W o n d e r -and get WILD!

Ever w o n d e r how I make these beautiful silk shibori flowers? Now you can see and make one yourself!

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  WILD colors!

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  softer more neutral colors

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  light lavender

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  teal with dark edges

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  back side- to leaf or not to leaf…

This past month I have been streamlining the process of making fabric using silk organza for the new WILD Flower make-along workshop. One needs to be persistent in this process. There are lots of trials and paths to go down along the way, but in the end, with enough experimentation you can succeed! Every day is a new day to go at it again! I’ve enjoyed all the wondering and experimenting.

The silk undergoes a multi-faceted process of hemming, base dyeing, discharging, wiring, and finally pole wrapping, overdyeing and steaming. There is also some ironing in between steps. It’s taken me a bit to determine the best width of the silk, the best wire to use (for the result I am seeking), how far to discharge, the best way to add the wire, the colors to offer, before I even get to preparing the listing.

Not all the colors are photographed in the listing but you can choose from the drop down menu and trust my sense of color and dye skills. I’m working all week to get the fabrics and kits ready and may add more colors and photos as I can. But I needed to get the listing up so you can choose colors and dates that work for you.

This will be a fun Zoom workshop where you will be able to make-along with me! I’ll show you ways you can alter my basic design as well as ideas on how to use the fabric in different ways.

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There are two dates scheduled and you can attend one or both! Registrants will be able to access a temporary 30 day video link of the demonstration portion of the workshop.
Two Zoom sessions will be available:
Saturday October 23
& Thursday October 28.
4-6 PM PST.

Each zoom session will start with working through the making of the flower with a Q&A half way through and at the end where you can show us yours. Only the demo parts will be recorded. (The Q&A portions will not be recorded. )

I made two separate listings -one for the workshop and materials kit and a separate one for extra kits. Add on a fabric pack of assorted green bits for leaves if desired.

All kits will be shipped by October 13. If you sign up after that, please choose Priority Mail during check out. (If you want your order to be insured), also choose Priority Mail) Otherwise it gets sent via First Class Mail.

So here are the two links:
WILD Flower Workshop and Materials Kit
and
WILD Flower Extra Material Kits

You can make one for yourself, a project, and extras for a heartfelt and handmade gift.

I’m really looking forward to this -it’s always fun to see everyone’s unique results and the path they take along the way!
I added an album to flickr (remember flickr?) of assorted silk organza flowers just for fun…
I also took some time to sort out all the blogs that are no longer current and add a few others that I like to visit over in the sidebar. It’s cool that some of us are still here and blogging after so many years! Enjoy!

In the Moment

Time slowed a bit this week, or at least that’s my perception. In the Moment.

I did a little tinkering with moonmaking and the result was a pleated moon on silk ro. I included a bit on that in the new moonmates video.

I talked a little bit about the fabrics I use. I could go on and on with that topic as it really is key to dyeing anything at all and can dictate the type of shibori process best suited for the cloth.

But back to the pleated moon. I’ve wanted to try this for some time. I really liked the process. Adjustments were made to allow the pleats to be retained (not wetting the fabric first, then letting the piece dry while clamped after rinsing out well). Then the whole thing was trimmed a bit before stabilizing on a background cloth using Jude’s glue stitch (or invisible basting stitch). I love the sculptural quality of it stitched onto the background. I don’t know where this piece is going or what it will lead to. For now, I have it pinned to the wall where I can think on it a while. What I did find was that the pleats were easily retained- even around the outside edge of the resist. The silk has a memory and unless forcefully removed, remains.

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Here is a quicklink to Jude’s youtube showing her glue stitch that I referred to.
There were other interesting moons this week, they continue to fascinate me, endlessly.

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  mildew,mold,indigo, and linen moon

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  moon in phases. patterned woven moon

TIme now to go do a drop off of supplies to Amma. For some reason this past week the facility would not allow the Kaiser hospice nurse to do her regular visit there- without explanation. After a series of calls to various people in positions to question this, nurse visits have resumed. You really do have to keep up with what is going on in these facilities.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Mata ne!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes…

Have to clear my head and get into the correct frame of mind to write a new post here. Things are shifting as always. I’m trying to find my way through it all with my sanity intact and without losing my mind.
This song came to mind…

The weekend arashi shibori workshop was wonderful. They were a great group intent on experiencing the process of pleated silk shibori. None had done discharge work so that was interesting to me since that is what I have done so much of all these years. Many had taken workshops with all the greats out there so it was interesting to me to hear of those experiences as we worked. So many things to learn out there! And each participant came with their own goals and intentions which is always fascinating to me. The outcomes were beautifully varied and while I think everyone had one piece that was not their favorite, those were the pieces that taught the most.

