mon 紋 もん

mon are emblems used in Japan to identify groups or individuals.  also know as Japanese crests, Wikipedia states that mon

may have originated as fabric patterns to be used on clothes in order to distinguish individuals or signify membership in a specific clan or organization.

some indigo itajime pieces i have been working on remind me of these mon.  perhaps a shibori no ai mon 藍搾り纹 is in order. will be wondering more about this.  i think they would make nice pillows…

these pieces are an outgrowth of what i have learned from Richard, who is due to be here shortly.  we will have some more time together, standing on common ground, and under the same moon.  we have 2 spots still open if you are in the neighborhood…

meanwhile, Susan over at ito de has been incorporating thoughts of kanji into her work.  lots of good posts over there.

planting seeds and wondering into the new year

seeds.  i’ve written about seeds a number of times this past year. and things related to seeds.  seeds are the beginning of things. they contain the wonderful possibility of life,  sustenance, beauty and even of freedom.   i’ve always been a seed saver.  when i was a kid it was fun to collect seeds to play with-to make things with. i remember having great fun collecting nasturtium seeds- so plentiful and easy to gather.  all sizes, shapes and colors.  string them,  glue them, count them, eat them, plant them.  seeds.

edible nigella seeds from the summer garden.

a couple of months ago i had the good fortune to be in Santa Clara for a family wedding and came across the Luther Burbank  home and gardens.  if you are ever in Santa Clara try to make time to stop by (the docent tour was also fantastic). I was so intrigued by this man- i bought this book -A Gardener Touched with Genius and have been reading it off and on…so interesting! The place is beautiful, gardens diverse and the house is quaint and wonderfully restored.  but my favorite thing was this:

Luther Burbank’s seed vault

this is how he thought of his seeds.  precious. so much so that they were kept in a vault. there also was a small shed with a little window from which he sold his seeds to neighbors and to the public. a walk around the neighborhood reveals that many of the yards still contain plants grown from his seeds. charming!  he also had an experimental farm at nearby Sebastopol. i hope to visit it sometime this year.  this video really speaks to who he was:

now i have mentioned once or twice before that silk moth eggs are called seeds by the Japanese.  and they do look like seeds.  i have a fair collection myself in the butter compartment of the fridge. i wonder if and when i will have a chance to raise silkworms this year?

silkworm eggs-seeds

of course i will grow indigo again, in fact it is already growing! seeds that dropped while collecting the flower stems have already sprouted in this mild climate of ours.  we had some nice soft rain that coaxed them…  i gave away most of my extra indigo seeds -i like to send them out into the hands of those who take the indigo workshops. i wonder how many will plant them?

sometimes seeds are dropped- sprout and grow! we don’t always know how or where they will bloom

I am also growing something new this year- madder.  i will be experimenting with it. with combining  madder and indigo.  i thought it might be about time to add a second color to the natural dyescape of my studio.  i’m not one to try anything and everything- i like to delve into things fairly deep and that means taking my time with it and not rushing.  madder grows rather slowly and it will take  couple of years for it to mature to the point where it can be harvested.  honestly, i wonder if i will even get to that point with it.  but i have some madder root here now that i have purchased and watching some grow will only add to my knowledge base.  i was intrigued by madder several years ago when on the silk study tour we visited a natural dyer who showed me his experiments with it and some madder he had grown. he planted a seed in me that started me wondering.  it’s taken a while to germinate… i wonder what new things will come of this.

Natural Dyeing Master Youjiro Takezawa shows us his madder root from the garden (Mr.Takezawa passed away 2 years ago. His wife succeeded his studio)
4-388 Umedamachi Kiryu city, Gunma japan japan,silk

seeds are a good way of spreading wonder i think.  that is what i intend to continue with this year. spreading wonder  and planting seeds in small ways.  there’s a lot to wonder about. may the ground be fertile!

happy new year!

