here is my handle, here is my spout...

i'm on a bit of a kick. after working out the kinks in the first knitted tea cozy, i decided to finesse the idea and created two more. both with a crocheted bottom and open top to slip the teapot into spout first. also, an excuse to use pom poms in something other than a hat.

i've had this super metallic looking teapot for awhile now. there's never been any tea in it, as it just always seemed like a showpiece, rather than a working teapot. it picks up the blues in the pom pom and is accented by the ribbon.

the other one is in yellow hues, and for a larger teapot. both were knit from an alpaca/wool blend bulky yarn and are super soft and squishy.

a stitch in time saves nine

i've begun to notice some nesting tendencies which have developed since i started living on my own; an increased awareness of kitchenware, dishes in particular, the idea of having a tray to arrange multiple dishes dividing up a meal and to bring pizzaz to eating alone, accessorizing said dishes with coasters, trivets and linens.

thus far, i've sewn a coaster for my teapot, as well as one for my teamug, sewn a patchwork trivet to tie together the colors of my teamug with my japanese blue and white pottery, and am currently considering my options with place mats. with the tray preoccupation, i've set my eyes on a linen rectangular one from fog linen work; it would go lovely with the linen bits i worked into the trivet.

without the aid of ones trusty sewing machine, hand sewing becomes the norm. it's meditative in it's way, similar to spinning, and knitting a simple pattern. i see the need for my sewing skills to become more refined, but at the same time i am reluctant to try for machine precision.

some of the fabric used in this piece i've been saving for awhile. the large indigo swatch and the variegated swatch were ones i hand dyed using natural dyestuff. the indigo one is a bit funny (and personal) for me because i had decided to experiment with an old fashioned and rudimentary way of making an indigo fermentation vat, and this along with the indigo coaster were some of the results (they definitely have not a drop of scent left from their making). some of the other fabrics were sitting in my hoard, waiting for their moment, and of course, i was able to use my favorite bits of linen which have grown smaller and smaller with every project. the loop to hang it was some recycled jean fluff which jean sent me, spun and plied with blue cotton, then crocheted into a chain. on the backside is some shibori i made at a fiber studio open house.

spin, spin, spin

yay! i completed my first ravelry 'tour de fleece' a couple of hours ago. all in all, i was able to spin a sampling of dyed bombyx silk brick, 25 grams of treenway silks dyed tussah roving, 25 grams of bombyx silk noil, 25 grams of treenway silks tussah noil, and a half sheet of mulberry paper. the mulberry paper connects with the silk theme, as silkworms eat mulberry leaves.

the interesting thing about these types of silk (the exception being the bombyx brick) is that as a single they are somewhat course feeling, but once plied, become soft and light. as well, the bombyx noils contrast more when blending with carders than the tussah, which is a finer noil.

as if a steady stream of spinning for the last 23 days wasn't enough, i've started carding a bombyx silk noil and green colorgrown peruvian cotton batt to spin this week. striking while the irons hot, and all that.

just finding a cool spot

there are many frogs who live around the outside of the house during the summer. sometimes they come in, and sometimes they just stay between the doors, neither coming or going. this guy was just hanging out on the storm door when i came home from work. i love the iridescent strips and the neon green glow of its skin. this type is a little less vocal than the green and yellow tree frogs, and much larger.

gouache is definitely not gauche

way back in '00 i took a course about color; as part of the itinerary we had to compile a book from our notes and hand paint samples. scale forward to yesterday, while browsing my bookshelf i happened to open it, found i hadn't quite finished it, and decided to haul out the gouache paints.

there's something very fun about the flat hues gouache gives you; about how it goes down dark and as it dries the intensity lightens. the really neat thing is that it behaves like watercolor, but the opacity can be layered like acrylics. i hadn't painted with them for years, something about an instructor telling me that i needed to stay away from them unless i could learn to relax a bit in my painting style. sad to say, but i put them away after that.

as i already had my gouache paint out, i decided to paint the label of a paper bag. it was just a red stamp, kind of calling out to be painted, really. like the outlines in a coloring book. i think i shall paint more things with my brush and my gouache.