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  student 1

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  student 2

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  student 3

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  student 4

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  my demonstration pieces

There is one more workshop scheduled for this month (which is full) and I am working on putting together another one for March 28-29-30 (listed here). There was one resounding request at the last workshop- that it be expanded to 3 days in order to allow for another piece to be made after seeing the results from day one. I understand this request and will give it a try at the newly listed workshop. It will also give me time to demonstrate additional ideas for anyone who is taking the workshop over again. As I explained to the group, I really enjoy it when people take a workshop more than once as it allows them to build their skill and knowledge, which is important in order to master anything. This is why I enjoy the workshops at the Japanese American National Museum so much. Participants return over and over again to work on shibori…in fact, some have been coming for years! By the way, the next workshop at JANM is March 14-15. Sign-ups are through the museum.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/avfw02bmijae053/Screenshot%202020-02-06%2012.55.28.png?dl=0

Of time and changes, we are in the middle of so much right now. Trying to find the path forward, searching for a way. So many conversations, looking for the balanced path. Listening…
The universe feels out of balance here and somehow, somehow, we must find a way back. For all of us. For the world.

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  divided moon

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  night moon

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  mokume moon

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  arashi indigo moon

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  tattered moon

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  double moon

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  passing through

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  madder moon

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  dappled moon

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  floating moon

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  wondering moon

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  it’s an old moon. we all become old moons eventually.

nn

Higher ground…moons forever…

Arashi Shibori Workshop announcement

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For the first time I am offering an in-studio workshop on pleated silk shibori (known as arashi shibori). This type of workshop requires space and equipment that is not feasible to provide at most of the workshop locations where I generally teach.
In order to provide a successful outcome for all participants, the workshops will be limited to 4 people on two separate dates- February 1-2 and February 15-16.

Please see listing and sign up details here.

As most long time followers of this blog know, but which I shall repeat for more current readers, I started exploring shibori in 2006 after taking a one year sabbatical upon closing my porcelain studio of over 30 years. I was looking for something new. After becoming fascinated and intrigued with shibori from Japanese textile samples I had began to collect over time at quilt shows, I came across Karren Brito’s blog and her book Shibori-Creating Color and Texture on Silk. I was in love with the pleated texture that could be created. Using her book as a guide to learn how to dye silk using acid dyes and to also learn about discharge dyeing, I set about seeing what I could create. Her blog was a wealth of information. It still is, even though she has moved to Mexico and has taken up weaving there. At one point (not exactly sure when) she moved her original blog Entwinements over to a new site but lost all the original photos in the older posts. This is a real shame, but for anyone who has moved a blog from one of the original and older blog sites you can understand the pain and difficulty in doing so. It is still quite worth reading through as there is so much useful information-just missing all her fabulous photos. Karren was a chemist by trade and as such was able to apply that important information and detail to her dyework-detail and persistence that she is now applying to weaving. She is amazing!

I’ll tell a funny story about one of my communications with Karren many years ago. I submitted many comments on her blog over the years regarding her posts and asking (probably sometimes annoying !) questions. I tried not to be a stalker! I went to see her work once at a show she was doing in LA and was able to meet her. I had occasion to speak with her on the phone a couple of times and was excited to share with her the concept of my shibori ribbon when I first came up with the idea. Being the sort of direct type of person I came to know her to be (I really liked that about her!) she asked me how did I think I would ever sell it and who would the customer be(very good questions btw!)? I explained to her my plan (sample sending, making samples with it, exhibiting at textile trade shows, etc.) she directly told me it wouldn’t work. I was appreciative of her opinion but was not at all daunted by it. In fact, quite the opposite! It only made me MORE determined to make it work. So, not only did she teach me so much about shibori and dyeing, she inspired my persistence and determination to make the shibori ribbon a success! I thank her very much for this!
It’s just a reminder that there are so many different perspectives out there to take into consideration. She was operating and marketing her work in a much different way than I did. I was always impressed by her photo shoots! I recommend her book as a “must have” for any serious silk shibori dyers. It is currently out of print but many used copies are available.

