dying to dye

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

have a good weekend.

neki desu 

 

normal weather at last

snow on the range, the cold has arrived. rainy northern spain . we're green again, back to that it-hurts-your-eyes-green.bring out sweaters and goretex boots.there's life after the summer from hell.

neki desu 

 

questioning sectional warping

30/2 cotton yarn, three chains . it took me less than 30 mins to warp the table loom.given the many things than can go wonky warping sectional i am begining to seriously question the method. at least in my practice. i've observed that thejapanese almos never warp sectionally. their warps are mainly extremely thin silk kilometers long; for example the standard kimono length is 4 meters give/take.

maybe sectional is a european thing because of the use of wool.this is me speculating,however, ever wondered the lack of dye recipes for wool in japan?yep, no sheep. they were brought in by the spanish and portuguese.

on the other hanf the warp from hell is already reeded.mind you i still had to correct the last two bouts sleyed. the debugging is going to be epic.

i wanted to be in the big girl's league so i converted to sectional without much analysing.maybe it's time to go back to regular before my ego gets resented.

  ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯ 

neki desu

 

the beat goes on

the cotton warp threading, overshot from the strickler's book with a twist.the top 4 shafts will give me an independent layer to bring up at will and do things with it. as mentioned this is a time warp paradox, it even also works as a pun.  ( ¨¨ ω¨¨ )   

the wefts are from the dyed stash, the warp will be painted.feel enthusiastic abou this particular project.

i've decided not to participate in shows where i have to create work for their concept.i want to work on my own concepts, weird or commonplace.if the work suits their call ,great. especially in these times that works are primarily judged on the artist statement and the ability to sell the work to the jury. life's too short,literally. reminds me of google updating their terms and functioning every couple of months.

neki desu 

 

saturday's labor

7kgs of fruitcake glory again.second time after the pandemic.it is such a big job , even with a helper,that i  had parked it. every year it's a source of wonder how i did it for 30+ years in my tiny barcelona kitchen.

soaking in rhum until xmas.one of the animated xmas cards already done,one to go.decors are going up next week ,so is the grocery shopping for the festivities.we're just two and it is a production. wonder about the production for a family let's say of five.

and thus begin the long weekend turned into a week here. bcse there are two bank holidays many take the whole week off . consequently europe is flooded with spaniards everywhere. the more pecunious take to south east asia or even japan. 8 days in japan minus two of travel time is something i would never ever do.

neki desu 

 

a follow up

on the previous post.

have a good weekend

neki desu

 

following party discipline

party as in fun and games and not political   (￣ω￣ ) this is a remnant from the deconstructed silkscreen printing era procion dyes galore. need the silkscreen so im going to try using the remnant paint instead of washing the screen. the ever frugal crafter. however, first need to finish the business i have with looms and yarns. whatever the outcome it will work. then the real deal will beging: printing using thickened natural dyes.ecxited about that, planning on carying it on into the new year.

november's gone!

neki desu

 

two down one more to go

gorgeous 30/2 cotton warps for the upcoming overshot project.the one dealing with temporal paradox, yeah that one.talk about concept before design.trying to design around the yarns that i have already dyed to speed up things.i have a lot of minutiae coming up so dyeing is out of the equation.this is straightforward good ol' warping and not the sectional bs.

hoping to get this rolling so that i can work during the xmas break. 

neki desu 

 

not claiming victory

what can go wrong will.few warps to go ,but who knows what's in store.have had to re thread whole sections with the corresponding new heddles bound to create nuisance when weaving. such is life.

after so many years weaving still messing big time. a cure of humility.

have accepted reality and it will be finished when it is. ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯ 

neki desu

 

normal

new growth on hellebores.

xmas cactus blooming.

not normal:

gardening has become scary. ⋋"⋌

                                                  

neki desu

 

nishi ori

 

still made with pride.

have a good weekend.

 neki desu 

 

more ai dregs

on fabric. getting the hang of it and cultivating bravery for thickening it and stamping on the right side.

it works so far it has even been submerged in water with little loss of color. however, wash and wear is beyond my scope of reseach. although it still needs work this piece is gradually coming together.

on the other hand this one is done.

after many years of being an 

unrepenting UFO.  ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯ 

talk about time travel! this is 

from my digital printing background
 period. digitally printed dyed  silk with a silk shibori scrap, silk velvet and raw silk embellished with french knots

notice the mention of time travel again. current obsession.

neki desu 

 

temporal paradox and quantum physics

now that i got your attention with such a nerdy title let me elaborate in textile terms.i've been revisiting this past series my one and only take on overshot.it is considered the the quintesential hand weave structure as it is difficult to replicate industrially.i've never been really drawn to it because it has a marked old fashioned look which is too much for my liking. having said this, many moons ago i tried it  with the agenda of bringing it into  what i considered more up to date aesthetics.( even with gloriously evident errors)

we're dealing here with time travel sui generis. ( ¨¨ ω¨¨ )    

for this project, the yarns precede the design .been going through the stash and once i find the one then the design will follow. come to think of it this is the way i work;the adage i let the yarns speak to me.

and they do, sometimes they even cuss.

  (￣ω￣ )

this on the backburner while the silk is slowly being reeded, a never ending chore.

neki desu

 

my own private momiji gari

these two babies make me awfully happy.

neki desu

 

eikando

famous for its autumn colors

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

 

developments

met an interesting, friendly woman  who is a watercolor painter.she showed interest in learning to make kami ito  and after  stressing  that i am not a specialist, as i have made kami ito just  a couple of times , i will oblige and teach her what i know.this prompted me to bring out the remnants, the frugal weaver, of cut strips from last year's project. took me some days until i found a pleasant composition and called it done.

this was the start.pstenciled  ferrous at 2%

gone are the small rectangles among other things.

nothing that buff white and quinacridone iron oxide can't solve.

neki desu 

 

a compendium of japanese literature, such is life

we left here.then there was more warp counting beaming and threading. in between doubts as to forget the scarf and make art. 

"unbeaten by the rain,unbeaten by the wind

bested by neither snow nor summer heat"

miyazawa kenji

                                                                      

                                                                              

we are here now, close to saying finally. however, 

the center threads left their heddles and i have to  find the sequence. easy if i had left the lease sticks in place (╯︵╰,)

these weeks of no show have been taxing.

"pain is inevitable,suffering is optional"

   

murakami haruki

neki desu 

 

秋のきょと

autumn in kyoto first post

have a good weekend and take care it's friday the 13th.

neki desu