renegade roundup: textiles and fiber

first up, the work of k studio, above. beautiful spare line drawings on pillows. you can even customize your own family pillow by choosing from their selection of people and pets (scroll down from the options page.

original handmade bags from nam kim (ab0ve).

super soft and stretchy clothing from jo clothing.

custom made uk makes lots of adorableness, like the owl pouch above.

five trees creates all sorts of critters and monsters.

and fiber! this yarn is spun and dyed by vera videnovich. vera is a farmer, knitter, spinner, and fiber arts instructor in the chicago area. i remember seeing her spinning at renegade chicago 2 years ago before i got my wheel, and it was nice to see her again.
more handspun by betsy ply
and traveling rhinos who carries all sorts of goodness in the shop.

renegade roundup: cuteness on paper

first up, 16sparrows. with a tag line 'sarcasm folded in half' you know they it's gonna be clever. that's their moving announcement card above.
and polaroid themed thank you cards.

rhymes with twee is another clever card maker, featuring artichokes (above), pirogis, croissants, and other characters expressing sweet sentiments. oh, and they're gocco'd!

renegade roundup: beautiful objects

kindling is the chicago-based collaboration of brother and sister aaron and megan pahmier, who use local reclaimed wood to create lovely objects, like the vases above. you can see more of their work, including vases, vessels, picture holders, and candle holders at kindlingshop.com and in their etsy shop.
aaron is a furniture designer and builder, and megan is an artist and teacher (that's her work above).

up in the air somewhere is the work of chicago-based artist and designer susan dwyer, another renegade vendor with a striking display of gorgeous works. trained as a sculptor, susan creates ceramic and paper vessels inspired by industrial architecture, like the silo pitchers above.
and these simple pitchers as well. available directly from the up in the air somewhere website.

renegade roundup: prints

i'm not as organized or timely as i hoped, so i think i will do a series of short themed posts featuring renegade artists. today's 2 are both printmakers whose work i've been following on etsy since i was in japan an discovered the gocco. the top image is from circa ceramics, who i talked about in my earlier renegade post, and the bottom image is the work of michelle brusegaard, who has a website here and an etsy shop. the photos above are from her website, showing works on linen. and they are just lovely.

shop update

my etsy shop now has hand felted merino naturally dyed baby booties in various colors (above, indigo)
and hand felted naturally dyed iphone sleeves too!

chicago

last week i was in chicago...
for the renegade craft fair (as seen advertised on this blue line train!)
felt cafe shared a booth with my dear friend angela of les glaneuses, gleaner and repurposer of jewels.
my handfelted merino, naturally dyed baby booties were the hit of the weekend. this one is dyed with indigo.

i love visiting chicago, and i love the renegade craft fair. unfortunately, we had the worst weather over the weekend. seriously, like the most rain the city has ever seen. which makes for a less-than-ideal outdoor market, as you might imagine. however, i have to say that all things considered, it was great. the folks that came out to shop were an excellent bunch–obviously very dedicated and super supportive. and on sunday it even stopped raining for the last few hours!

because of the rain, i didn't spend as much time checking out all the other venders as i would have liked, but i got a chance to chat with a lot of wonderful and supportive creative people, and it was great to see that even as renegade continues to grow, it still feels like an amazing community of independent crafters. i hope to share more info here about other crafty folks this week, after i unpack and sort through the cards i collected.
but i cant wait to post this mug (above) from circa ceramics. as i am busy today making lists of the million things i want to do and and drinking coffee (of course!!) i am loving this new mug more and more (and not just because it's filled with coffee). i've known about circa ceramics for quite a while, as they are a popular etsy seller, and use cool print gocco technology to print decals that go onto their ceramics. i love their bold retro designs and colors, and after meeting them in person i also have to say they are THE NICEST. you can get your own circa ceramics piece in their etsy store.

