runner up

finito. the actual fun will be next week when i give it to my friend. watching his face. still have some more warp and will either weave another runner for him in another color or make linen bread cloths. gave this a real hard press with lots of steam,  my arms are still aching from it. the hot spots in the photo are  because of  the shine of the linen.

i'm also mordanting and extracting dye from madder. have begun doing some dyeing, but right now i'm at the second dip.doing it very slowly- the operative word is slow- and at very low flame, because  as you all know, if you hurry it and pump up the flame the color gets brownish. so far the color is pale,but clear. however that can change any minute. photos tomorrow. coincidentally-or not, who knows-the color of the runner is also madderish color.

neki desu


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keeping up

with the aizome fad. this meter twenty five cm long cotton was bought in takayama at a lovely broccante shop where i also bought a loom reed made from reeds-hence the name- and an itomaki.
the cotton fabric, patterned in miura shibori, is long and wide enough to be used as a neck wrap. great for spring weather.
the photo was found during the  weekend cleaning frenzy . i even cleaned and organized my computer  files!

neki desu


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some stitching and TAST

 i was doing some stitching for the TAST over the weekend. problems with the deceivingly simple portuguese border stitch so i cut it out.  will go back to it because i liked the stitch, seems that as with basque stitch the problem is with the iberian peninsula :)
skipped the bullion family stitch  without even trying because from the other TAST my bullions were pathetic. however, i was having a great time stitching the knotted buttonhole stitch and feeling quite accomplished for my stitching abilities( need i clarify they are almost zero?) . stitching is very mind freeing, while your hands are moving the mind can go places.

i remembered i had kept a butt ugly piece from when i started stitching 3 years ago (already??) the fabric was kind of cool, a sample from my resist explorations that i had stitched and added some ribbon. it was so ugly that when i showed  it to a friend she was left speechless, afraid to offend me with a comment. LOL!

i dug it out from the bottomless drawer and took out the ribbons. then the stitching took off in a jolly sort of way.i wasn't creating anything special, just enjoying the stitching, adding some beads here, some more seed stitches there. you know the scenario.

all in all it was a pleasant late sunday afternoon. some sound thinking was done and i'm almost there with TAST.


 here's the before.

the after was rotated and stitched. furthermore the stamping block was rubbed with a gold paint stick. if you click on the image it will take you to a bigger photo at flickr. apologies for the photos, we have a foggy morn in barcelona. the smoke cloud perhaps?

 neki desu


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