kasuri

i have tried my hand at kasuri weaving, and i love it! take some little learning mishaps (but they're good, because you learn more that way), and slow dawning of understanding, add a little time, voila! a kasuri sampler. i want to do more.

the tying of the kasuri areas, to protect them from the dye, was a tiny bit painful; but with practice, those muscles and digits will be in tip top shape! i'm still not sure if it was easier tying bigger sections, or little sections. hmm.

the warping of the kasuri was not as traumatizing as i suspected. plus, i learned of an amazing doodad to help with tensioning. it's called a kasuri zurashiki. i want. will post photos when object of desire is acquired.

sensei had some amazing samples of past student work. for future reference, i drew pictures and took photos. i've posted two of my favorite pieces, detail shots. well, more kasuri creating tomorrow, and this time on silk!

tactile color

today was a colorful day! it started with the dyeing of my kasuri skeins, which went well; that is, after i corrected the first batch of dye which i had made a mathematical error in, by having to discard it down the drain. eh, check math twice, measure dyestuff once.

after lunch we took a visit to the kawashima selkon factory and museum. very neat! they have a ginormous 24 meters wide hand loom which they create large tapestries on, such as special stage curtains, and large scale wall tapestries. there are smaller hand looms which are used for weaving obi, both ooak commissions and regular orders on the second floor. most of the obi can take anywhere from one to six months to complete. i love the little shuttles they use, i would think they would definitely be useful for inlay weaving.

i actually had an opportunity to try my hand at weaving an obi earlier last week (see hand in upper right corner of below photo? mine). so hard! you work from the backside of the piece, so you don't see it until you take it off the loom, as well as the loom takes a lot of muscle to operate. i was so nervous!

after dinner, one of my classmates had a box of natural dye samples she completed at a retreat last weekend. they were so lovely, both silk kinu and wool uuru.

tomorrow is the start of my warping the kasuri. i'm scared, but excited, i don't want to mess up the placement of the warp kasuri areas.