a few announcements-

First- I forgot to mention that the daily dyer subscription will cover the time during the upcoming Silk Study Tour to Japan. So the added bonus is that if you sign up for the full 6 months you will get to see a bit of the behind-the-scenes tour.  Sometimes dyers have to go to Japan!  We are gathering a great group.  There are still a few spots open so if you have been imagining yourself in the land of the rising sun…come on along! Not that you need a little tempting or anything but here is a fun flickr set of photos of past trips- and a little video just for fun…

silkworms 1-5 instar stages

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Next- there will be a new in-studio workshop announcement next week. Dates look like they will be end of January/ early February.   It will be a combination workshop featuring Richard Carbin’s mandalas and my arashi shibori techniques.  Day one will be mandalas with Richard and myself (assisting) and day two will be with me learning arashi shibori techniques and Richard assisting .  Day three will be a free dye/play day to practice some of the skills you have learned.  We are still working out the details but you can sign up for day one, day two, day one & two (a little discount), and day three will be reserved for only those who have taken day one or two or both (both days will get you a nice discount on day three).   We will work with procion (Richard’s fave), colorhue, and acid dyes and even the indigo vat.  It will be limited to 6 people each day. I’m just getting things set up so I can list it in the shop sensibly. So much going on right now.  Does it ever slow down?  I wonder…what if we combined arashi and mandalas….

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who knows?

 

 

the daily dyer

something new…

Lately I’ve been so very thankful to everyone who has been turning out for classes both online and in person. It is a real pleasure to see so much interest in dyeing, silk, indigo and just general interest in what I do.  It is wonderous to see you the students come to these classes with your own intentions and desires and then take the information off to create on your own.  Some of you create just for the sheer pleasure of it, some with the intention of starting your own small business.  It is great to know that many are thinking in that direction-thinking independently. Just keep going is what I have to say about that.  It takes time.  Do not expect things to happen immediately, instantly, or forever. Start small. Grow it.  You are the seed. You have to keep plugging away at it. Inventing, creating, wondering on a daily basis. Seeds need nourishment and so will you.

This leads me to the next thing.  With this level of interest the daily emails with questions grow. The requests to go here and there increase. Some of the questions sound like this:

-when is your next class?(working on that…deciding…figuring out finances…)

-will you be teaching near me soon?(dunno-where are you?)

- can I come work for you-for free-so I can learn! (surprisingly, many of these offers! thank you so much for the offer-but I can’t do that for many reasons)

-can you come teach here in Israel/Japan/Canada/? (wouldn’t that be cool?)

-I’m in your neighborhood, can I stop by? (uh, sorry-no)

-we’d love to have you at our show will you come? (unlikely-many to consider and many financial considerations are involved)

-I need to turn in a report on my favorite artist-will you answer these 20 questions?(most of which the answers can be found by reading a few pages on my blog-but thanks for thinking of me)

-and myriad questions about dyeing,shibori, silk, indigo, growing indigo, seeds, shows, orders (YAY!- helps pay the bills!) and so much more. Time!  I need more time (maybe time traveling is an answer)!

I wonder how to divy myself up in enough pieces to satisfy more- to spread my growing knowledge further and the daily practice of it in a way that serves us all? In a way that helps me and helps you.

I tested this idea out some time back but I wasn’t quite ready for it.  I am now.  Things come with their own time and place and I think now is the time.  So here it is:

the daily dyer

-a place for daily snippets of dyeing for a living- which is what I do. Even I don’t know what each day will offer- that is part of the lesson. But come along and get a glimpse. This doesn’t take the place of the other more technique based classes or in person workshops (or the blog here either). It’s meant to teach in a different way.  And I think we all know that there are many ways of learning and that people learn in different ways. Along the way. Yes, along the way. As I write that, I realize that is what this is about. Globe trotting is very costly- the teachers costs must be covered-  and thus workshops for those sorts of events are expensive and understandably not in the budget for everyone.

For you, it will give you a part of me and my work that hasn’t been available so far. It will give you another way to learn. $60 for 6 months. That’s about 35 cents a day- the cost of a daily good cup of coffee when I was born-over 50 years ago…or the cost of two overpriced cups of coffee a month now ( I may have been listening to too much public radio these days..).

For me, it allows me to reach further, deeper, and continue serving in another affordable way for all of us. Also, it’s a daily commitment, a practice of daily teaching and learning.

But really, what have you got to lose? You can sign up for a one month subscription for $25 which can be applied towards the 6 month subscription if you add it before the one month ends. (kind of a layaway plan of sorts.)

The daily dyer begins December 15 and continues through June 15, 2013.

Subscriptions for the first 6 months will be available now through Dec 15th only. I’ve also added the possibility of gift certificates in the shop- and some are conveniently set at the price of a daily dyer subscription.   I wonder if you’ll check it out…

arashi shibori now…

just a quick post to show you a couple of new pieces.  when i began them i had in my mind’s eye what i wanted-almost.  lots of what i do is like that.  i have it about 80% worked out in my head.  the last 20% comes as i am working on it. i learned a lot making them.

i’m looking forward to making more of these in other colors.  that will have to wait for mid november though.  i’m adding these to the shop  as shown and you can order the make me one option and we can talk about colors.

this is arashi shibori now.

