mina!!!

i love getting packages in the mail. today was especially nice, as what was in the package totally rocks! after four weeks of waiting, mina perhonen? and pieces are mine.

just browsing through the pages, exquisite image after image, my creative juices are flowing. color palettes, prints, processes, all at my fingertips. the mina perhonen? book was just published earlier this year and is definitely worth the price tag. i know already that i will be going back to it time and again for inspiration in my work. it covers earlier work through to f/w 2010/11.

pieces is a reprint from a 2003 publication dedicated to an exhibit of work at the spiral garden in tokyo, and is in both japanese and english. the text is inspiring and lends insight into the creative and ethical background of mina; though most of the photos are reprinted in color in mina perhonen?, there are those which are not. the value of this book is in the words, more so than the photos.

as the price for each is about the same, if you had to choose one, i would go with mina perhonen?. ah, i drool.

process as a start

i've become a green tea addict, and to further encourage this obsession i keep some yummy genmaicha extra green tea triangles in my studio. storing them was going to be an issue until i came upon a wooden cigar box at the local wine/beer/cigar store which didn't smell, removed the so-so label and replaced it with pretty paper where it was still sticky. i'm quite happy with my $2 find, and it fits 30 tea envelopes at a time.

i finished my cotton kasuri sampler today, and have begun the weaving process on my first project since coming home. i have the loom mostly threaded now, but i thought i would post some photos of the progress.

my inspiration board has a photo of a flamingo along with some fabric swatches to give myself an indication of what color direction i wanted to head in while dyeing. this was a starting point mostly; i also drew up a version on graph paper and a color drawing to get a more exact idea of placement and measurements.

the dye process took two days, and i learned a lot from this; i'm thinking exact notes on what i did are going to be a problem, as i tinkered with the dyeing as i went along in order to get the colors i wanted at that moment, depending on what was happening in the pot. but with everything dry, i think it will work out. the hardest point i had was developing a gradient range of one hue; it was moderately successful, i won't know for sure until i've woven with them.

hopefully tomorrows work goes well, and i will try to remember to take photos as i go along. i won't say anything as corny as "new year's goal".

the ever present personality at play

happy new year's eve!

i spent the day rereading a favorite book of mine, robin mckinley's sunshine. then after a bit of green tea and delicious pound cake i did some cleaning to welcome in the new year. i try not to be superstitious, but some of it has creeped into my thinking sphere (thanks to my irish mother), so among other things, the urge to do some cleaning on the last day of the year becomes overwhelming.

before it became too dark, several rows of weaving were put in, a kasuri flower, and some zigzags on the sampler currently occupying my loom. i find such peaceful and happy moments in my studio; i question why i do not spend all of my time in it when i am elsewhere.

tonight was a delightfully filled dash around the internet, uncovering new places and discovering delicious things. ann wood, and her rugged owls, magical ships, and enchanting space occupied some time, along with visiting some of the blogs in my bookmarks. it fills me with different parts delight, envy, and inspiration whenever i discover the creative workings of others, and add them to people whose work i admire. ah, the human state of being, we are such tiring creatures.

well, with the new year, a turning of the page of life as it were, i will hopefully strive to become a person whom i admire. i will take that leap, and live up to my name by squeezing myself into the textile artist world; if it will have me is an entirely different concern. my optimistically pessimistic personality shows itself, i think.

just a little peek

here's an inspiration photo for the piece i'm currently weaving:

and a snapshot of the material making process; i'll use this to construct a pretty something. it's funny, at first i wanted to use a green thread the same size as the warp, but i didn't like how it was weaving. so, i took it out (i had to anyways as there was a mistake in the threading), and looked through my stash to see what i had that could work. when i came across this novelty ribbon yarn, i thought, "blue-eyed, blonde", saw that i had two balls of it (surprise, as i'm a single skein purchaser; bad habit, that), sent a couple of shots through, and liked what came forth.

this is the first time i worked on my new loom. the two accessories, high castle tray and baby wolf trap, are really coming in handy! i'm so glad i let myself get talked into these purchases. i'll post more photos as it goes.

where does inspiration come from?

sometimes just when you're leaving a room and something catches your eye; either a pattern, or a color combination that just didn't show itself to you before this point. i'm at work on a pillow that hopefully will be finished tomorrow. if the house doesn't blow away. storms with tornado warnings really scare me.