weaving in nishijin, kyoto textile district-part 1

last month i did a weaving workshop in kyoto with my mom and my crafty friend rebecca. the nishijin area of kyoto is the textile district, and also the name of a traditional weaving style.
our teacher. the workshop was at orinasu-kan, which is housed in a traditional japanese shop house. they have a textile display section, a workshop space, and next door is a working textile factory. unfortunately, you can't take pictures in the factory section, but it was very cool to see how they are using the traditional looms, but updated with electrical and computer technology. (although they showed us a 3.5 floppy disk during the explanation about technology, so i'm not sure how cutting edge it is;-)
a traditional spinning wheel on display in the museum.
we starting by picking colors of silk to use as our weft.
the looms were already warped, so we tried to match the colors.
weaving...weaving...woven.
our finished work. it took 2 hours, and i think we all felt like we had just gotten the hang of tossing the shuttle with the right motion/speed when our time was up.
aerial view of our placemats with a baby for scale.
and this one's just for cuteness.

i would highly recommend this workshop for people who want an intro to weaving. of the three of us, i was the total beginner, so it was a fine level for me. i think for someone like my mom who has done a lot of weaving, it was a fun experience, but didn't get into any advanced information. the instruction was all in japanese. if you don't speak japanese, i think you would have no problem going and weaving a placemat, but obviously you wouldn't be able to understand a lot of information. they are listed in lonely planet too, by the way.

roketsuzome-japanese wax resist dyeing

roketsuzome is traditional japanese wax resist dying, a batik process. my mom and i did a class at the yamamoto roketsuzome studio in kyoto. they are very relaxed, and used to foreigners. they have lots of info on their website, and the whole experience is set up for you to take a nice handmade souvenir home. they have tons of designs to choose from (you can draw your own too) and you can transfer them to many different cloth articles: T shirts, handkerchiefs, scarves, etc. my mom and i both chose to do japanese noren curtains (the kind you hang in front of a shop in japan). mom's finished work is at the top of this post: irises and maple leaves.
mine are bamboo, which you will see a little later.
the inside of the studio, with the master working on an intricate design. the fabric hanging above is kimono fabric, which is dyed with this process using rollers.
the studio has a number of these desks, basically a pair of light tables with a wax heater pot in between them. example works are hanging all around.
the rollers used to dye kimonos.
roller close-up
these are the machines that apply wax with the rollers. each kimono fabric is 12 meters long, and is run through these machines. most of the work visible in the studio is not this rolled kimono fabric, but rather the hand painted wax designs.
the beginning of my design. the paper pattern goes on the light table, under a piece of waxed paper. then the fabric. then you apply wax with a brush.
the grandma instructor (and my mom!). she gave my mom a lot of pointers, and was not at all bothered by the fact they didn't have a language in common. i asked her how long she had been doing this, and she said: "forever. ever since i got married." their website says the studio has been in business for 50 years. so that's a lot of experience!
more wax
the brushes are dipped in the hot wax, wiped off on the edge rack, and wax should be applied right away to the fabric.
the dye kitchen. the fabric is going in the indigo vat. this is commercial indigo, different from the plant dye mentioned in previous posts. so the square metal vat is indigo, and the plastic bucket on the floor has water for rinsing. on the stove are the pots of boiling water (to melt the wax off the fabric) and soapy water (to get rid of the wax).
dyeing

the fabric is circulated in and out of the vat for about 20 minutes
and hung to dry. at this point, the dyed cloth looks almost black (it will become dark blue after it's washed out and dries). the yellow wax is still on the cloth.

melting the wax
after the wax is melted off, the white fabric is visible, but the cloth is still darker because it's wet. next we ironed the fabric, which was basically to dry it faster and press the wrinkles.

natural plant dying at ohara kobo, north of kyoto

this is the view of ohara kobo, a plant dye workshop in ohara, which is a small town an hour north of kyoto. i was really excited to try their dye course. we stayed overnight at a traditional japanese onsen ryokan, and went here on sunday morning. it was great. the guy spoke some english, and gave us lots of information (more so when we kept asking detailed questions!).

this is the view from their back porch, with dyed cotton hanging.
inside the shop/example area of the workshop, showing all the scarves and colors available.
in the dyeing shed, with the proprietor at the stove. he was a very entertaining fellow.

yarn dyed with loquat, or japanese medlar, or 'biwa' in japanese
madder plant (grown very very locally). in japanese 'akane'.
traditional cotton spinning wheel in use. they grow a small amount of their own cotton.

ohara (kyoto) japanese indigo dyeing

this is the japanese indigo plant, or polygonum. in japanese, it's called tadeai. ai is indigo as in 'aizome' means indigo dyeing.this is what it looks like dried. the leaves can be used directly to dye, but this is not really ever done. tadeai is fermented in a big bucket. it's really a huge bucket, the size of an oil drum.and goes into this vat, which is 1 meter deep.dyeing a silk scarf using oxidation to get a deeper color: one minute in the dye, one minute in the air. *repeat.*
silk scarf

renegade in the nytimes

being in japan, i can't get to the renegrade craft fair in new york or chicago this year.

i had a great time in chicago last year, and in brooklyn the year before. renegade has had a huge impact on the d.i.y. craft movement, and keeps getting bigger. and today i saw an article in the nytimes about it!

sue from the cool store giant dwarf was the feature photo, and the nifty felter penfelt showed up too. etsy got a mention as well. yay for crafts!

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.

vacation blog lapse

i'm back in japan, and have tons of pictures to post from last week's handmade market and a natural dying workshop i did with my mom last weekend. she doesn't seem to mind that i plan to make her do a lot of fiber classes with me;-) i promise to post pictures.

for now, check out the new design over at craftster, it looks great!