book, in case you are not familiar with it, is gold. i have the'95 revised edition and the information is not dated.
Something else i noted was how crucial temperature is. Apparently hot Spain is not hot enough to keep a vat outside at it's ideal temperature.


Here is yesterday's effort. A bit of cheating here because the yarns are wet, but there's no way they'll turn light blue.Yarns are different kinds of unscoured silk. Contrary to common knowledge they all dyed evenly and the color take up was great.
Today i'm doing some itajime on cotton.



neki desu

who said you needed angst to create

Was so happy for having made it to second level of Japanese that i rushed to the studio. Found some great dotted bias tape, those fringes with velvety balls and fabric paint and i set out in a very celebratory mood.
The background fabric was a handwoven collapse silk shibori scarf that scorched badly while degumming. It hurt to throw it away and had been shifting around from one place to another.

While stitching away i had a what if moment a là Jude and made a shiboried cotton backing. And then did some scribbling with this fabric paint that i had bought eons ago never to be used. Sometimes it pays to stash products, never know when they'll be handy.

i've been trying felting needles to see if that's the way i want to follow and if it adds to what i want to do/make so the small velvety balls have been needle felted to the background.
Everything followed through smoothly and made a very enjoyable work afternoon. i think it shows, don't you?

neki desu

happy happy dance

The Japanese placement test was horrid. And long.
However.... drum roll....i made it to level 2!
Here's a commemorative animated textile by this animated soul. Enjoy



neki desu

the void

Here am i blatantly doing occupational therapy instead of studying a bit for my Japanese placement test. i want to change school therefore i have to submit to the torture of a placement test. Will be the first to fail a placement test in the history of placements, at least the alliteration came out effortless. LOL!
Wonder if failing will be my claim to fame. Or perhaps i could cash on that ..hmm.

neki desu

rice stitch- TAST 37

i seem to enjoy a lot more the straightforward,simple TAST stitches.They are a lot of fun to work and one can let go and expand them creating varieties.It's almost like doodling with thread.

Wool thrums from a woven project, silk cordonnet, spun silk, silk noil and perle cotton on linen.The bottom area looks like falling sakura blossoms during hanami. Should explore that further.


neki desu

more zen

Second one. Don't know how long this zen mode will last. Perhaps it is a consequence of Japanese classes starting soon. Or the lack of classes.

Recycled silk shibori with some stitching and stamping.

neki desu

sometimes i can be zen-like

And stop before i go Baroque.
This is another completed UFO. Don't know whether the stitching around the blue silk shows, yet it is there.

neki desu

kakishubuzome endavors

Happy dance mode here. My friend came back from Tokyo with some of the goodies i had asked for. The photo is the handsome Tanaka Nao packaging for kakishibu. Too bad they don't mail order abroad!
i've been spending time over the last 4 days researching and experimenting with kakishibu. Being precious matter i used the least i could possibly use to sample on silk. But 1 tablespoon in 2 of water goes a long way.

The silk crepe fabric was scoured, but the silk doupioni yarn, following the leads found on the Wada book Memory on Cloth ,was not degummed and the colors came out intense as she predicts.

And yesterday through a friend i located someone with a persimmon tree who is willing to give me a load of green fruit.Will have to wait till next April because the fruit is already ripening.
Meanwhile here's the dyeing effort.

neki desu

cable chain stitch

Tast week 36! This stitch was a definite funner. can't say the same of the previous one. As i was all thumbs doing it i turned the page and went on to the next stitch.

Assorted cotton threads, heavy rayon, hand dyed silk noil and spun silk on linen.


neki desu

in the post

Just received this great ATC from fabulous threads Annica. Thanks Annica! i love the racy pinks and reds in the background combined with the yellow stitching.

neki desu

dots and rocks

Another one finished. More dots and an extended dot concept as rocks which came from doodling.
i just sat down and it went through the piece all the way without stopping.

Have noticed that ever since i've been doing 10 minutes of blind contour drawing the studio work goes smoother. i don't remember now where i picked up this simple exercise:
Devote 10 minutes to drawing contours without taking you eyes off the object being drawn nor lifting the pencil or whatever you're using- form the paper.
It helps me getting focused and staying that way.


neki desu

the Sean Scully exhibit

It was a master class in composition and sensibility. i had not been so shaken by an exhibit in a long time i think the last one was the Rothko one some years ago. And as i see it both Rothko and Scully are similar, yet different.
It was pure aesthetic enjoyment.
There is so much truth and emotion in those fuzzy edges.There's force, joie de vivre and sometimes angst and sadness.
And then reading the paintings and drawings as textile relationships adds yet another dimension for me.
i can also identify with his photos because i also like to photograph the same things patterns, doors, textures.

This exhibit was the perfect roundup of my holidays in Dublin because many of the mental images gathered during the trip came together. i can only feel grateful.

You can see more of Sean Scully's work here and here

neki desu

The weather is frumpy today so i'm going to treat myself to the Sean Scully exhibit at the Fundaciò Miro
But before walking away here's the latest finished piece. Started out as LWI dyed cotton that went on to arashi shibori. Then some stamping, rubbing and stitching. Almost the whole repertoire.

neki desu

kakishibuzome

kaki kueba kane ga naru nari Horyuji
Masaoka Shiki 25-26/10/1895

I bite into a persimmon
and a bell resounds -
Hôryûji
(translation by Janine Beichman)


A bit early for persimmons, since it is a winter fruit. But i'm anxiously waiting for the return of a friend from Japan who is bringing me kakishibu or persimmon tannin juice.
Persimmon is sort of a wonder fruit and one of its wonders albeit not the most wondrous one is the dye. Beautiful shades of tan to brown are obtained by dyeing with the fermented juice. And as all things Japanese the relative ephemeral quality of the dye and its subtle changes is what makes it more treasured. Wabi- sabi aesthetics.

Waiting for the stuff to arrive and having had no experience using it i dedicated some time searching the net and found all kinds of relevant and delightfully irrelevant information. It is a potent disinfectant,insect repellent, waterproofing substance, treatment for survy and the list goes on. Not to mention its delicious culinary uses.
Relevant to dyes there is Kakishibui a company that sells the extract and has some wonderful examples of dyed fabric and clothes and this delightful Japanese webpage.

i have my fingers crossed hoping for an extension of hot summer days so that i can enjoy dyeing on my terrace.
Oh and i forgot! The color code for a persimmon color is persimmon color
HEX: #F94D0B RGB: 249, 77, 11

neki desu