Teresa is the dog lover of dog lovers. She chose the Japanese character for 'dog' (inu) for the center of her back crest. She sprinkled cherry blossoms around the character. (I had a hundred year old plus stencil of cherry blossoms we brought back from its long sleep.) The red is from the madder paste and the black is soot bound with soy bean juice and steamed. The blue is from Japanese indigo.
I sent the linen lining material to her in Brooklyn a few months back. She stitched it up and dyed it here.
Resist pasting the antique linen material.
Every millimetre hand stitched.
The lining took days of stitching.
She carefully cut the stencil and kept the cut out part to use as a positive of the negative stencil.
The jacket will age well. I look forward to seeing it again in 20 years. Well patched and full of memories.
Dear Bryan It all looks totally awesome. I love the madder with the soot and indigo. And the mokume lining! Labours of love to last several lifetimes. Suzi
ReplyDeleteHi Suzi, They all came together better than I had planned or expected. The days of sewing were tough. The linen I chose for the lining (that crinkle linen) is beautiful but a pain in the ass as it slips all over the place and the shibori patterns make it difficult to follow the lines you draw with chalk. Satisfaction is in the air as Hiro makes dinner for us this evening.
DeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteFantastic! Such exquisite work--what a wonderful textile adventure!
ReplyDeleteI think everyone of them needs a holiday to get over the jacket sewing trauma...
DeleteBeautiful work Teresa. Amazing sensei. Hanten as carrier of memories - I love that thought.
ReplyDeleteThese jackets are pretty much dripping with memories. Hiro's food. Doggie walks. The cat having kittens. Pottery shopping. And slogging through the hidden stitching. It went smoother than I thought. I am rewarding myself by setting up a new warp on the big loom. Hope all is good down your way Jill. Bryan
DeleteHi Bryan, I can tell there was indeed a lot of work in this jacket. Congrats to Teresa on a wonderful result. The lining is fabulous but I don't know how it all got done in the time allotted. So nice to see Momo and Geiger looking so well in previous post and yourself as always! It all makes me long to come back again. So worth doing all the jackets by hand.
ReplyDeleteClaudia Fisk
Hi Claudia....I exhausted them with stitching. What a holiday in Japan. The dragged themselves to bed after midnight with cramped fingers etc. I will reconfigure the course slightly next time.
DeleteDrifting into winter down here Bryan. About to casually re-enter the work scene, and spinning a beautiful black finn/corriedale fleece direct from the farm.
ReplyDeleteJill....casually re-enter the workforce....try for three hours a day three times a week. With a siesta after hour number one. Pictures of the spinning?
DeleteHa - that's a good plan! I'm trying both worsted and woollen spun to see what's best for the wool. (Photos will come later.)
ReplyDeleteFabulous! Will you show photos of more?
ReplyDeleteah, this is so beautiful. jackets! and the skills everyone learned/practiced/re-practiced; all a huge blessing. the photos are alive with that.
ReplyDeletethe jackets look wonderful. I trust you wont alter the programme too much. I am really looking forward to being stretched to the limit. But will definitely need a few days r and r afterwards
ReplyDeleteOh Bryan - I want your life!
ReplyDeleteI want to live in that beautiful countryside and play with silk worms and mulberry leaves.
BTW, are silk fibers strong enough to take the indigo die? I heard it neededquite a powerful chemical as a mordant.