Online Silk Shibori Techniques workshop

I thought I would remind folks newly interested in learning shibori techniques that my original online shibori techniques workshop is still available in my online bigcartel shop.  It has been there for over a year now  since I originally posted it- many have taken it.  After the first initial run of the class I reworked it into a self-study class for a very fair price of $25 (that’s $5 per lesson!).

Here is the intro to my online shibori workshop:

The beauty of shibori is that it was created in a much simpler time, yet resulted in some stupendous fabric designs and possibilities. It was created out of ingenuity and a desire to have decorative fabrics for the masses. You don’t need a lot of fancy equipment to make yourself some basic shibori fabrics. In fact, most of what you need can probably be found in your kitchen, your garage or just hanging around the house.

As an anniversary of sorts, I am going to include a 20 minute skype call with the purchase of this class through the end of October.  You can use this call for a review of your work at the end of the class, for one-on-one help on a particular technique, or just to chat.

It’s always a pleasure to encourage creativity and wonder through shibori. Shibori is good for that. It encourages problem solving and original thought-I think that is what drew me to it in the first place and has continued my interest. I am also going to go on into the class and update a few things, perhaps add a little here and there as well.  It’s been a while since I checked in over there.

As always, the online class is always there for you regardless of timezone and time of day. No commuting necessary.  There for you when you are there and ready to check in.  No roll call needed, and you’re never late to class!

My other online classes include:

Let’s Dye with Indigo!

and

Indigo Mandala Workshop with Richard Carbin and Shibori Girl

I give you the techniques and you make it your own! You can be assured that the images I post here, on my flickr, and in my classes are of my own work (unless noted) and not of the work of others. Some examples include:

wonder dyeing

these past few days i’ve been doing production dyeing-dyeing for orders. for example -

extra long for the tall girls…

tomorrow i’m doing some wonder dyeing.

yup- that’s a new category i’ll be adding to the sidebar. i do a lot of it here but never knew what to call it. it’s really my favorite thing – just going with what the cloth wants me to. letting colors wash over the silk and speak to each other.  since i have a few retail events coming up i can do a lot of this-no need to stick to “the list”.  plus, it’s a good way to come up with new colors and see what people like (and don’t like!).

also, i have been playing with the needle felting tool on the silk ribbon. it is fun to see here it leads and i like the results.  you might want to try it too… i added two pieces to the shop- i was making them (demonstrating) at the recent show and selling them as i finished each one. these two i didn’t get finished until just the other day-they’re in the shop

bodhi leaf

maple leaf

also there’s been some interesting things coming out of the indigo vat with some vintage hemp i found in japan… photos soon.

yes, it matters how a thing is done.

craft to industry, guild to union, cottage to factory. this is what is generally considered as progress.

sometimes, progress has a high price to pay.  some things become streamlined, simplified. other things become automated, even people become cogs in the automation (and consumption) wheel. other things become lost and forgotten.  do we stop to think of what these prices extract from us?

i am still reading. speaking of SustainAbility,  the current essay asks the question “how have we been able to sustain such unsustainability for so long?”. a good question

i think it helps to know the history of this. how did we get here?  the earth is plentiful in it’s bounty but we are poor and careless consumers of it’s offerings. in his essay titled “The Historical Production (and Consumption) of Unsustainability: Technology, Policy, and Culture”,  Benjamin Cohen restates a cultural axiom of technology and risk this way:

“The more we seek to control nature, the more risk we create.”

hmmm…i think we can all think of some pretty big examples of this. some might say Monsanto, others might say Fukushima,  or monoculture.  most of this progress has distanced consumers from producers. a move over time from the qualitative to quantitative gave rise to more human control over the natural world.

by distancing ourselves from the gathering of energy materials and water sources, the growing of food, the making of product in far away places extracts a toll not only on those locales and their culture and environments but on us physically, morally, and spiritually.

ah…such big thoughts for such a lazy hot day like today. a morning earthquake here shook us up a bit and reminded us that nature is truly in charge. but what does craft have to do with all this?  i wonder…

silkworm workers prepare straw bedding for cocooning

yesterday i was testing out more cocoons and and was wondering about tsumugi.i have been experimenting with this. i like that it requires almost no equipment.  i remembered seeing this video a while back and went to watch it again.  the part i was most interested in seeing again begins at 3:07.

