today's word- astound

photo- http://pomegranatetextiles.com/

In another post i mentioned some islamic embroideries i saw at a recent show and how impressive they were. i set out on a quest to find more of them on line and by one of those happy turns i landed at a site specialising in suzanis the hand embroidered fabrics from the Uzbekistan area and linked to the silk road trade. i had never heard the term before, but thanks to their well documented explanation and their catalog i came out with a fair understanding of the textiles.
Just one word to describe them- astounding.
Moreover the page also carries hand woven ikats and hand knotted rugs from the Turkey. Note that the operative word here is hand.
Delving in further i found this other page with more suzani pieces.
What a nice way to relax on a Sunday ! i'm sure my embroidery friends will enjoy these finds too.

neki desu


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preview of coming attractions

Or my newest love for iridescent chiffon. Among other new things :)

neki desu


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shibori with a story behind.

This sample from my collection comes with a story.i will refrain from qualifying it and leave that up to you.
When i was in Japan in 1994 i visited Sensei and she invited me to stay overnight as she lives in Hachioji. The town although it is 40 kms from Shinjuku station in Tokyo, is still considered Tokyo!

She lives in a traditional Japanese house behind her brother's modern occidental house and surrounded by a bamboo forest and of course some momijis.
There are two rooms in the house, one that serves as general purpose living space and studio, with her loom and her bedroom. A tiny kitchen and even tinier bathroom complete the house.
When she wants to cook for real, or soak in the o furo she goes to her brother's and uses his facilities.

That night she she treated us to a delicious yosenabe and she even took the trouble to go to Kinokuniya and get wine for me.
We laughed and talked and had a small show and tell . She was going to have her yearly woven kimono exhibit some weeks after and i promised not to miss it by any means. At that time my Japanese was pretty pedestrian, barely survival, so my friend Atsuko was working overtime translating for me whenever Sensei switched to Japanese to fully explain something.

At some point she pulled out a silk kimono covered with kanoko shibori and dyed with akane . i sat on the tatami in awe examining it. Yards and yards of hand bound kanoko patterning the surface with flowers, fowing streams and leaves and creating that wonderful puckered surface.i just couldn't take my eyes from it. After a while she carefully folded it between tissue papers and and put it away.
Two bottles of wine later we decided to call it a night and started clearing the space to extend the futons.

Next morning when i woke up and opened my eyes the first thing i saw was the kimono hanging on the window in front of my futon.
Sensei then told me that as i had liked it so much she wanted it to be the first thing that i saw next morning.

And as i was leaving she slipped a wrapped packet in my hand
which later i found out it contained a sample of the fabric.

Atsuko, watashi wa and Sensei at the exhibit, one of her woven kimonos behind us.
God how young i was!

neki desu


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all those inspiring stones

And i was able to work some of it into this.Printed lutradur with a treated tyvek background peeking through the zapped holes. Stitching and lots of paint. A transfered image covered with iridescent chiffon, one of my latest loves.Perhaps this work is not very effective, but( isn't there always one, for better or for worse?) i'm slowly gathering momentum for some new work.i took many photos of a red window shade in my hotel room and i'm slowly digesting the image and what iffing. Stay tuned.

neki desu


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seriously considering relocation

After a more than wonderful 10 days stay in Asturias. They have everything up there. Beautiful scenery, lovely cool weather, to die for food( gained some kilos) great cider and cider bars, farm fresh produce, daily caught fish. Oh and 200 kinds of cheese. Notice i haven't mentioned meat which is free range(this sounds kind of weird, but you get it) and so are chickens.They have a vibrant cultural life. And they even have a prince.

The pace is sedate, people are soft spoken and you can eat off the sidewalks so clean it is. And the prices are very reasonable.
Now that i can live anywhere because of the Internet i'm beginning to wonder if it pays off to live in the middle of stress, noise and high prices.

If you want to see what i saw go here and enjoy,there's something for everyone :)

neki desu

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the romance of mends

Back!
Lots and lots of photos to work on and upload. Lots of things experienced. Lots of messages in 2 overflowing mailboxes. But i wanted touch bases and share these photos as they will interest my stitching friends. These are mends on handkerchief linen. Neither that kind of linen nor that craftsmanship in mending exist anymore. No wonder she didn't have the heart to dispose of it t even though it was threadbare.The linen is a pillow case found at the bottom of the linen drawer at my mother in law's.
Seems that as we gained in comforts and available things we became poorer.

Photos here

neki desu


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little fishies

Swimming away and flapping good-bye. Been working on surface design and textures.Too hot to do anything else, the last 50 cms on the loom are waiting for cooler times.So are the indigo vats.i'm going away for a week or two to a cooler climate. Sick of being glued to the air.
Until then hope your summer is cool and productive.Will bring back scads of photos :)

neki desu


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