Koyata Okonogi-san’s silk worm farm He uses an older breed of silkworm from the Edo era to reproduce finer quality silk. Lime is sprinkled on the worms and leaves to keep them dry. Noriko is his apprentice. Awareness of how alive textiles are here. From raising silkworms and spinning the silk to tending the indigo…
Month: September 2019
May 18, 2013 (part 2) Japan
Itchiku Kubota Museum Wayside flowers = tsujigahana “I want my textiles to tell a story. I will discover new techniques.” – Ichiku Kubota Gold work on kimono “Ou” c. 2002 #17 in exhibit – At least four types of thread. Bricked and sometimes top outlined. Thin and thick bands, gold and silver. Kimono colors gold…
May 18, 2013 Japan
Isobe, Gunma, Japan If there is space to stand, there is space to put a garden. If there is space for a stone monument, there will be a cemetery. Side by side out here in the country, stones and flowers comfort the living and the dead. Things you find at a shrine: salt and water;…
May 14 & 15, 2013 Japan
Traveling with The Silk Experience tour Day 1 On the bus. Cemeteries so compact, rice fields everywhere, so green with trees. Our group is like a flock of birds, chirping, settling down, taking off again. 10 am the sun is breaking through. Walls along the highway cut off most neighborhood views. Tile roofs, electrical wires…
Nov. 11, 2012 Cardiff, Wales
Sunday in the pub, Cardiff There’s a pervasive loneliness to solo travel. I’m the sort of person who makes off-handed comments to strangers all the time, but here I feel out of my depth. Everyone seems so settled, not interested in chatting with a somewhat scruffy stranger. I suppose I’m much the same as them…
Indigo Sashiko Boro Leggings
These pants go by various names depending on where you look: Mataware また割り(splits), Momohiki 股引, Matahiki また引き. Essentially they are a type of trousers worn tight at the calf and baggy at the hip. Common in rural Japan until the early 20th century, these were worn by shop workers and farmers alike. These are different from Mompe…
A love for both the common fiber and the extraordinary textile @KimonoMomo 