miniatures outside the dollhouse

creating small container gardens is quite fun and very rewarding. you can add pizazz with little details and give birth to miniature worlds. in this case, washi tape bunting and twig poles.

it's a "welcome to your new space" gift for our local yarn shop owner. she's opening a new shop, with a new location which gets great light due to the wall of glass at the entrance. succulents love light, and every space needs something living to bring good karma.

i'm trying to use my washi tape more often, now that it's easier to access in its' drawer. it was very quick and painless to make the bunting; a little cutting, pressing, tying, et voila!

green and growing things

i love strawberry season. it's been less than perfect weather for growing, but freshly picked strawberries which are ripened on the stem beat any store bought ones, regardless of size. we took a little trip to the coastal gardens and bamboo farm for a plant sale, and dad did some strawberry picking while we browsed among the plants.

there were some interesting plants at the sale, as well as the bamboo they grow there. i quite liked the black bamboo, and scavenged a piece that lay on the ground. though not all plants in the greenhouse were actually for sale, as the more interesting specimens were those of the students.

we picked up some herbs, common thyme and purple basil. the chives, lavender, oregano, and mint of last year survived the temperate winter. herbs and orchids are about the only green things i can grow with any success, though dreams of a vast and colorful potted garden flit through my days.

matcha baking

doing some matcha baking: marbled cake from this neat blog. it was tasty, but i think next time i'll substitute ground flax for one egg to obtain a moister cake. i didn't have a small enough cake pan, so i used a parchment lined bread pan (which was too big, still). perhaps i should pick up smaller bakeware next time i come across it. i always find them adorable, but never think i'll have a reason to use them.

green softness

a while back i purchased some color grown cotton; deep green, rich cinnamon chocolate, and moka chocolate. it is truly a joy to spin, very lofty, amazingly soft, and spins chunky easily. i spun up the green on my drop spindle, and reserved a tiny amount to compare with the finished version. when you're done plying color grown cotton you need to boil it a little bit with a pinch of baking soda to develop the deeper color. i added the larger skein to boiling water, and let it simmer for 40 minutes or so; the color develops quickly, but the added time allows the water to soak all the way through and to set the twist. the smaller skein shows the color as it is plucked from the plant, a pea soup green with yellow undertones. on the left is the color after the introduction of heat and alkaline, a blue tinged deep green. i quite like them both. i haven't tried boiling in a slightly acid bath to see if the yellow tones stay, or fulling in a cold bath. i'm not sure if it's the heat, the alkaline ph, or both which develop the deeper colors. further info and testing to be done.

i think i'm slowly getting to the point where i want to introduce more color into my spinning, not that earth tones aren't lovely, but at heart i am exceedingly fond of color. the way to do it best is to blend it in, so you have depth and variety of tones and hues. i have hand carders, but no drum carder, and even though i know you can blend on hand carders, it produces smaller amounts at a time, and you need to remember how you laid the colors down so that each bat is similar as possible when wanting a lot of fiber.

being inspired to finally try blending on hand carders the other night, i decided to give it a go, having no access to a drum carder. i think it went well. i wanted some chunky color, so i only carded once. using a base of white alpaca and layering in dyed wool and silk, i created a fiber sandwich; white-color-white. resting on the drop spindle is the first bat of silk, wool, and alpaca, plied with a light grey alpaca. i used the full rainbow of hues, and the soft sheen of silk is subtle but pleasing.

with the second attempt i added just four colors of wool, and some firestar to the alpaca, again plied with the grey alpaca. it's vey soft and lofty with just a touch of sparkle here and there. next time i'll blend the white alpaca and the silk noil first, then add the colors, and card it twice for more heathering.

can-can

best in show sounded better than 1st place, so that's what i went with. i was being inspired by the more daring and colourful of the victorian tastes, as well as guavas. because the eyepatch is worn on a 3-dimensional surface, you can really see the beetle green backing fabric and deeper pink sheer ribbon peeking through from underneath the top layer; it made me think of petticoats and crinoline, which i love. this is one of my favorites.

