things are not what they were

Actually, nothing is the way it was anymore :) . Had to rig the loom with a magnifying glass in order to be able to thread the 15 ends X cm reed. And this is a rather open sett. And having trouble still.Thinking that this project can qualify for the small things in life TIF as the yarn is very small.
And it could also qualify for slow cloth as i've been warping and threading for 2 weeks.

The warp is silk doupioni dyed with kakishibu and ai. The kakishibu ranges from a golden brown to an almost black and the ai is a light blue value. Still debating whether the weft is going to be a peachy kakishibu silk or a medium dark ai silk. It's going to be a very simple crepe weave because the emphasis will be on the colors. The crepe will add just a bit of texture and the colors will gain depth with the way crepe reflects and absorbs light.
And this stole is for yours truly.

For the fast track lane i have been screen printing some fabric. It is batching so i will post it later on the week.

neki desu

more shibori

These handkerchieves were found in Yonezawa a town in Yamagata-ken in the northern part of Honshu, the main island.

Why did i go out there? Weaving and dyeing, of course! Along with its beef, toys and winter sports Yonezawa is also known for its indigo dyeing. And for being a very charming small town.

For Japanese standards these handkerchieves were inexpensive so i thought they might not be indigo, but now that i can read some Japanese it came as a very pleasant surprise to know they are real indigo! The top one is kumo shibori and the bottom one is an itajime. Notice the lovely greenish cast.

The left one is tazuna stitching and tsuki-dashi dots shibori and the right one is kumo shibori not ironed flat so it still holds the lovely raised texture. They are also indigo dyed.

This last one was bought in Tokyo in a small shop in Ya-Ne-Sen. It seemed unusual to me because the kumo dots were first wound to reserve the white of the cotton handkerchief, dyed a soft grey and bound again and dyed red, thus resulting in grey colored background kumo shibori. It was dyed with synthetic dyes, but that's ok :)

neki desu

small things that make me happy

A list of small things that make me happy has to begin with trading ATCs. Just look what Ati sent me. Thanks for making me such a happy camper Ati :)

The rest would be:

• a good indigo vat
• morning glories in the summer
• a well warped loom
• a comment on my blog
• an e-mail from my sister
• fados( strage thing, they reek saudade!)
• recognising a kanji
• morning chill
• those days working in a state of grace
• evening port and cakes at A Casa Portugesa
• lunch with friends
• red skies
• daifukus
• an attractive fractal
  

i could go on, but let's keep it short.

neki desu