sakiori pouch

Here's the pouch that I started on the mini loom!  It didn't actually take me a month to make.  I just couldn't figure out how I wanted to sew up this long, thin band. (If you don't know what sakiori is, see my previous post.)

Dec. 2015

I started out the new year by finishing a project that I've been dreaming and working on for months. It's a combination of bookbinding, weaving and koyori (Japanese paper cord).

Most of Dec., I've been visually impaired due to impending cataract surgery.  First I had to wear my coke bottle glasses (extremely nearsighted) for 3 1/2 weeks.  It was disconcerting, since I had no depth perception. Then one eye was fixed, and I was lopsided for 2 weeks. My poor brain!  Then the 2nd eye, and now, 5 days later, almost perfect.

So needless to say, it was a difficult month for completing artwork.  Doing ceramics helped, and I could weave items that didn't require a lot of detail work.

For my book, 8 Paper Moons, I've used paper cord that I spun by hand, or with an electric drill.  (If you want to know more about this process, I'm teaching a workshop in Portland, OR. very soon. http://www.artandsoulretreat.com/retreat-pdx16-3550-workshop.php)


I tried a variety of weaving techniques and lots of leftover paper cords.  The cover is birch bark.  Photos of some of the moons follow.  The closure cord is also paper cord, and the rabbit is a special addition.  In Japanese folklore, there is a rabbit on the moon, instead of our man on the moon.  This rabbit bead was in my mom's collection.  I don't remember if I gave it to her or not.  (She collected miniature rabbits.)

 

title page

Woven right onto the paper

  I wove this moon on a little circle loom first.

Moon woven onto the paper

Woven on a circle loom

Right side is tapestry weaving

Bamboo woven knots

Awhile ago, I decided to start collecting bamboo knot brooches.  I thought that I might be able to duplicate them and make my own.  Well, that day hasn't arrived yet.  But here the ones that I've purchased.  I love them because they are so small and delicate.  (The brooches are 1 to 3 inches wide.)The left piece of the butterfly's wing broke after one wearing.

There is a tiny woven knot on the left 'stem.'

The earrings are teeny!

I hope you enjoyed seeing them!

Down memory lane, not in order of completion

 I thought I'd post a few of my Fantasy Figures that I've made over the years.
Below-from an article I wrote for Art Doll Quarterly- She is twined wax linen.  The face bead is by Dana Swisher.

 Summer figure

 Natural Woman is made of NW sedge, iris leaves, assorted grasses, and more.

 Winter Woman w/ birds

 Rain woman- The skirt is a basket covered w/ silk fiber.  The torso is assorted threads, and the face I made from silver clay.

 Cedar Bark Rattle

 Another rattle

 White Raven Shaman

 Raven Shaman

 Another Rain figure

 After the drought...

 Butterfly Man is sedge and wool

 Bird Transformation is one of my earliest figures.  He is sedge with pheasant feathers.

 Kitsune, the Japanese fox that can turn itself into a human shape.  Unfortunately, you can't see the illustration, which shows a kitsune leaving her home, with the human child tugging on her kimono.

 Bird Woman, made of sedge and hemp thread.

 Japanese basket seller, also made of sedge.

 Bird woman and Trekker.  The trekker has a backpack.  This is from the article I wrote.  The Trekker was one of my first woven figures.

 Fox Shamaness-  She is holding a fox mask in her left hand.

 

closeup of her dress

Bird woman and Trekker featured in Art Doll Quarterly magazine.