a little time away

i just returned from a camping trip with an old friend in the hoh rain forest on the olympic peninsula. it's one of the most beautiful places i've ever been.
and in a few weeks i will be heading off to chicago for the renegade craft fair! i am so excited to be participating in this fair again, which has continued to grow over the last few years. it's on september 13th and 14th on division street between damen and wood–stop by and say hi!

locavores

i finished reading this book several weeks ago, and it was wonderful. it's barbara kingsolver's story about her family's adventure–eating locally for a year. the storytelling makes it a great read, and the message, about the broader impacts of our food choices and the power that we do have as individual eaters, rings true and vital.
it made me remember how lucky i am to live in a place like seattle, where there are 3 farmers markets a week close to my home, and local foods available at my local grocery store.

dying yarn

my first batch of indigo-dyed yarn. half of the yarn was heathery jacob to start with, and the other half was white merino, both of which i spun myself. i'm hooked, obviously.
indigo-dyed merino yarn
handspun natural merino dyed with madder.
finally up in my shop!

and now for something a little different

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

i think this video is lovely. i'll be back with more craft-related posts soon, promise.

april in europe

after i returned to the states from japan, i quickly wrapped up and submitted my masters thesis. then, i took advantage of some frequent flier miles i'd saved up and visited some friends in europe. it was absolutely fantastic. i saw some art, some crafts, visited excellent cities and wonderful people that i hadn't seen for quite a while. it was all about relaxing, catching up with friends. and food and coffee of course! the photos above and below are both brunch plates from copenhagen, where brunch has been taken to new levels.

this is smorbrod, the danish open-faced sandwich. DE-licious.

rhubarb crumble at a natural foods cafe in london.
this is actually a cafe in london, but its name, fika, is the swedish (very key!) concept of a cozy coffee break.
veggies grilled in the backyard on a sunny sunday in belfast.
the dogs in a sunny patch in the house on the sea in scotland.

the miho museum and some natural dye

one the last places i managed to visit before i left japan back in march was the miho museum.
it was an interesting building in an amazing natural setting.

and they had some natural dyes (as well as a few other traditional crafts) displayed in the gift shop.
'dry indigo': the japanese says 'kansou aiba' which means, dried leaves of the 'ai' or japanese indigo (polygonum) plant.
'indigotin' (which i believe is actually what is found in all varieties of indigo): the japanese says 'sukumo,' which is actually the specific name for the 'ai' leaves that are fermented as part of the traditional japanese indigo dye process. more info here.

the top left is 'miscanthus tinctorius' or 'kari yasu' in japanese (a reed that produces a yellow dye). the top right is 'philodendron' or 'kihada' (the bark produces a yellow dye). the small cones in forefront are labled 'yasha' in japanese only...my best guess is that these are the alder cones used for brown dyes described here ...although there seems to be some discrepancy with the kanji used and the meanings of these characters.

a lot of this is my best (non-native-speaker) guessing. if you know more or better, please feel to share. mostly, i was impressed and delighted to find this sort of display, that included the dyestuff itself, the japanese name for it in both kanji and phonetic kana, and english!!

baby quilt

i worked on this project for a while, and it was a surprise so i had to keep it a secret! whew.
it's a baby quilt made from tenugui fabric, which i don't seem to be becoming any less obsessed with. it's my first quilt, and it was super fun.

spring is in the air

as i am packing up my belongings, winter is definitely over. the plum trees have been blooming for a few weeks now, and then the peach trees, and if i am lucky, i might see a few cherry blossoms before i leave at the end of march.
last weekend i wound up near aizen kobo an indigo dye workshop/studio/store in an old townhouse in the nishijin textile area of kyoto.

it's very close to the nishijin textile center, if you are trying to find it you can ask here.

i've been meaning to check it out for a long time, and it's definitely worth it. i hope to take some friends to visit it in the next couple weeks, and actually try the dye process. the people who run it are great, very friendly, and enthusiastic about speaking english. the photo above is one of the lovely large tatami rooms where the indigo dyed products are displayed.