i am stacking up a few good books to take to the woods next weekend.  some i have already read or partially read and want more time with.  one of them is Azby Brown’s book “just enough- lessons in living green from traditional japan”. i really enjoy this book.

i am also gathering up food from the garden to take and we are looking forward to this annual retreat where we are able to separate ourselves from daily city life. where i can sit with nothing more than the squaw hole covered granite stones listening to the sound of water rushing below and the winds whispering in the oaks overhead.  this former Sierra Miwok summer camp, later a travelers lodge visited by those traveling to the Yosemite valley by foot or horseback (perhaps even John Muir and Ansel Adams), and even later still the summer camp for the Oakland Council of Girl Scouts- bringing girls into the woods for an experience to last a lifetime.  now in private hands of old friends who kindly offer its use to us we thank them and all the past caretakers who have allowed it to remain wild with its history quite intact.

i will even be stopping by a local gallery on the way in to drop off some nigella seeds for a blog reader and quilter in the area.  perhaps we will meet up at some point- but once i am in i tend to stay put. i have some stitching i intend to take as well.

a few orders must be finished, some emails sent, so off to continue that now…

oh- and richard send me one more very intriguing item for the silk exhibit- a straw bed for silkworm cocooning- so interesting.

from an old farmhouse in rural Japan

getting ready…

Yesterday the cold wind was howling through the outdoor studio and I worried what the weather might bring this weekend when Richard and I hold our joint workshop. But then I woke this morning to bright blue sun filled skies and no wind. Still, one never knows. We will be prepared for plan B and even plan C should it be needed.

Also, getting ready for the upcoming online indigo workshop. It always is a lot of work setting things up. Even though I have done this several times before there are always fresh challenges. Updated programs, a *new* used computer and new ideas to try out. So I have been working on it. I hope to have the new online workshop site up and running by tomorrow so those of you who are signed up can begin collecting your materials and deciding what type of indigo vat you would like to begin with. As always, an online class runs on YOUR schedule so you can never be late for class!

We will be talking about many things, one of which is sourcing materials. I found this today and really like it! You can read more about her project-Researching Sustainability here.

Considering the core of beauty

Is it seriously the end of January? I have been remiss…but busy at other things. Shibori things, indigo things, workshop things, organizing things, sales tax things (ick!), among other things. Those of you signing up for the online indigo workshop that starts in march- many thanks. You will receive an email mid February discussing what materials to begin gathering.

We are also having some company this week…some busy hands who were helping me sort ribbons into color piles this morning as I stitched some shibori ribbon flowers for an order. A simple beauty as he discovered each color and opened and closed the pleats. Later on, we did some painting. He keeps his mom very busy and anyone else in close proximity!

The 2 day indigo workshop at the JANM was a real treat- a great group as usual. Some very beautiful fabrics were created. Photos and more on that later in a separate post but there is one more workshop coming up at the JANM March 3-follow the link to sign up.

But the really exciting news is that my friend from Nagoya-Richard Carbin, mandala dyer extraordinaire is coming to teach mandala dyeing at my studio in Long Beach Feb. 18-19. This will be a real treat. The workshop is limited to 4 people as it will be hard to manage more right now. You can read more about the workshop and sign up here.
Here is a small selection of Richard’s mandala work:

Richard and I became fans of each others work via Flickr several years ago and more recently on Facebook. Richard is an ex-pat living in Nagoya Japan with his wife and two boys. Last May when I visited Japan for the Silk Study and the Arimatsu Shibori Festival, we made a pact to meet up and get to know each other better and in person. We visited late into the night (you know how dyers can be…) . He has a unique talent with techniques he has developed over many years and will be teaching his mandala dye technique here in my Long Beach workspace next month. I will assist and add indigo to the mix along with some other surprises.

Way back then I was taken by the beauty and skill of his dye work. I have been doing some thinking lately on beauty and I believe it is at the core of what we tend to think of as art. No matter what name we give it, we humans seem to have a need for it-whether we observe the beauty around us or whether we create it. Beauty calms us, it can capture timeless moments and asks us to slow down and observe. Beauty speaks to a higher order, is captivating, and allows us to see into the heart of things. Richard’s mandalas are like that to me- like I am looking into the core of beauty.
(Check out more of Richard’s work on Flickr here.)