surrounding oneself

the new workplace needed some artwork for the walls. as one who knows a thing about creating art, i figured i could help out. so, as something bigger than what i normally do would fill the space better, i got a 20" x 20" stretched canvas, some balsa wood strips, and painted something in a turquoise and green color scheme (it is a spa, after all). as an aside, i have to say that the new utrecht store in town is crazy awesome for someone on a budget.

four brushes, a couple of hours, a limited palette, some spatula painting, hammering tiny nails, and this is what happened. i wanted something abstract; focusing on colors, a sense of water, calmness, and thinking a bit of mark rothko didn't hurt things either. i think i like painting in this scale. in the purely abstract method only, though. if it had been figurative and detailed, i would have done a triptych or a series to be hung together. me and detailed large scale are not friends (see miniature dollhouse if you don't agree).

mixing it up

i wrote this awhile ago, but hadn't posted it.

i started my trained art life in illustration, using paint and paper. since graduating, i've slowly leaned towards fibers, and have focused on them in the last few years. every now and then i would take out the paints and canvas, work on a piece, and once complete, put the paints away again.

 the other day i had an inclination to do some needle lace, so i grabbed a scrap of linen, and practiced some lace edging. it was a small piece, and i wasn't really sure what to do with it other than find some way of framing it. riffling around under my bed, i came across two canvases i've had forever. ah, inspiration! i took out the paints again, and have completed two canvas's incorporating my fiber work. i like the texture of fiber, the color of paint, the mixture of flat 2-dimensional and the slightly more dimensional fabric.

is this the beginning? who knows, but it is fun.

yarn finds

it's fantastic when you find habu yarn on sale. i managed to get three balls of a-5 silk, and one of a-64 linen paper, all in a muted yellow green which is so pretty. happy!

lace is fantastic

while glancing through a piecework magazine i came across some needlelace. i'm always entranced by needlelace when i see it; it's really pretty, with delicate webbing, curving arabesques, tiny areas of transparency. venetian rose point lace, italian reticella, 17th/18th century italian lace, coraline, 17th century gros point de venise, point de neige, punto in aria, are all gorgeous examples. i decided to try my hand at making some, and found it quite mesmerizing, with lots of possibilities (you can't get more travel easy, it's just a needle and thread). my first tries are a little wonky, but i find them charming anyways.

one of the pieces i wove awhile back needed something more; needlelace in green would be just the thing. i went for a bit of playful flora, and attached it with a small brad which i painted with nail polish. i find it strange that antique lace was mostly made in white thread (some exceptions being black lace for mourning, and spanish mantilla lace). it would make it easier to change between clothing, and it would be punchier against the rich hues of the fabric, but i think lace could be so much more modern if it were done in color.

um...where are the other veggies?

this year was going to be THE year of gardening. i was going to aerate the soil, mix in my compost, start seedlings, create rows in the soil, maintain everything weed free, and reap the benefits of my labor. well. i did do most of those things, except that most of my seedlings died. all of them but the 16 squash seeds, and a handful of the tomotillo or maybe the huck cherries (they look similar and i put them in similar seed containers so i don't actually know which ones made it).

the other thing that happened is the weather; we've had more than 40 continuos days of over 90 degrees, and only 10 or so of those days had any rain. i've been out watering morning and evening (serving up a buffet for every mosquito in a three mile radius), and the squash have been thankful. they're ginormous! every time it does rain they grow another three feet i swear.

today i noticed my first fruit from my labor, a wee squash! it's like a lightbulb. it's incredible what the squash tentacles wrap around. here is some blades of grass entrapped by the vine.

thankfully, my trusty orchids are loving being outside this time of year. lady of the night is blooming (she is scented only during the evening), but i won't be wandering around in the dark to smell her (though it is an intoxicating musky scent).

enthusiastic collecting

since coming back from japan, i've found much delight in having a cup of green tea for breakfast. lately, my taste runs to the earthy genmaicha tea. i also love the taste of matcha (i still haven't purchased a bamboo chasen yet) and sencha.

