Workshop Season Over for a While.

Spring workshops finished this afternoon. I have had three months of solid work. Most of it completely enjoyable. Dozens of live-in guests at the house. I can't even begin to thank all the help I have received in making the whole thing run smoothly. Hiro, Keiwa, Takeshima, Sumi and Debbie.... Thank you. How may thousands of tasks completed? Thank you to all the wonder students who shared their talent and time with me. 

We had tea ceremony yesterday and Mr Whiteboots bombed the whole thing with his cuteness.

Silkworms are almost ready to spin cocoons. 

Busy days coming to an end.
The house and garden are tidy and bed is waiting at sunset.
The rainy season has started.

Textile Workshop

They are on the bullet train now. I just had 18 guests at the house for 12 days. An amazing amount of indigo work, a lot of time spent in close quarters, eating and sleeping and creating. I’m exhausted but very satisfied. Baby silkworms to look after as well. Managed some down time at the camp fire.

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.

Daddy Waiting.

I have been raising silkworms for over 20 years. Last year I took year off. 1000 eggs about to hatch tomorrow. Such anticipation and excitement. The mulberry is salad fresh. Daddy is waiting. A few months from now I should have some beautiful hand spun silk floss thread.

Winter Silence

The blog was quiet and hibernating.

I had the house to myself all winter. Hiro was in Brazil for three and a half months. I went to New Zealand for a trip. I loved it. I kept busy with textile related stuff... I just didn't write about it.

I sat on cold nights and wove the gothic cross alpaca blankets I had warped a year ago while listening to The Brothers Karamazov for the umpteenth time.
There was something wrong with the dent so I bought a new reed and re-sleighed it less densely. It looks great now. My buddy Yumbo came over to build a stone wall behind the pond and tried weaving for the first time.

Whiteboots immediately made the freshly woven blanket his own.

There were a few kilograms of medium dyed madder wool lying around that was not asking to be woven into anything. A few kilograms of madder and a re-mordanting.....

The two working back strap looms were empty and sad upstairs.
I warped them both in a few days and they are so happy to be of use again.

The indigo vats are open for the year! Diana Sanderson from the Silk Weaving Studio in Vancouver was here for a visit and the de-sludging of the sleeping vat.

Tobie and Janie were here for a visit and they managed some gorgeous work in a short time.

We visited Noguchi san for the day.

Cocoons were reeled and silk hankies were made.

There is never enough time. Never. 

I had a few cancellations for ten-day workshops this year. If you are interested. Please get in touch.

Bryan