So, how about a little bit on the history of arashi shibori? Arashi shibori is a technique where cloth is wound around a pole in a diagonal way with a fine thread wound at intervals along the pole and over the cloth before scrunching the cloth and dyeing it. Many variations and experimentations have been done to expand on this original idea.
Pole wrapping shibori (as we call it here) was introduced in Japan much later than other forms. Early shibori and dye techniques began around the 8th century in Japan. Shibori that we recognize today began much later (in the 1600’s along the Tokaido) and in the mid 1800’s various devices were being made and used to increase production and thereby lower the time and cost of many of the time-honored but time-heavy methods used to produce the beautiful cloth. Arashi was invented by Kanezo Suzuki in 1880 and Yoshiko Wada has a great history of the technique here. I wrote this little post back in 2006 when just starting out on my shibori adventure.

My goal for the workshop is to present arashi shibori as I practice it and get participants to wonder how they might apply the techniques in their own ways, to their own work. The critique session on day two is meant to survey the pieces that were made and allow everyone to benefit from all the various results. I’m also open to an AMA portion if participants have questions on which my experience as an independent working craftsperson of over 40 years might be able to some shed light.

There are other things I will address as the days grow longer and we round the corner into another year, but I want to get this post completed as I started this a week ago and was waylaid by time spent with my now 7 month old grandson and his dad who was recovering from some necessary surgery and mom was out of town on business. It was time well spent, dad is recovering, and mom is back in town! Those who were on the silk study tour to Japan will remember he was born while we were in Kyoto in May! Was it really 7 months ago???

So, enjoy more light, let it shine on all of us and may your holidays be peaceful shared with family and friends.

sent to me by Michelle in NYC- beautiful…

a quickie announcement…

I’vee had a couple requests to set up a local silk shibori flower making class, so I did!
There are only 4 spots open so if you are interested, please check the shop listing here.

All materials are included in this small group class.

assorted silk pleated flowers

florals

poinsettias

I was going to post this on FB yesterday as a new event but there was a worldwide FB outage affecting postings,comments etc.  Maybe that isn’t a bad thing?

And while I am at it, I will remind you of the upcoming April 6-7 Shibori and Indigo workshop at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles (or as it is sometimes known as- Japangeles).  Signups are through the museum at above link.

The rain here has gone away for at least the next couple of weeks and I was able to replace the shade structure over the dye space outside. There is a new squirrel in town (or even possibly Squirrelly Gurl herself as they can live up to 8 years or so). She is so friendly to me and personality wise, much like the OG Squirrelly Gurl. I can’t know for sure but am enjoying her daily visits. Buddy the dog enjoys watching her and feeding time but the new cat-Kuro chan is trying to chase her when she can!  SG is too fast for Kuro-thankfully and outsmarts him every time.

kuro

is it?

lookin’ bushy

risu chan- Onakagasuita!

I did channel a little bit of Ume san last week and made this bag from the piece of sashiko laced boro from the last blog post. Adding it to the shop now.

Cross shoulder bag, made entirely from used/recycled and vintage materials outside of the thread and the shoulder strap. One outside pocket on back side, one inside. Completely lined with vintage kasuri kimono silk.
Front fabric covered button closure with indigo twined wrap-around cording. Outside pocket fits large mobile phone while an ipad can fit inside.

Link to shop

 

Plus the Silk Study Tour to Japan is in high gear. Everyone is getting ready for this great adventure.  I’m receiving the bio pages for the booklet I make to hand out to our hosts so they can learn more about us.  It’s always interesting to them!  We still have 2 spots open for anyone wanting to make last minute plans to join our textile adventure.  Link here. 
In the absence of the Amuse Boro Museum (which closes this month) we are making plans to visit the Mingei Folk Museum instead.  It just so happens that they are having a special exhibit of the work of Motohiko Katano, known for his adventurous and creative shibori patterns.  I have never seen his work in person so I am quite excited about this.  My first visit to this museum was with vintage textile dealer Carola Pfau’s husband Makoto (now passed), who also treated me that day to several of his favorite temple sales.  Boy did we have a good time! Great memories…
We will also be visiting the Ichiku Kubota Museum as well as the Kyoto Shibori Museum so participants will have the opportunity to study some of the best shibori in the world!

Time to go and dye the rest of the indigo thread for this weekend’s workshop!
mata ne!

If a picture is worth a thousand words…

Thought I’d do a little (or maybe not so little) post on whats been going on behind the scenes here lately.  Lot’s of various things- like workshops, studio work, a little flu (all gone now!), RAIN!, and working on the Silk Study Tour to Japan for 2019.