the utensils for serving japanese tea are interesting; the ones i've garnered have focused my attention on exotic woods and unique pottery glazes. i already had a small green and brown tea cup for the winter months, and recently bought a handthrown tea bowl for the summer (the width and size allowing the tea to cool faster) on my trip to asheville. the kyusu tea pot's squat shape and long handle are perfect for brewing enough loose tea for one, as well as being visually cute (it's glaze reminiscent of birch trees).

i was browsing ebay for kiri wood (paulownia) boxes and happened upon this tea chest which i believe is used for storing the teaware. kiri wood is velvety smooth and lightly burned to bring up the grain, as well as being resistant to rot (a wonderful thing when living in an area of high humidity); i am most attracted to the silvery color though.

i am still hoping to come upon a shifuku wrapped chaire, and a kiri wood box tied with kumihimo. one day.

creative organizing

i started a natural dye sample book to keep track of what i've done so far. when i was working on my kasuri piece i added those yarns to it right after i was done; mostly the tiny remnants which were left after weaving. then, today, while waiting for the mistletoe to simmer, i decided to add cuts of the material i had dyed last year. it's filling up nicely, and i realize that pinks, oranges, yellows, and greens are the only colors i've made as of yet. i need to do some dyeing with purples, greys, and blues.

while i was at it, i made some cuttings to do a lightfastness test. they looked really pretty in the window. i hope they don't fade, or only slightly. i think a part of me likes to remain in denial of the dyes fading, so i didn't do any testing till now. which is a bad way to go about creating things; knowledge gained is never such a horrid thing.

the last of sweet things

well, i've eaten the last of my malebranche matcha cookies today. i decided to make an occasion of it, and made some fresh sencha extra green tea (a blend of my gift of sencha from the ladies of the cafeteria from when i was in kyoto, and matcha tea from ippodo). i paired the cookie with a frosted rice cracker, served up on my grandmothers' noritake china.

i like the play between the lines of the cracker and those of the tea pot, as well as the white and green balancing. i've had two cups of green tea everyday lately, usually between breakfast and lunch; it sets me up to go out and work in the studio.

although matcha is my favorite flavor in baked goods and icecream, genmaicha tea has quickly become my favorite drinking tea, and mixing it with matcha to make it extra green is quite delicious!

kokedera

so, today was an amazing day! it took three hours to get there, but visiting kokedera was definitely worth the trip. the peace, serenity, closeness to nature, and so much unique greenstuff of this place is surreal.

moss was growing everywhere; on both living and dead trees, on rocks, on cement, on the walkways, it was incredible. i took so many photos, it was hard to narrow it down to the few i'm posting.

the temple complex itself was really nice, and in lovely condition. the way they limit the amount of people who can come at once, preserves the tranquility and makes taking photos a breeze; i had so few photos that had people in them.

there were two trees growing together, which i think they marry, and tie a cord around to show this. it was kawaii.

i love this place, i hope to come back to it one day. if you're in kyoto, this haven of peace is absolute bliss.

textural yet delicate

i came across a really neat cone of cotton slubby thread and also a jade green cone of pearl cotton at my local yarn store; i love slubby textiles. looking at these thin yarns i really wanted to weave a scarf from them along with a grey bamboo yarn from my habu stash which i could pack for my trip. when i got home i plotted out some warp stripes with the green and grey against the cream, figured out a good width and length and had at it on the warping board.

needless to say the first warp was a disaster; all of the slubby threads stuck to each other like velcro. so this particular thread would be a weft yarn unless spaced with a slicker material. good to know. i salvaged as much as i could, placed them on bobbins and rethought my plans. when in doubt, fall back on pearl cotton.

the second warp went off without fail, and i was able to thread up, get tension, and start to weave. i kind of plan as i go when it comes to the weft threads, i like the sudden thought flashes that happen when i do this. taking notes along the way helps though. and keeping a record along with samples of yarn used.

i like how it came out, wrinkles will only add to it's textural appeal, and it's really light; so perfect to pack for travel.