A lot is going on here at the farm in May and June.

Tea Harvest. Live-in workshops. Silkworms. Indigo planting. 

The last ten-day live-in workshop of the spring ended yesterday.

It makes me smile to see the students reluctantly leaving the house wanting to 

'...stay here forever'.  

It is a sort of heaven I suppose. No need to worry about food. Hiro is a great cook. Cabin fever... I make sure you get out of here every few days to see something interesting and go shopping. The rest of the time is just sleeping, socialising and making textiles and listening to textile related lectures. A lot of supplies on hand and indigo to dye  in to your hearts content. 

I had five workshops this spring. Two regular indigo workshops. One Hanten jacket making course, a huge indigo production workshop group lead by Debbie Maddy and the annual Sumindigo course with people related to Otis Design school in LA.

For the most part I enjoy the workshops immensely. (Occasionally there are idiots that make me wish I had a trap door next to the indigo vat that I could one-way flush them to the train station with a single pull of a indigo cord.) Many interesting people staying at the house. Although I am busy I can hear their stories out if the corner of my ear as they talk and get to know each other and I can see there talent and skills as I work on their indigo projects together.

The cold early spring and cherry blossoms slowly turned into glorious green mountainside and tulips and daffodil paradise. Ending with an early misty rainy season. 

Silence today, except the sound of silkworms munching away. 

Unfortunately I don't have the time to document the workshops. I have too much going on.

The hanten jacket course is two weeks long. We had some great work come out of it this time. They each made two jackets. Hand sewn and at least one of them hand indigo dyed with hand cut stenciled insignia dyed with indigo. 

There is such huge volume of amazing work dyed at the indigo vats. It should all be documented but there is never time.

Some of the mokume shibori the students stitch for homework gets photographed.

And some group photos get taken.

We make a lot of samples during the workshop and they are often made into a kind of Buddhist  patch blanket when the students get home. Wonderful work. 

 

And of course soot dyeing.

Please contact me at: japanesetextileworkshops@gmail.com for a brochure of upcoming workshops.