New Work in Fall Color

Inspiration Sunday

I've been spending a lot of time researching and exploring Japanese traditional textiles related to Shibori hand dying. I of course love Japanese patterns and fabrics but I've really been concentrating on the patterns displayed in this particular type of fabric. Since Shibori patterns are made by a resist dye process done by hand-tying, knotting, and stitching, no two patterns are alike. I've been highly inspired by the freedom and chance of this kind of pattern and I'm planning on incorporating my own Shibori patterns I make this year into my designs. Which brings me to my main point: Tie dye party?? I think yes!

  HGTV has an awesome intro to indigo dye if anyone is interested!

Arashi Shibori technique uses a pole or stick to wrap fabric around and dip into the dye vat. You can create all sorts of patterns depending on how you wrap the fabric with twine or string. (image courtesy of Honestly WTF)

 

ori-nui Shibori pattern

 tying fabric for the resist. (image from eye-swoon.com)

New Work

Finally got around to updating a few of my listings in the shop! Here are some photos of new color combos! Also, these are photos taken from my iphone that I've used on the site for the first time. I'm fairly pleased with the crisp quality.

xoxoxo -Amy

Docile Earrings

Petite Flower Bracelet

Window Box Pearl Necklace

Dye A Scarf for Spring!

Found this on Martha Stewart's website today and I thought it was so worth trying! (Plus it's inspired by Japanese Indigo! How could I refure?) It has a nice little intro to shibori dye techniques as well. Enjoy!

xoxox -Amy

image from MarthaStewart.com

Inspired by a traditional Japanese textile, this versatile accessory is just a length of fabric and a bottle of dye away. 

Martha Stewart Living, October 2012 

To create traditional Japanese textiles using the shibori technique, a plant was often plucked, fermented, and reduced to make an indigo dye, and then a piece of fabric was folded, compressed, or twisted, bound, and dipped into it. Consider this project a shortcut: To achieve almost the same effect, you need little more than a length of fabric (nearly any fiber will work), a bottle of blue dye, and a few plastic bins. The result is a lightweight scarf perfect for crisp fall days that can be wrapped, dangled around your shoulders, or even worn as a belt. The look is elegant but also as loose as the process itself.

Dip-Dye How-To

Tools and Materials

Scarf
Iron
Clothespins
3 plastic bins
Liquid dye
Dye fixative

1. Accordion-fold scarf. Press with iron, and secure with clothespins. (If scarf is wider than bins, fold in half widthwise after accordion-folding.)
2. Mix dye in a bin according to manufacturer's instructions. Dip scarf's folded edge in dye (the resulting stripe will be twice as wide as the dip).
3. Dip scarf's folded edge in another bin filled with cold water to rinse it.
4. Mix fixative in another bin according to manufacturer's instructions. Dip folded edge in fixative to set.
5. Clip accordion-folded scarf to a clothesline or a pants hanger hung from a broom handle suspended between chairs. Place newspaper or a drop cloth underneath scarf to protect surfaces. Let hang until completely dry, about 1 day.

Choosing a Fabric
Different fabrics soak up color in different ways. Experiment with scraps of fabric, the widths of the accordion folds, and the dilution of the dye. These four scarves are made of, from far left, cotton, bamboo rayon, rayon, and crepe de chine silk. The longer you dip your scarf, the more likely the dye will bleed.
Cotton gauze scarf, 15" by 60", $4.25; bamboo rayon scarf, 11" by 60", $3.50; rayon scarf, 11" by 60", $4.25; and crepe de chine scarf, 15" by 60", $6; dharmatrading.com. Liquid dye, in Denim Blue, Royal Blue, and Aquamarine, $4 for 8 oz.; and dye fixative, $4 for 8 oz.; ritdye.com.

Remembering Japan

Today we remember the victims of the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami as the second anniversary passes.  You all know how much I love this Country and I thought I would share some of my photos from our trip  just prior to the crisis. Our thoughts and prayers are for the many victims and their families on this day.

-Amy

What's for Dinner : Nabemono

Photo credit: www.panningtheglobe.com

Tonight I'm cooking a traditional Japanese dish called Nabemono. The word literally means "Cooked things".  I really love this style of cooking because it's not only tasty, it's also delicious and fun! You basically take  various vegetables, seafood, and meat of your liking and cook them together in a communal pot with broth. Over the course of the meal the broth becomes infused with lots of flavor from the cooking items and you can then cook rice in the broth to make a rice porridge. Here is a good basic Nabemono recipe along with some more info if you feel like trying it!

