Living in a small mountain village just outside of Tokyo, I grow a crop of indigo every year and process the leaves into dye using traditional methods. I also breed silk moths, raise the silkworms and then reel/spin the silk from the cocoons. The silk is then dyed with natural dyes and finally woven on traditional Japanese looms. I run several ten-day live-in workshops a year at the old farmhouse here in Japan focusing on the Japanese use of indigo. Contact me for information.
Monday, 24 May 2010
Indigo Days
It is stencil dying season again. The sun is warm enough to dry the glue paste. Here I have some lotus patterns I drew/carved last year and an old leaf stencil that Barbara cut out over ten years ago. The material is a hemp/ramie blend. Summer scarves for men and women are popular this year.
Eri spent ages individually trying these small square dots for her quilt project. I was worried it might turn out a little overdone..I was wrong. It tuned out perfect.
The vat was in great shape. All the light green is a sign that there is no oxygen in the vat and tha the pH is high. It is spinning after I stirred it.
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