Shibori combines two of my craft loves: origami and fabric dyeing. You fold and press fabric like origami, create resist patterns with boards, clamps, string and/or rubber bands, and then dye the package. When you unfold and release the fabric, you get interesting patterns unique to each dye job. Shibori (しぼり) is the Japanese term …
Shibori: awesome and easy home dyeing techniques Read More »
Indigo dyeing (藍染, lán rǎn), is a plant-based fabric dyeing process used for the past 5,000 years in Asia and Africa. The leaves of the indigofera tinctoria legume shrub are soaked, fermented and alkalinized to create a dye that oxidizes on fabric to its namesake deep blue. Indigo has special meaning for my maternal Hakka …
Indigo dyeing: bringing a beautiful ancient craft home Read More »
You can visit the Masjid Negara, or National Mosque of Malaysia during certain times of the day between prayer service (best to look the visitation times up before going; for my trip the non-Muslim visiting hours were Monday to Sunday: 9am-12pm, 3pm-4pm, 5:30pm-6:30pm, except Friday which is 3pm-4pm, 5:30pm-6:30pm only). It is a beautiful example …
Masjid Negara (National Mosque of Malaysia) and the Islamic Art Museum in Kuala Lumpur Read More »
Wandering around old, preserved streets is even more fun when there is street art to be found. George Town is full of street art, especially around the Armenian Street area.
The special exhibit of Kusama’s work at Singapore’s lovely, newish, well-organized National Gallery was as wide-ranging as Kusama herself.
Owls are a good luck symbol in Taiwan. I had the amazing good fortune that my Auntie knows Teacher Zhang of the Saisiyat aboriginal tribe, and she happened to be at her shop the afternoon we stopped by Nanzhuang town in the mountains of Miaoli, my mother’s ancestral home. I saw her handmade owls at …
Making Saisiyat 賽夏 aboriginal good luck owls in Nanzhuang, Miaoli, Taiwan Read More »
check out swatches from the kitenge cloth i have purchased from markets and shops in Tanzania! Almost all are made in Tanzania, a couple are made in the Congo.
above: sculptor Omari and me at the Seaview Sculpture Arts Center Bagamoyo: lay down my heartAside from the eau-de-poo water, Bagamoyo is a pretty darn cool place. It’s a crying shame that I had to work from about 8 am to 8 pm (or sometimes later if folks decided to talk about work over dinner …
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcy82NnjGSo] This is a low-res (point and shoot camera) video i took yesterday night at the Bagamoyo Arts College (Chua Cha Sanaa) weekly performance. There was some really great work by young artists, including the young people in this piece – a group called the Uhuru (freedom) dancers and drummers. Sadly, the sound on …
