Inch by inch

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Originally uploaded by SOFennell

I need to research that little phrase. It keeps “visiting” from time to time. It works well though in a lot of different contexts: the garden and then the textile work.

This hasn’t progressed as quickly as I’d hoped this week, but I’m finding little things that need to be done…little considerations that I hope will make a difference.

I’m also learning simply by trial and error why things need to be done in a particular way (some things, not all). Sometimes a book can’t tell you, you just have to experience it, make the “mistakes” and then work with it. That’s the deal anyway.

It’s very satisfying work though and love working with the layers, needle and thread and feeling the textures as I work. It’s a loving challenge.

I think that’s the deal here.  I love the color, the imagery, the patterns, the feel of the linen under my fingers.  I also love the challenge of the work – threading the needle, pushing it through the layers of the quilt, then pulling the thread (hand dyed thread, by the way) and seeing the form it creates.  It has to work.

Blues & Shibori

All these blues….and shibori to boot.  It’s what makes the pattern and the statement.

Shibori & Indigo – Pattern Observer

It’s about pattern – Surface Design and so much more.

Baku II

Baku II

Originally uploaded by SOFennell

This is the second in a growing series of explorations in Baku imagery. I suppose it could expand into a general Yokai series. I’m not sure. It would definitely work.

Baku are complicated creatures as they are composites of several animals, the lion, elephant, rhinoceros and ox. I think that’s it.

Although from the many different images I’ve seen you’d never really know. I often think my dogs are rather “baku-ish.” They often provide me with inspiration.

As I said earlier, “complicated” – the imagery, the form itself and the question of approach is that way. A second go ’round with this same image with a different approach is tempting.

I have a third sketch of one, but not sure I’ll use it. While I need to move on to the next, it may be a while before it’s completed – summer perhaps. There are other projects being worked on simultaneously and it just takes time. I have to be patient.

pattern practice

pattern practiceOriginally uploaded by SOFennell

Sometimes I get stuck, which is where I’ve been on one small piece. I started it,  put it down thinking the progress I’d made would leave adequate clues. It didn’t. Besides, it’s a pattern I struggle with. My brain doesn’t want to do it.

Sometimes I can work through it and at others, it completely baffles me. That’s what happened this week.

In the end, I did some experimenting and much needed practice. The piece on the right is the “authentic” pattern that challenges. It seems to work. The one on the left is simply one I wondered about and thought it could be a shortcut.  It has possibilities I think, but obviously the one on the right is the stronger of the two.

On this fabric, muslin, the pattern just didn’t take that well. Something didn’t quite work (binding not tight enough?) but I can see some similarities and differences in the patterns. It’s enough to keep me interested, asking further questions and continuing with the practice.

Half moons?

Half moons?

Originally uploaded by SOFennell

Well…I’m not really sure how to name this one. It’s a roughly 14 x 72 inch silk scarf in shibori and hand-dipped in indgo (in my studio).

It was made it specifically for the silent auction being held at Broughton HS (here in Raleigh) tonight. It’s for Stop Hunger Now and it takes place during their International Festival which takes place every year in the spring.

It’s a fantastic festival celebrating internationalism and the creativity and talents of the students who attend there. In my years of attendance, as a teacher, I was never disappointed. In fact, I was usually amazed at the performances and the generosity of the community. I hope it will be the same tonight.

swatches

swatches

Originally uploaded by SOFennell

The sun did not come out to play today – disappointing. Still, I was able to reach the few goals I was working toward – to get at least half the run (pants) complete (which I did) and the other half ready for completion tomorrow.

I also took small breaks and unbound the small swatches I stitched up over the weekend and earlier in the week. These are lighter fabrics than my usual and I wondered how they would take stitching – some stitches. Then there was the element of the dyeing.

There are still some questions and further stitching. These pieces have given me some of the information I needed – not unhappy with the results!

Tomorrow: back to the pants, but progress is good and I’ll work quickly.

Baku

First BakuOriginally uploaded by SOFennell

Baku have been on my mind for years as a motif. They are one of many kinds of yokai (mythical creatures) that lurk, cause mischief, are benign or protective.

Japanese lore is full of all kinds that help to explain the mysterious. Although, I think it makes it even more so with a bit of an edge.

 Last year I intended to start a series around Baku and as usual time got away.  I have a postcard with an image that seems to speak to me every time I look at it.   I had in mind to make them as gifts for family – at least the first few.   So they are finally, slowly emerging.  We’ll see what happens.

This is the first one. I’ve used a variety of stitches here – traditional shibori, trying to find a way to express this creature’s characteristics. As he is the first, he is very much like the postcard image.  I’ve decided that I won’t repeat the same motif over and over.  That doesn’t mean I won’t come back to it though.  He also covers a pillowcase, to guard the sleeper, as he is a nightmare eater.

“Tatewaku”

Tatewaku in shibori and indigo on linen.

More often than not, I seem to return to traditional patterns. There’s much to be learned  there in the seeming simplicity.  There is also another aspect, the terminology – what it means, the stories behind the words.

Recently, because I was working on a small tatewaku patterned furoshiki I looked up the term in Yoshiko Wada’s Shibori where it is defined as “undulating lines.”

The kanji isn’t in the text,  so on a search using「たてわく] found「立枠」 in the context of kimono patterning ( illustrated).

Looking more closely, 「立て」(tate) means “to stand” or “rise” and 「枠」(waku) means “frame, framework, spindle, spool” and “bounding-box” (Jim Breen).  Mary Parker, in her book, Sashiko, says that it’s called “rising-steam” and that it dates back to at least to the Heian period. By the Edo (Tokugawa) period it was used as a framework for floral and circular patterns in textile work.

In other searches, other words and expressions rose to the surface:

のたり　のたり(notari notari)- an expression meaning gently swelling and rolling.

はせん・波線 ・hasen is a wavy line.

なみがた(namigata) and はけい（hakei）波形 define as a wavy form or rippling shape.

Then “serpentine” came to mind (recalling the serpentine wall on Cincinnati’s riverfront) -

えんえん(en en) which refers to the feeling of meandering, winding, and zigzagging….

Finally, I encountered へびのよう「蛇の様」・hebi no you – like a snake.  This of course, has no relation to tatewaku, or does it?  It was fun to meander through those definitions.

I am also reminded that it is the Year of the Snake – 蛇年！

Stitching, actually…

Small furoshiki

Originally uploaded by SOFennell

I was expecting a day with more sun, more light, less chill, less damp. The weather hasn’t been unwelcome, just unexpected. I was planning to do some much needed yard work, it’ll have to wait. So, instead, I’m catching up on projects that have somehow slipped away in the last month.

In the fall I dyed some cloth intended for furoshiki and am finally finishing the edges of each piece by hand. In the past, I resorted to the machine, but recently I’m finding that hand stitching is far more satisfying.

Aesthetically, I think it looks better and seems to “match” the other hand crafted aspects of the cloth. I also don’t feel any need to speed through these small projects. It’s fine to slow it down a bit and fits with the day and weather.

“Uma no Ha”

“Uma no Ha” / Horse’s TeethOriginally uploaded by SOFennell

Between Charleston and Christmas, somehow, I managed to work up 6 scarves for my brother – a special order. I was free to do what I pleased – always fun.

This particular pattern had been calling to me to work up on a scarf (even though I’d worked it up on a piece of cotton earlier). The soft bamboo seemed a good choice and I like the results.

Then, his family got a close look and a couple more requests came in, so this weekend I worked them up and finished today. Silk was asked for this time in the same pattern and the results came back a little differently. It’s not surprising and I did wonder.    The stitching is more “specific” in the second scarf – just a different result.