how to make felt tutorial

my newly upgraded website finally includes a felting tutorial, under felt 101 on the top menu. it's the same instructions that i include in my how-to-make-felt kits, but now you can download the 2 page pdf to print and use at home, easy peasy. up with felt!

gobaishi

last month i went to another natural wool class at my favorite wool store in kyoto.
we dyed wool with gobaishi, a japanese gall that is created on japanese sumac (i think...it was a little complicated and hard to understand in japanese!!) with just alum and gobaishi, it didn't really change the color too much, but with iron, it turned a lovely heathery purple.
the gobaishi galls boiled for an hour in a mesh bag, they turned mushy
into the pot with iron added
the outcome.
if anybody out there knows more about gobaishi, i'd love to hear from you!

my first yarn

oh my goodness, i love spinning. so. much. and i love lulu, my wheel!

june handmade market

since summer is here, the handmade market at chionji temple in kyoto (the 15th of every month) has been really busy. lots of cute new summer things for sale, of course...like the glass summer bells (above) or whimsical creatures (below).
lots of zakka

and awesome feltmakers whose work i hadn't seen before. these dolls are so lovely!
and crazy tissue holders in the shape of animal heads!
and wee walnut mice.

etsy is a drug, a wonderful drug

this is the best thing ever. from etsyian das kaninchen (which means the bunny, in german), the bueys bunny! i love it so much i can hardly stand it. for those of you without a dorky art major past like me, joseph bueys was an early conceptual/installation artist. he constructed a whole imagined narrative history for himself about crashing his airplane and being saved by being wrapped in fat and felt. which lead to his use of heavy felt in many of his works. so, he's sort of a felt hero, to me at least.
das kaninchen has made this bueys bunny in a clever comment on buey's performance piece 'how to explain pictures to a head hare,' and turns the inherent elitism of his ideas upside down as a crafted toy that can be drooled on.
she is one smart cookie. she also has fibonacci bunnies. sweet.

dye!

my spinning and dyeing class last week was great! i love my wool store, and it was very cool to take a class there, in the same space they use for dyeing. here's the teacher, pouring out our wool dyed with marigolds. in the dyeing kitchen.
here's another student, in front of our washed, drying fleece.
i am not sure if i will be able to continue with these natural classes, as school starts again next week, but i am stoked to spin more!

a good day for crafts

the people who organize the handmade market at chion-ji temple that i've blogged about before, also are involved with another handmade market in kyoto, this one on the 1st thursday of every month, here. it's in a big park, which was nice and sunny today. by the time i found my way there, it was around 3:30 and everyone was packing up. but it looked great, very similar to the chion-ji market, with lots of traditional and contemporary crafts, from handmade lacquered bowls to linen slippers and everything in between. i will definitely check it out again, and if you do, i suggest you go in the morning!

it's walkable from the kyoto train station, 15 minutes due west.
when you get to this pedestrian overpass, you are half way there. take the stairs that veer to the right, and when you go down on the other side of the street, walk to right of the school and continue west.
here's a view from the inside of the kyoto train station, looking down on the mister donuts and cafe du monde open air food court. i was on my way up to the excellent tourist info center on the 9th floor. i was doing research about what kinds of traditional craft classes i can try out with my mom when she comes to visit in june. and there are tons! i'm very excited (and i hope mom is too) to try indigo dying, traditional weaving, and wax resist printing, just to name a few.
but...the best part of my day craftwise happened at the yarn shop, kin no hitsuji, which i've blogged about before too. since it takes over an hour for me to get to kyoto, it's kind of a far local yarn store, but they have great wool for felting and great books. after going there so many times i've lost count, they all know who i am, and i think i know all the people who work there too! i thought they might be a family (mom, dad, two grown daughters, and grandma) but i don't think that's actually the case. so today i finally bought a book for myself that i've been eyeing for months. it has some felt projects and some spinning and weaving. i can't read it (in japanese of course) but the most exciting part are the photos showing the natural dye process and the natural materials that the author goes out and gathers to dye wool. so when i was buying the book, i asked if they knew of any classes about natural dyes...and it turns out that they teach classes at the shop! so i signed up for a one day class in march that includes spinning, carding and dyeing (perhaps not in that order). oh boy. i was literally skipping down the street.
and then i discovered the muji in kyoto that has a muji restaurant, so i got to eat this lovely healthily meal.
then, i walked past this shop, sisam, which has fair trade products, including these cool felt cushions.

craft resources in kyoto

here's the kyoto art center from the outside (they don't allow any pictures inside).
this is a great store/gallery, actually a cooperative of over 40 artists/craftspeople. the displays are lovely, and there are an impressive range of crafts, including paper, ceramic, lacquer, wood, metal, fabric, cards, prints, etc.
most techniques and materials come from japanese craft traditions. however, the individual craftspeople's aesthetics and styles are clearly visible and create a very contemporary feel to the space.
there are lots of affordable items in the range of $5-20, as well as more expensive art objects.
here's my local wool shop in kyoto from the exterior. they sell a lovely variety of corriedale and merino rovings, as well as spinning, felting, and dying supplies and books, both in english and japanese.
hitsuji wool store homepage
map


displays outside the chirimen museum. chirimen fabric is traditionally used for japanese kimonos, but also to create a huge variety of tiny crafts.
and finally, here's a resource that lists lots of craft activities that you can try in the kyoto area....so many crafts so little time!