the lazy cook

too involved sewing to spend time cooking. it's also hot, but not nearly as bad as last year.so far.
a nice summer salad:
duck ham
assorted greens
corn
boiled fresh green beans( leave them  slightly crunchy)
hearts of palm
walnuts
dress with a fresh mint spiced vinaigrette  serve with  a chilled white wine from rueda.
life cannot get better.
ps. what is this new&%**from blogger adding a span white background tag at will??


neki desu

of tannins

 as a spin off from kakishibuzome i  i have developed an interest on tannins.

apparently all tannins are not made equal. for starters i went to my chemist around the corner and he produced two different kinds; water soluble and alcohol soluble.the water soluble is much lighter, vanilla ice cream color and the alcohol soluble is walnut  ink colored.he could not explain the difference other than the vehicle for dissolution.

i had bought the tannins to mordant the cotton yarns i used for the loom controlled shibori i wove last april which coincidentally it still has to meet the scissors.

but right now as a result of the pattern drafting frenzy i had a white linen  for a dress. it  was actually way too white and  being hesitant  that it would multiply my size visually i used some of the water  tannin to tone it down.

i dissolved  a tablespoon in 250 centiliters of water and added the liquid to the portable washing machine filled it with hot water and ran it for half an hour and the rinsed it.

the results are visible in the photo above. slight cream color, actually ivory color . 

this will be cut up and sewn as yet another summer dress.
in the meantime the research on tannins will continue. perhaps the alcohol tannin will act in a way similar to kakishibu?  oh cheekiness!!oh heresy!!

neki desu

time rewarded

if i or anyone else had doubts they should be shed. everything is about time: love, life, crafts,weaving.....
  my own processed kakishibu, aged for over 4 years yielding beautiful color. these skeins have various dips,forgot to count, but it is  actually the uva rays effect that gives those colors. no modifiers have been added yet. the silk has not been degummed either. bryan -san explains here some things that were an intuition for me. i have been quietly dyeing  un-degummed doupioni silk for a while with no adverse results. quietly because this goes against all general knowledge and i did not want to start a battle in the dyeing forums ^_^

this silk will be combined with ai, of course, for a warp for this winter weaving.

neki desu

delayed accomplishment- this is fashion because i say so(IV)

ff! the fabric. the warp from hell no mo'.
the whole process of dyeing and weaving, including computer mishaps,almost took a year. something like the escorial of textiles because of the time both took to get finished.

then came drafting the pattern because there was not enough width for the butterick pattern i intended to use.

and finally sewing the top.

i cut up a silk shibori scarf that was never going to go anywhere and used it as facing.

the fabric has iridescence and does not photograph well. it wears well though ^_^

now on with the rest of the drafting-sewing!

neki desu
 

on my way to the fourth

three toiles later each one slightly improved from the previous and i still do not get what i want.

i want a scoop neck bodice to attach to this skirt and make a dress from this fabric.

drafting the bodice  pattern block was relatively easy, especially after getting my patternmaster ruler.

if you want to draft your patterns do yourself a big favor and get one.

ambition  always blinds me and attaching the bodice to fit the skirt, especially when it has side panels is more than a challenge to my present skills.

perseverance, perseverance. hoping to get it before summer ends. after all it is a summer dress.

happy 4th to ya'll in the u.s.!

neki desu

monday ponderings

sandycove

…. He did not want to play. He wanted to meet in the real world the unsubstantial image which his soul so constantly beheld. He did not know where to seek it or how; but a premonition which led him on told him that this image would, without any overt act of his, encounter him. They would meet quietly as if they had known each other and had made their tryst, perhaps at one of the gates or in some more secret place. They would be alone , surrounded by darkness and silence: and in that  moment of supreme   tenderness he would be transfigured.

Stephen Dedalus

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
James Joyce

neki desu

get your paper, ruler and pencils

and here we go. homework for the weekend.
have a nice one!

neki desu