stepping back a bit

on mother’s dayOriginally uploaded by SOFennell

I diverted just a bit from the rabbit quilt last week to work on a small Mothers Day gift for my mom. I’d meant to work on a piece with the image of my great-grandmother for longer than I’d like to admit. Sometimes it takes years….

I thought I didn’t know what I was going to do with the image, when in fact, I really did. I’ve probably known that for some time too, just hadn’t pulled all of the pieces together.

While the central piece is a transfer image, the rest of the fabrics are hand dyed. The top layer is linen in kakishibu and so is the cotton thread I used to quilt it together. The back layer (flannel in the middle) is tea dyed muslin.

It’s simple, but a helpful exercise in furthering my understanding of quilting, – more to it than meets the eye. I know how I could have better approached the indigo rabbit piece and will have to make some “adjustments.” In spite of that though, it’s turning out the way I’d hoped.

At any rate those “lessons” aren’t in either of these pieces, but they’ll be useful  later.  It didn’t take long to complete this piece and mailed it in time for “the” day and I just learned today that she likes it.

Inch by inch

2820

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.

spring challenges

Last week my days were split between the garden and work on a small quilted piece for the wall.  I’m expanding my very small dyer’s garden and hoping to gain some needed experience in quilting.

I opened up space for more indigo, a bit of woad, safflower, madder and some milkweed and planted the seeds. It’s pure experiment,  for the experience and fun of being able to do it.  Finding space where the sun gives enough of what is needed is a challenge in my fairly shaded yard.  I have found a few forgiving spots though and hope to find a few more in the coming days.

 Quilting is a different approach for me.  I have always loved quilts, but have never really explored the craft.  However in working with some of my pieces  I’ve been thinking for some time that I needed to approach some things differently.  A characteristic of cloth is that it stretches, and my hope in trying this avenue, at least on this piece there might be less of that or at least the treatment would offer more stability or possibilities.  It’s another exploration.  I have to try it.

 I found in consulting with some of my expert quilting friends yesterday that I needed to make some adjustments on this rabbit piece, and today, decided that if it was going to be done “properly” I needed to take it apart and redo (which I did).  A note here – “properly” doesn’t necessarily mean traditionally, but a form that will give the piece the strength and stability it needs (it also needs to read well). At this point, I think it’s ready for quilting, at least I think I can begin the process.  It’s another challenge in the weeks ahead.

 

 

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.

Blue is returning?

Indigo Blue

You, dear reader, know already how captivated I am by the many variations exhibited in this color.  It doesn’t need to be said.

So, it was a surprise to find this article in the News and Observer’s Home & Garden section this morning.  It eased the beginning to a pouring down rain day and offered some refreshing ways to think about the color.

I like words like “sapphire, navy, inky, midnight, Monaco, sky, dusk” and “Zen” – they work.  I’m sure we could conjure up a few more.

It seems there is no end actually, but that could be said about any color.  Blue, indigo blue, though is one of those universals, always with us day in and day out.  All you have to do is step outside and look up.  That’s just the beginning.

a bit more about 赤・”aka”/red

It’s true, red has been on my mind. That would make sense, as I’m immersed in an almost opposite color on the color wheel most of the time. I think it gives a little “relief” or reprieve from that visual experience. I don’t think it’s just that, though.

I have some red scarves needing attention and I took them out of the closet recently to simply look at them and see if they might speak to me in some way. That got things started. It also came to mind in connection with Setsubun which occurred on Feb. 2. I associate red with that festivity and there are more upcoming, western and non-western, with that association. So, it isn’t really so surprising.

At any rate, there has been a bit of “comment” on the color lately it seems, so I did a little ‘digging’ from a different perspective and took a few notes. Here are a few tidbits I came across:

Some definitions, different contexts – notice two different kanji for red -

1. 赤・あか・aka (n.) – red /赤い・akai (adj.)

2. 紅色・こうしょく (kōshoku); べにいろ (beni iro)(n) red (color);  beni is safflower red.

3. 紅白 ・こうはく・kōhaku (n,adj-no) (1) red and white; colors for festive or auspicious occasions – these combinations turn up in many different contexts.

4. 赤地 ・あかじ・akaji (n) red cloth; red background

A few phrases & proverbs (kotowaza):

1.青白い月なら雨になり、赤い月なら風が吹き、白い月だと雨も雪も降らない。

Aojiroi tsuki nara ame ni nari, akai tsuki nara kaze ga fuki, shiroi tsuki dato ame mo yuki mo

furanai.

A pale moon rains,  a red moon blows, while white moon neither rains or snows.

2. 赤毛の人・あかげのひと・Akage no hito /person with red hair

3. Tシャツを赤く染める・Tshatsu o akaku someru. /Dye a T-shirt red.

4. 赤富士 ・あかふじ・aka fuji/(n) red Fuji -

when Mt Fuji appears red due to the sun’s rays in the early morning or in late summer to early autumn

thinking about red

Red, scarlet, vermillion, crimson…it’s been on my mind.
Then along comes this and it’s all about red:

How timely! It’s TAFA’s 3rd year anniversary, so Happy Birthday, TAFA!

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.

a winter’s day in the studio

Winter seems to want to spend time with us this year.  The last few days have been chilly, but today the air has had a touch of bitterness with wind.  It has added challenges to some surprising and serendipitous custom work that was delivered to the dye studio on Tuesday morning.

It has been cold outside, but in the studio, even though it’s unheated, in the warmth of the sun, it’s just fine.  Layering up in warm clothes, hat and scarves, hands in warm indigo – I’m good!

Last night though, in an attempt to keep work inside, huge puddles formed on the floor in spite of layering plastic and blanketing drop cloths.  I had no idea the pieces would drip so much.

So today I resorted to the outdoor clothesline again despite the temps.  It hasn’t been so bad.  At least the drips are outside and later the pieces will continue drying in the studio.  Tomorrow we may be experiencing more of ‘that’ precipitation.  Winter doesn’t last long here, so as far as I’m concerned, it’s welcome.

I’m also including a link with a video from NHK about the aizome (indigo dyeing) process.  It’s in Japanese, but I think the information will be clear enough. Tanoshinde! Enjoy!

“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！