Nabemono Recipe 

 Fun Fact: Chankonabe which is a type of nabemono, was originally eaten in large quantities by Sumo wrestlers to help them gain weight.
 

 Common ingredients for Nabemono

In love

It's been a while! But I'm back and out of my rut from yester-posts. :) It's been a busy week including tearing apart my living room, treasure hunting, seeing friends, baking pies, changing habits, lots of excercise and of course spending a good deal of time in the studio. Oh also I've finally jumped on the bandwagon that is instagram so if your wish is to see too many photos of my cats, food and me posing with both please feel free to follow along. find me under: Sunahblairjewelry.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a few things I've added to my Awesome!/ hahaha list:

 1)

 This is so cool, it looks like sunlight right? Well it's not! It's actually an installation by artist Daniel Rybakken in a Stockholm office building. The building had no real daylight so he used LED lighting behind wall panels to create this awesome illusion. Awesome!

You can see more images from this project here.


2)

I've recently found and fallen in love with the website, This Japanese Life, which is written by a New England expat in Japan. His writing is insightful and hilarious and most of all interesting. One of my favorite posts I've read so far is: On Forgetting your Umbrella in Japan. Have a read!


3)

If you know anything about Kirk and I, you know how much we adore Ikea kitchens.  Obviously we are not alone, I stumbled upon this video a few days ago and it just made me laugh. Also Kirk and I recently reread this funny article called Ode to the Ikea Cabinet. This also made me laugh...again. So if you want to pay homage to the affordability and versatility that is the Ikea kitchen, read and watch!

Hope you all are having a lovely week!

xoxoxoxo -Amy

I Want to Go to That

Hello! I have been doing a lot of traveling this week... on  the Great Oracle that is.  :) I recently have found some places that I urgently need to see. Here they are as follows:

 1) Kiteya in Soho NY

They sell new Kyoto fashion, accessories, and home goods as well as fabrics and papers. I can't wait until my next trip to the Big Apple, this is already bookmarked on my map!

2) Mitsuwa Summer Festival in  NJ: Saturday 8/18/12


Who knew that Mitsuwa had a Summer Matsuri?! Well maybe you did but I didn't! And so close to home! Taiyaki, Okonomiyaki Pancakes, yakitori, green tea ice cream.... ok you know why I'm going!

3) Mathematics of Light by Chin Chih Yang,  at the Towson University Asian Arts Gallery. Now - 7/29/12

This exhibit looks so interesting! According to the website, "Yang's "Mathematics of Light" is sculpture/installation made of cans, tubing from hospital oxygen masks and other recyclable materials, which signals a conservation aesthetic in a society for the most part dedicated to waste"


SOooo, I'll be a busy lady for the next few weeks! Hopefully I'll get to these places and have some fun photos to share with you all!

xoxoxox -Amy

Morning sunshine

Got up bright and early, the weather has really cooled down from last week! I recently have been drinking hazelnut coffee and it makes my mornings so much happier :) A nice breeze is motivating me to get ahead of some work, that is truly rare.

In other news, we are getting ready to make an office space for Kirk! The room is so bare looking, it's odd. Cleaning out that room pushed us to clean out a bunch of rooms and we donated more clothing and objects the other day. My observation from cleaning is: out of sight, out of mind is really real! Who knew I needed these old magazines I hadn't seen for years until I re-found them yesterday? Hahaha what are some of your cleaning epiphanies?

Xoxoxo - Amy

Ikat I like

Sort of obsessed with these new summer ikat fabrics! They go with everything! Did you know that there are beautiful ikat fabrics in Japan called kasuri? They are woven fabrics that use dyed and resist dyed strands to create patterns mainly in indigo. Love!!

Xoxoxo- Amy

Triangle crazy

I think I've gone overboard with the triangle theme :) I just can't seem to get enough of this geometry! (and if you know how mathematically challenged I am, that is not a phrase I would EVER say haha) Here are some photos for you:

Brand new in the shop: Half Star Necklace 

Prototype of long tassel diamond earrings

 

Triangle Ikat Earrings

 

This last photo shows a pair of earrings that I'm currently experimenting with. Hopefully they will be available later in the month! 

It's gorgeous outside hope you're making the most of it!

xoxoxox -Amy

Spring is Here! Pretty things to wear!

The sun is shining, the plants are growing and we cut our lawn the other day. Spring is really here :)

I also have listed a bouquet of new pieces in the shop! I love them all! Especially the tiny triangles necklace, so in loveeeee!