The temps spiked again, so it was good to be outdoors. It turned out to be very grey and blustery, signaling a front moving in, I suppose.
The Habotai scarves, a custom order catch the spirit of the day. The wind caught them and would have sent them sailing if I hadn’t used clothespins on the line.
I’m not quite sure the color is realistic, silk is so reflective, as is hand-dipped indigo. There’s nothing quite like it.
When the temperatures are more spring than winter and a customer order calls, well then, it’s back to the blues.
If the sun had come out, it would have been near perfect. The vat was a bit finicky and it may have been simply that it really is not the season. It worked though. I’ll have to make adjustments in the studio so that I can finish the job. Temps are due to drop and rain is also in the forecast. That will make a difference.
Some affirming news: there are only a few jeans left at Barney’s (that is to say, “those” jeans). I was pleased to hear it, needless to say.
Come to think of it, I know of a ‘certain’ Etsy shop that has some pretty nifty little scarves that have been lovingly hand-dipped in indigo. Shipping is free during the holiday season (now, there’s a wee hint!).
We’ll see how all of this works out. Originally the scarf was pole wrapped (arashi) and dyed in indigo. I’ve had it around for a while, so I thought to change things by doing some itajime (board clamping). I liked some of the results, not all, so decided after seeing some of Harada’s work to push it even further.
The image shows mokume over the arashi. Actually, some areas will be in boushi (capping) as well. I’ll dye it over the weekend in Beaufort and I’ll document more of the results as I go along.
Otherwise, I’ve spent the day packing up off and on. I still can’t decide what to take, apart from the necessities. I don’t want to over do it, as I have a small car and there are 2 of us doing this together. How much is too much?
It’s a small holiday crafts festival that takes place every year. I’ve been fortunate to be a part of it for more that several years now. It’s coming up this weekend and am looking forward to it.
曇りのち雨 – kumori nochi ame – clouds to rain is basically the upcoming forecast. I’ve been especially looking for clouds, since it’s so much easier to photograph things then. That seems to be the ideal for my situation. I tend to work outdoors for these things and this morning’s short work with the camera worked well enough.
Tomorrow it’ll rain, so that means mostly indoor work – whatever that will be.
A little tidbit from my readings on indigo:
When clothes, or parts of apparel, were to be dyed, two things were required of the dye to be used: it had to be able to be absorbed by the material in question; and secondly, it had to be absolutely fast. In many a civilization blue from an indigo-producing plant was the only dye that met these requirements. – - Gosta Sandbberg
Sunday afternoon I went back to Meredith to see the workshop results. By now they’ve been graded, I’m sure each received an A. Some were also selected to be in an upcoming spring exhibit on resist.
花火・Hanabi or fireworks is what came to mind when I saw the resulting red. My son also made a similar remark. These things come to mind in this steamy heat. It is 祭り・matsuri (festival) season. I didn’t have that imagery in mind originally, but it works in several contexts I think and I’ll bear it in mind later this summer.
Actually, I was exploring my ability to produce a readable image on silk through stitch. I had attempted a something similar earlier and was frustrated and disappointed with the results. So, again, this time, it was an experiment and I knew it might fail (for so many reasons). I also wanted to work with other colors along with indigo. So, it turned into a closer look at working with silk as well as color and dye theory. The results gave me much more information than I expected and so many things to ponder. So, probably more “studies” are in the offing.
The photo was sent recently by the art instructor. The exhibit actually took place in February. We had little time to select the items for show and now that it has been several months, it’s good to see again, in a different context (not on the clothesline) how they look.
I like the arrangement – the way the handkerchiefs are hung between the scarves. I don’t know how I would have done it, and I like this. I also think the students learned their lessons well (understatement – we had a good time!).
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