a kind of magic

still operating.

have a good weekend

neki desu

 

more waves

guess i discovered my favorite stencil.on a fat quarter painted with watered down ai dregs.the pattern was stamped using  full strength ai dregs with gac 900 as binder. the taliban dyers
will surely stone me to death for using gac, but who cares. ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯ 

another flavor, this time bengara on ai.this was dyed at the begining of the vat so it's a good clear mid blue.

think this vat is a goner need to kill it. however the information i got from it using gelatine and dyeing silk is invaluable. have even taken notes to keep  record.i've become an adult dyer.  o(≧▽≦)o .

neki desu 

 

more testring

a scrap that was stamped with puff paste.i must be a late bloomer as now i am working with lots of concepts gained from last year's maiwa course.keeping with bengara explorations i stenciled some on it, not a bad outcome. but what if i push it a bit more?

dipped for 15 mins in the indigo vat.great news, neither the bengara nor the puff paste dissolved in it.the vat is still perfectly usable the bengara and puff paint are stable under exremely alkaline scenarios. seems that life is good.

neki desu

 

odd but not bad.

 waru kunai. after 2 dips it came out this cornflower blue color, more of a faded jean number.it's not unpleasant so instead of correcting it i'm going to leave it as is.

the vat is doing well but i am going to dye 3 more skeins and call it a session.need to rethread the loom again, no excuses i have the weft yarns  already dyed.thought i could swing it as it is threaded but fearing unneeded issues it's better to re thread. ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯ 

neki desu 

 

quintessential summer color

💙💙💙 

have a good weekend

neki desu 

 

mokume

out from the vat one  20 min dip, two10 mins and couldnt wait more. 

opened. kind of cool as i cut the stitching work by folding the cloth in half. nothing beats like having good instructions, the boutrop-ellis book is a gem.  feel confident to try dyeing  silk skeins over the weekend so that i can start weaving the warp on the dobby.

neki desu 

 

dippity doo

this a test piece.  10 grams of indigo in a small vat about 8 liters as a try out.the cotton was given 2 short dips about 10 mins each.

this is cotton ,two 20 min dips . the color is darker as you can see. 

i am going to experiment dipping the tests cotton in a weak iron solution.

the purists will chase me out of the country    ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯  not that it really matters. i just find it verging the  hilarious.

 the test fat quarters are going to be further worked on.stay tuned .

neki desu 

 

my 💘has come around

and life is just like a song.🎵 beautiful reduction, hassle free. this is persicaria locally grown in spain by tintoremus, a beautiful project of which i am a fan and profess total love. the purists shun it bcse of non objective reasons having more to do with class struggle and slice of the pie, which reminds me of that famous skit in monty pyhon the life of brian you know, the people's front of judea.

anyhow the persicaria works well and i am a happy camper. just think of immoderate supplies. m(_ _)m

 they planted rubia tinctorum this year,we'll just have to wait.

being and nothingness😊 from having to import everything to having cochineal,persicaria and soon rubia. m(_ _)m

ife is good.

neki desu 

 

あいのあい ai no ai💙

i discovered these folks via insta and was instant love,blue love💙💙they have a huge farm in southern spain and have started planting persicaria tinctoria aka japanese indigo.there has been some derision on line  from purists. however,  yes, they are rich kids.  but they could be having champagne and canapes at the country club yet they are doing this. more power to them and to us that now are able to get indigo locally grown.bring out the sustainability flag  and the carbon footprint spiel.

sometimes people forget that revolutions are started by those who have their needs covered and are socially aware and concerned. true, there is glossy marketing, a beautifully crafted narrative and excellent community managment, but the product needs to be sold. if elegantly done so much better.

a woman  follower contacted me as she saw i had bought some indigo. she dished a bit, expressed some concerns and wanted a report on the performance. ive always defined myself as a kamikaze weaver and dyer. if people knew my practice i'd be banished from groups and most likely the planet.

back to ai love💙

next week i am going to be testing it,can't wait.

neki desu 

 

fuji-san ☀🗻

fuji kenta and aizome. a young craftsman's story.

have a good weekend

neki desu

 

white silks

all scoured waiting to be dyed. all 7 hanks. most of them are going to be dyed in an ai vat yet to be started. need to buy one of those plastic drums, the small one is sufficiently big. sad because i invested in an electrical stainless beer making vat .but keeping the temp warm is beyond thinking with the  energy prices.lucky bcse i can get them locally at the wonderful hardware stores in town.

different silks, some for warp some for weft and different weights also.

today there's no japanese class and we're going to have lunch in a newly opened izakaya. will report.

neki desu 

 

to compost or not to compost?

that is the question.heartwarming to hear the guru say japanese indigo masters.

neki desu

 

dying to dye

one of the most exciting local projects. following anxiously. turn on the captions.

have a good weekend.

neki desu 

 

edo ramblings

 handwoven panels from a project stamped with ferrous at 2%. needed to occupy myself with other stuff as the loom business was driving me nuts.

went on into something that had been  on the backburner for a while. have been reading about how blue got into ukiyo-e  and developed. from prussian blue to alternatives. also other mentions in the ellis-butrop bible book.

moi? experimenting painting  with ai dregs.

more to come.next is going to try thickening and printing with it-them?

neki desu 

 

a red like no other

cochineal on silk 2%wof. never had had  such bright results and the cochineal i have can be qualified as vintage.the silk was mordanted with aluminum sulfate and i believe there lies the reason for the results.

a lovely cool red.

playing with modifiers this excellent

bishop purple was achieved.

cant be more chuffed.

thinking about combining a warp of blue and this. but firts i need to run an ai vat for the blue.

coincidentally found out about a beautiful project here. some youngish folks contacted farmers whose land was fallow and convinced them to plant indigo,persicaria tinctoria, while at the same time contacting people from the textile industry luring them into indigo and sustainable dyeing.

the project is based on circular economy and suatainability and they have gathered their first crop this year.

the good news is that small folks like me will be able to source the dye from them as well.news can't be better.

neki desu

 

future possible

two hanks of already scoured organzine silk. if this weather continues and the warping goes so slow  i am considering running a mini ai vat and dyeing these babies.

if i don't frizzle before.

neki desu

 

furoshiki

a bit lopsided bcse i did not want to cut the fabric to square it. heavy -according to my standards-cotton yarn indigo dyed and tied kasuri style.pleasant and pleasing all in all. just in case pattern here

on to giving use to  the furoshiki.

neki desu

 

concerned about offending buddha

everything about this is perfection. 

the warping process was effortless, 

 

debugging presented just 

one crossed thread

in the reed.

the weaving ,albeit on a table loom is going  fast and pleasant.

and to round out a two year old unattended ai vat was revived successfully. ai is much tougher than what we are inclined to think.

neki desu

 

ai ,kasuri, nihon

these are 3 of my favorite things.

have a good weekend

neki desu 

 

country perks

aizome rinse from neki rivera on Vimeo.

when there's a brook nearby and you can rinse your dyes away.

have a good weekend

   neki desu