I received the Newsletter from the Fresno FiberArts Guild where I gave a workshop recently. What a great guild-very energized and involved in the community. It was wonderful to see the many resources  and skills available within the membership.  Plus, they were a delightful group to work with!

In the studio, ribbon making continues…

as well as more playing around with silk organza…

The flu came and went -thankfully, not too bad. Hoping the same for you out there! So many have had it in one form or another.
We did get rain this month-so big YAY on that!  Rain barrels full and the garden is refreshed. Snowpack increasing…
There are a number of milkweed plants out back with caterpillars on them but one in particular has about 15 large caterpillars about ready to form crysalis’. I never get tired of watching them.

All the other critters here are well…

And finally, I sent out the information packs, itinerary, and registration forms for the upcoming Silk Study Tour to Japan 2019 last week to those early birds who had signed up via the Constant Contact newsletter. Already 1/3 of the spots are filled.  If you need info, you can access the newsletter here. Here are some highlights from last year:

Amuse Boro Museum

silk,silkworms

Glennis and Fumiko

dyers view

Very large loom

Fumiko san

on the bus

kimono and textile shop

Hasegawa san-katazome

explaining katazome

kimono dressup!

silkworm cocooning trays

antique silk reelers

Nubue san demonstrates

4th instar silkworms

silk variety

at the temple sale

shibori panel-folk tales

new age shibori

shibori museum sample

delicious!

Kinkakuji

early morning sunrise Fujisan

delicious!

Kubota Museum gate

another lucky Fujisan view

Goodby from Satou san

inside the indigo studio

delicious!

Lunch with Fumiko san

Kamakura Daibutsu view

Next post I will list upcoming workshops both at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles and my November workshops at the Houston Quilt Festival.

Hope you are well and wondering daily!

 

 

the in-betweens

Here we enjoy some cooler than usual weather this week. That and some great clouds and broken sunlight.  I say that since we usually have all sun all day until June when in a good year we along the coast are protected by what is known as “June Gloom”(somewhat a misnomer unless you want to go to the beach). This offers us some coastal fog and cloud cover in the mornings until the sun comes out to heat us up until sunset.

This weather is my favorite weather of the year-where it is temperate even inside my garage studio where it can easily reach over 100 degrees on many days.  Still one must shibori on!

The big distraction (my enjoyment on mini-breaks I take throughout the day) is a wander through the yard to notice.  So many things in bloom, creatures crawling, wings fluttering, birds in song. I wonder.

and from a distance…
In between.  That’s where real things happen. Where one can slow time down a bit and wonder. Test out some new thoughts and answer some questions. In between making shibori ribbon for orders I did some more wondering about the silk shibori ribbon tailings with beads, some thread and a needle.

Let me be the first to say I am not a beader. I dabble.  Through my shibori ribbon I have come to know and really appreciate the artistry and craft of beading.  I have enjoyed dabbling in the in-betweens.  I am too hands-on to really follow instructions and patterns in the several beading books I have acquired.  I’d really rather enjoy just exploring an idea until something credible happens.  One day I’ll take a workshop and learn some basic beading techniques. Until then…
more shibori on silk.

“silk tailing” particularly alluring and craving some beads i think…

I’ll keep dabbling.
Wondering about the persimmons that are self thinning as you can see by the photo earlier, I saved the tiny fallen kakis to see if I could extract and ferment them to gain some color.  Next step will be the food processor and some straining. Fall seems a long way off from here.

I love what Deb is doing here with her indigo.  My vat has been drained and added to the compost.  A new one will be started soon.  I am devising a method for keeping out the flies.  Hopefully…

In Silk Study Tour to Japan news- we are 3/4 of the way there with the minimum number of participants.  Still room for more if you are interested.  I’m looking forward to getting this part settled earlier than usual this time.  Hirata san sent me some fun photos and we “facetimed” with an interesting vendor at the Kitano Tenmangu flea market in Kyoto which we will visit next year (me here and Hirata san on the street in Kyoto- gotta love it!).  Hopefully the next blog post will detail that visit.

 

patched up and mending

I figure at this point it will be easier to do a blog post than respond to folks individually regarding the goings on here the past couple of weeks.

Turned out that in a follow-up xray for the pneumonia that plagued me from Yosemite through Houston something odd was spotted on one of my ribs that required a follow up CT.  This revealed that yes, indeed, something odd was growing on one of the ribs.  Chances were a tumor and being unable to needle biopsy it, removal was the best course of action.  So a couple of nights in the hospital between Christmas and NY.  All went well and final results should be back this week.  Even though the surgeon doesn’t seem like a betting sort of fellow he actually told me that “99% chance” is that it is benign.  I’m holding out that NY bottle of champagne for that final confirmation.

