Japanese Textile Workshops 　日本のテキスタイル　ワークショップ

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.

Friday, 1 May 2015

Silkworms Hatched

I forgot to put the silkworm eggs I bred last August in the refrigerator. I left them in my closet and when I walked in yesterday I found three thousand baby silkworms on a shelf looking for food.

The mulberry is barely leafing and it is a bit cool to start silk farming, especially with guests at the house. But they hatched and I will look after them. Busy days ahead.

The indigo is already growing and there is a wonderful nest near the front door.

Beautiful days.

3 comments:

india flint1 May 2015 at 14:05
happy to know i am not alone...i opened my closet at the beginning of the new school year [i may have been 9 at the time] to find my school bag...hurled in there at the end of the previous term, covered in eggs. forgotten cocoons. the moths had emerged, procreated and died.
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Velma Bolyard3 May 2015 at 00:48
spring is happening everywhere. removed a tick from my friend this morning. yep, here, too. good spot for a home.
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Anonymous3 May 2015 at 02:02
oh glorious Spring when all the world is new again. Can't imagine finding 3,000 unexpected babies in my closet!
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