Nara Sarashi

"Nara Sarashi"

24" x27"

I've titled the above piece "Nara Sarashi" because that's what this type of woven hemp is called in Japan. Originally it was used mainly as clothes of priests. Later in history it came to be used for samurai's old ceremonial dress and unlined kimono in summer. Now it is used to make tea cloth, shop curtains and centerpieces. At least thats the information that came with the fabric.

The weekly leaf
This weeks leaf was from one of my weeds in the garden. Printed with Jacquard textile paint on a gelli plate.

Week #17,yr2

Daily Stitching updates

Silk Fragments #111-#117

And six rows done!

Sari Ribbon #39-#45

This week I'll be making the six hour drive to Portland for the SAQA conference. I'm looking forward to the conference, the drive there and then back home again next Monday, not so much.

SolarFast playday

We had a fun day today playing with both SolarFast and blueprinting fabric. There were only four of us today,(it's getting harder to find a time that works for everyone), but we still had a productive day. As usual I've got very few pictures, but here are a few things out in the wonderful sunshine.

And some finished pieces on the design wall.

It's always fun to do something like this as a group because everyone tries something different, so we found a few things that didn't work so well and some that worked great. Everyone brings something to share for lunch, so we eat very well also.

Good news on my foot, I will not need surgery, but I do get to wear the big old boot for a few more weeks.

The hemp piece I've been hand stitching for the past couple of weeks is slowly getting done. I still have the red and cream areas to stitch.

The Weekly Leaf

This weeks leaf is a print done with SolarFast and a noxious weed from my garden.

Week #16

Daily Stitching updates

Silk Fragments #104-#110

Sari Ribbon #32-#38

Linked to "Off the Wall Friday"

Grrrrr!

I downloaded the new update for iPhoto and now everything has changed!! Why do they do that?? Okay, got that off my chest. I think the photos I'm using today have been resized and I hope I can find them. I did not resize them in Photoshop Elements like I'm used to because I couldn't get them there.

Last week I pulled out a pack of fabrics my daughter sent me from her visit to Japan. They are hemp and quite stiff yet not tightly woven. In my frustration with the computer I forgot to get a full picture of what I'm doing with them, but here are a couple of closeups for a teaser until next time.

On Thursday I will see the doctor for an update on my foot, it is feeling better so I'm hopeful that it is healing properly.

The Weekly Leaf

This week I used  a paintstik and a mask from Greenpepper press to print my leaf.

Then added lots of french knots.
Week #15,yr2

Daily Stitching updates

Silk Fragments #97-#103

Sari Ribbon #25-#31

Linked to "Off the Wall Friday"

Different

This has been a different sort of week for me, everything feels a bit off balance. I'm sure it's because of my foot and not being able to get back to my normal routine of long daily walks. The foot is feeling better and it's only ten more days till I have it checked again. I've started five different things this week and have put all but one aside. Some may never come out again. The one that I am happy with is different than anything I've done before, maybe next week it will be far enough along to share.

The Weekly Leaf
This weeks leaf is done on a piece of hand painted fabric done with Jacquards Dynaflow and some salt sprinkles. Then I used a stencil to print the leaf with paintstiks.

I used the fern stencil from Dina Wakley.

The areas I don't want are masked off with blue painters tape, it also holds the stencil in place while I brush on the paintstik color.

Color on.

Week #14,yr2

Daily Stitching updates.

Silk Fragments #90-#96

Sari Ribbon #18-#24

Linked to "Off the Wall Friday"