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Thursday, July 21, 2011

putting the pieces together

japan4


 literally and figuratively. been  slowly working through  my sorrow for the  japanese  disaster and trying to put some sense to that.
also working with plastics and stitching. plus my machine knitting-this time wire- and rust.
the squares are handmade sisal paper from when i tried papermaking. what can represent japan more than handmade paper!
on the upper right corner there's a piece of  digitally printed poly organza. the image is of the ever present electrical wires that you see all over the sky in japan. all those wires get fed by the nuclear plants. to highlight the wires and as a design element there's some stitching using black silk thread.

turning a page.
more pieces. fearing that i sound  like the empress of gloom i'd like to comment on the demise of fiberarts mag.
i've been a subscriber for over 30 of their 34 years when they still published in black and white tabloid form.
 until it was sold, the mag was rob pulleyn's labor of love. there were some hard times, i remeber. but  he  thought creatively, the subscribers responded  and  he kept going on.

reason given was that there was not enough subscription mass.... seems that how- to recipe mags and vanity visit -my- studio -and- see- how- wow- it- is  mags are more profitable. and of course selling supplies. so you have to keep those recipe mags churning. has  the publishing company been struck by foxification ?

the demise is sad news for serious weavers as it was the only magazine along with textileforum which ran  in depth informative articles and kept tally of what was going on in the field worldwide.
along with the closing of weaving programs in many college departments the weaving critical mass will be reduced pretty soon  to a few  hard core members  of  the resistance.

i was offered a subscription to quiltart mag. sounds like the  oh you are a weaver! i do needlepoint type of conversation.
interpret my silence.


  neki desu
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Wednesday, July 20, 2011

quiet time

lobelias and indigo


i managed to have some quiet time for stitching. this old linen piece from my mother in law's  was folded itajime style and dipped in indigo pigment various times and then aged.picked some lobelias and pounded them to the fabric  and brought it along with threads,  my needlecase and my japanese clipper scissors, which coincidentally went through security without causing bedlam, to my sister's just in case i needed something to do with my hands. wow!that's a mouthful of a sentence!!!
lobelias bottom
lobelias top lomo

i am enjoying this pounding and stitching thing which started a week or so before my trip.made some try outs and think there's a lot to be explored. also a way of keeping things tight and not  spreading out too much.

anxiously waiting for the indigo to arrive.want to try the fructose-or was it glucose?- recipe and a new one by jenny dean. i have messed up so much indigo that paradoxically that has given me confidence!

and for the observant: notice anything new/different?


 neki desu
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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

modestly helping the u.s. economy

 tally-buys

these are my tally-buys: 4 oz crepe cotton, stamp ink pads, thread, metallic yarn.  what's inside the bags was free, windfall lichens that will make a dye pot.
not in the photo: natural indigo both pre reduced and powdered, a pair of shorts and three seed packets which already have been planted.
fingers crossed because if they sprout i'll have long coriander(eringyum foetidum L) and sweet bonnet peper ( capsicum chinense) which means rice and beans, yellow rice, pigeon pea rice, stews....yum yum!


neki desu
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