A couple of things.  It hurts! They did some sort of surgical nerve block thingy which permanently cuts a section of nerves to reduce pain. Thankful for that!   I guess without it I might just drive someone crazy (r). I don’t react well to strong painkillers (nausea) so have some codine with tylenol that takes the edge off.  Everyday brings a change.  Today being better than yesterday! I will be fine.  Eventually. I am up and around. I have a couple of friends going through much much tougher crap than this and I know I am incredibly fortunate. I salute their strength and persistence!

We also had a fun day at the ER on Christmas as Amma (Icelandic for Grandma) fell and broke her ankle, cracked her head and ribs. This was a couple days before my hospital visit.  She is all OK -light break, head staple (out now) and ribs painful but improving.  Main issue is she can’t go home. She lives in a 2nd floor apartment so she is here for the next 6 weeks for sure.

Boy, when things change, they change!! The boys have cycled in and out to help but Phil is here full time to do the heavy lifting. I am indeed lucky as he is patient and a good caretaker-sometimes bossy but i’m told i’m difficult (imagine that!). So for those asking about their orders, things are a little slower than usual.  But still moving along.  After all, hospital bills must be paid along with the usual bunch.
So, moving on…
The dogs and cats have never been so happy to have so many lounging around! Bella likes nursery rhymes with kittens in clothes- a gift from meagan from my childhood kitten fetish-revisiting…

and there has been time for me to enjoy Donna’s book-

Fashion history from the Kyoto Costume Museum collection

I even pulled out one of my favorite collected pieces to look at-I don’t think I’v shared it here (at least not in many many years). this is the inside of a silk velvet cape. special kasuri silk weaving with supplemental metallic threads. it’s a marvelous thing.  every now and then i just pull it out to gape at its glory and finger its textures.

Then one day I played with more of the gridded fusible that Carmen Geddes sampled me. I used it for a beaded ribbon embroidery piece I’m still working on but wondered how it might work to tame the ribbon into a more traditional use.  Maggie was always after me to do something like this.  Carmen was kind enough to also send me her booklet which featured a photo on the back of her and her 9 sisters.  I realized why her business is called TenSisters.  Quite the sweet photo! Wow, imagine ten sisters!  In grabbing that link I just read that there were also 7 brothers!!  Oh my! I’m looking forward to meeting her this coming year at Houston where she will be applying her skills to silk in the Silk Experience classroom.

nine patch-

silver gold- for some reason I had never done this combo until one of the Italian designers requested it.  I can see how they will enjoy working with this colorway in their jewelry

and because I always enjoy the ghost colors that come up in the discharge process of certain base colors.  they are those colors that appear halfway up the pleat and don’t get drowned out by the overdye.  not all colors have this aspect.
and one more…gore-tex!  in place of that pesky rib I now have some medical Gore-Tex patching me together. kinda cool stuff. inert in the body -like silk.  I have really integrated textiles into my life!

By Abrev improved picture impression (Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

I have to add a couple more stories here. Not too long ago I received a thank you email from a gal who had been buying scrap bags pretty regularly. She wrote to say that she wanted to thank me for the ribbon and the dragonfly pattern as she was able to retire a size-able medical bill by making and selling the shibori ribbon dragonfly pins.  she also worked up a butterfly design as well and both had contributed to freeing herself from this burden and she was doing well.  How great is that?

Then, the afternoon of my surgery I was resting in my room and received a wonderful new years note from Wendy with a child’s thank you for some of my pieces that are used in her therapy work.  She told of coming to know the color blue even though she can’t see it and the way she maps life through the textiles. Who is healing who here?

 

 

pathfinder

the conventional path…

the uncharted path…

which one are you on?
(see you there!)

But is it Art?

Today, I made Art. A real rarity for me. Usually, I just make stuff people like.

Usually I say I am Art’s Apprentice and Color’s Mistress.  But today I feel like I am Art’s Accomplice and Color’s Whore.
I call my piece :
“Pandora’s Box”  (in a Wide Mouth Jar)
silk, glass, metal

“Pandora’s Box” (in a Wide Mouth Jar)

My piece has all the ambiguity necessary for Art. All the social and political interpretive meaning Art has come to be known for these days.
*Added bonus*- it’s pretty and colorful. Yay!