a weaver

My response to May's TIF.
Terse and self assured it has taken me years of agonizing, questioning, justifying and being apologetic about what i do.

Times when i dreaded filling forms with the deadly occupation question. i studied literature and became an EFL teacher, but that was not what i was, that was a small part of the cake.
Always felt and said that i am at my very best when weaving. i can think, create and transform reality into something else either functional or artistic.

i am a weaver who dyes.
i am a weaver who experiments in surface design
i am a weaver who has recently learned to embroider
i am a weaver who is teaching herself to machine knit
i am a weaver who likes to work with animations
am a weaver who creates fractals
i am a weaver who is married
i am a weaver who loves to cook
i am a weaver who gardens
i am a weaver who is a crazy japanophile
i am a weaver.

neki desu

geringsing from Tenganan

Years ago i took the epitome of a weaving trip as i went to Bali. Every activity during my stay was textile oriented and whatever else happened, well, it happened and was extra. i had done a lot of reading beforehand including re reading that gem of a book The Dyer's Art by Larsen. Published in 1976 (wow! that long ago!) it was my first educated encounter with dyeing and pattern making.

During the trip i was fortunate to visit many ateliers and take slides of the different textile processes such as weaving, dyeing, batik, plangi, which is akin to tie dye, ikat and the king- double ikat. i had an urge to see the double ikats of Tenganan as the books mentioned it was a dying -note the spelling- :) craft

We left Ubud our home base, and headed to Candidasa beach which was close to Tenganan.
It was a pleasant motorbike ride from the the hotel in Candidasa to the village of Tenganan where the Aga people live and weave. Tenganan is very picturesque and still maintains old traditions like closing the town gates and the wonderfully colored roosters. There are lots of artisans still carrying on traditional crafts and living with very few concessions to modernity.

My interest was weaving, but was pleasantly surprised with the gorgeous basketry and purchased some.
Purchases are carried the old way, slowly and over numerous cups of tea. Bargaining is expected and not doing it is an act of rudeness. i could not bring myself to haggle over the prices which were far more than reasonable, but had to show good breeding.

i visited a family atelier and they were kind enough to let me take slides of the whole process as they were dyeing and preparing a warp. i got detailed explanations of every step of the process and they answered all my questions. Even the dumb ones like where do you buy your dyes especially the indigo. That one in particular caused a lot of giggling and i was showed to the backyard where indigo plants grew almost wild! Next day the man was at my hotel with a bagful of indigo leaves that unfortunately i had to leave behind. i still have not recovered from that.

From the family i bought the double ikat which illustrates this post. It was an old shroud woven for a member of the family that for some reason had not been used so it remained uncut. It is woven in relatively thick, about size 20, Indonesian grown cotton and dyed in vegetable dyes whose original names i can't recall.

i also fell in love with the most beautiful textile object i had ever seen so far. This warp chain with a bamboo leaf heddle bar. Each warp thread is picked by a continuous thread forming heddles and the threads in turn are picked by the bamboo leaf. Even the garish acrylic tie yarn adds to the piece. Beauty in simplicity.

i went crazy buying textiles in Bali. As the Balinese are genetically incapable of bad taste even goods for the tourist trade are attractive and not blatant. The rest of the production starts quickly getting star ratings. If you see something that makes you frown chances are that there is a foreigner running the business and the Balinese being directed in their production.

My husband got hit by the textile fever too and had some shirts made from beautiful cotton silk ikat fabrics that he picked himself. The beauty is that we still wear those clothes. And i cherish my ikat fabrics.
If one summer during a trip you see a lady wearing an ikat sarong do come and say hi. :)

neki desu

city girl goes wild

This is what happens when a city girl goes to a roseraie.Wild in the park.
i spent May day at the Cervantes Park in Barcelona.
The day was glorious and i made some interesting discoveries.

There was a David Austin in the 1950 who was responsible for the English rose varieties. That in itsef did not call my attention. What i found interesting was the list of names he had called his flowers. Lots of Shakespeare characters, literary heroes and heroines, English expressions such as cottage house and country living8 i could almost see the chintz LOL!) and one that made me think that he was putting his botanical expertise to the service of patriotism ;This scepter'd Island. i am aware it is a poem, but a highly patriotic one isn't it?

i love climbers most of all, and the chinese and noisette varieties are my favorites.
The flowers are small and in clusters and remind me of the roses that embellished walled gardens in the early 1900's.
i also like single roses.

When in presence of a rose bush everybody young, old, male, female stoops to smell it. A Pavlov reaction.
Also in presence of roses everybody acts as a retired golden ager :) :)

There are roses that mask themselves in to something else. i saw a cabbage wanna be, a clematis wanna be and a peony wanna be.

i found a rose darker than Guinee which was the darkest i had ever seen and i also found a violet blue one. Almost like a jackmanii clematis.

Roses need sun. Provided it is northen Europe sun. They fry on the plant over here.
Speaking of sun, i need to go back in late afternoon as the sun was too bright and the photos didn't come out to my liking. Not even after Photoshoping them to death.

If you ever come to Barcelona and like roses plan your trip for late April or early May and save half a day for the park. You will not be disappointed.


neki desu