Junko Oki / Woky Shoten – poesy

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Remember this post about my favorite embroiderer Junko Oki and my efforts to get my hands on one of her books? Well, I finally succeeded and yesterday received a copy of her wonderful book ‘poesy’.

It features her beautiful embroidery, bags, clothes and simple cloths, some of which are photographed in the context of a room or the outdoors to highlight their beauty. The book came with an introduction written in English where she explains her dreams of becoming a poet.

This is clearly what she is: a poet armed with needle and thread.

In her own words:

” When I have needles, threads, and other special materials in front of me, something stirs deep inside my unconscious mind in spite of myself and I am filled with strong emotion. That is when I regain my true self.”

Here are a few impressions from her book:


It was hard to chose which pictures to feature, as something always gets lost in translation.

But here is the good news: if you would like to purchase the book, you can and it is easy and fast: The price is 2000yen plus postage.

Contact Junko Oki at: mmtukj(at)nifty.com and she’ll send you an invoice through paypal. As soon as you pay, it’ll be on its way and 3-5 days later you’ll hold it in your hands. If you order one, please say hello from me!

Junko Oki is a wonderful source of inspiration and thank you Momo (her sister) for helping with the translations.

….poesy – another day another walk

Stitching, Books and the Human Experience

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Isn’t it interesting how hard it is to stitch freestyle? Or is it just me?

After a few more stitches on my practice piece, I once again realized that stitching is only meditative when I know where the needle should go next. Free style stitching without any plan is not relaxing, but there is something new for me to learn here. Not sure what yet. Maybe patience?

On another note we’re in the midst of our bi-annual booksale and this weekend hardcover books were down to 2 dollars each. Imagine an old warehouse filled with thousands of books. It’s heaven! This is a selection of what I schlepped home: Dorothy Parker’s Stories, Creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and a German version of The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan by James Justinian Morier of “the many adventures of a nineteenth-century Persian rogue, none of which involve honest labor”. It’s from 1829 and the oldest book I now own.

To touch pages that are over 180 years old is wonderful. They’re almost transparent and the book is in great shape; it has been treasured and well taken care of. To imagine that it was so special to someone that it was brought by boat all the way from Germany and has made it into the 21st century.

One book that I am particularly looking forward to reading is “Cloth and Human Experience” a collection of essays by anthropologists of the role of cloth: ” Cloth in Small Scale Societies”, “Cloth and the Creation of Ancestor’s in Madagascar” and “the Changing Fortunes of Three Archaic Japanese Textiles” are just some of the exciting chapters I can’t wait to read.

While searching for the amazon link, I stumbled over another book, which sounds equally intriguing: Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times by Elizabeth Wayland Barber. I just read the first few pages and the book starts by looking at the reasons why sewing and cooking were women’s work for thousands of years.

The premise is that in order to not lose women’s productivity in the childbearing years, they had to be assigned work that allowed easy care for children. After all, children were nursed much longer than they are now. The work had to be somewhat repetitive and boring so it could be put down or picked up easily, when a child needed to be fed or taken care of; work, that was not dangerous for the mother or child and could be done from home. Food and clothing both fulfill these criteria.

Does this come to full circle in the blog world? Look at all the food and sewing blogs out there, many by mothers with small children.

While in the past sewing was shared with family and local community, now the sewing circles have become much larger and that’s a wonderful thing.

Thank you internet!

From Around the WWW

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Love the Hand-Made Etsy series. This week Mitsy from Artmind was featured whose work and blog (with great tutorials) are very inspiring.

Another wonderful portrait is of mother daughter team Ayşegül & Sebahat in Bolo, Turkey.

Seedbombs are a cool way to beautify your neighborhood and vacant lots through guerrilla gardening. Uncommon goods has 6 different kinds to choose from, suitable for the different US regions. Instructables has a “How-To” for making your own.

Skateboarding seems one way to battle midlife crisis according to this article.

When your toaster breaks in Amsterdam, you can go to the Repair Cafe. A couple of times a month, people can bring in whatever they want to have repaired, at no cost, by volunteers who simply like to fix things. Read the NY Times article.

Maurice Sendak, author of “Where the Wild Things Are” died this week. Here he is talking with comedian Stephen Colbert in one of his last interviews. An outtake from the conversation found on exp.lore.com:

COLBERT: What’s the best thing a parent can do for a child?
SENDAK: Love him, or her.
COLBERT: What does that mean?
SENDAK: Take them for what they are.

There is also still a chance to win Maya’s Reinvention book until Saturday 12 noon EDT.

Enjoy your weekend!

The Art of Reinventing and a Very Special Give-Away

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My dear friend Maya has written a beautiful book: Reinvention: Sewing with Rescued Materials. It features 28 great projects made from recycled material celebrating creativity, sustainability and resourcefulness.

If you haven’t found your own copy yet, here’s your chance to win one, courtesy of the publisher Wiley. Just leave a comment below with your contact information by Saturday, May 12 at 12pm EDT and I’ll announce the winner on Sunday.

I met Maya years ago and we soon discovered a shared love for making something out of nothing, or more precise, out of recycled material. Maya had already taken the blog world by storm with her burlap buckets which were featured on every major design blog. I was experimenting with needle and thread, making t-shirt skirts and linen rings.

Maya motivated me to try my hand at writing a blog, and annekata wouldn’t exist without her constant encouragement over many cups of coffee. That’s what real life friends can do. Her inspiring conversation made moving beyond my comfort zone sound easy and fun. When she revealed her plans for creating a book featuring projects using all recycled materials, I was thrilled.

It is a wonderful book. Her projects are perfect for beginners and advanced sewers alike, because the instructions are clear, but leave room for experimentation. In fact, she specifically invites readers to create their own versions of the designs. And that is just what I like.

As a hand-sewer I was curious to see if there were projects that could be done using just needle and thread and there were plenty. The trivets below are a great example of a project that’s beautiful in its simplicity, but can be taken further. It’s perfect for a beginner. Sewing circles with a straight stitch is simple and meditative. Wouldn’t a bottle of wine with these coasters make a special gift?
My first trivet/coasters were a bit wonky, but I like when hand-made looks like it was made by hand.

This grey coaster (left) got a “haircut” to reveal some of the red wool layer underneath. My future coasters will include embroidery, applique, reverse applique and freestyle stitching using different colors.

The green trivet below right is my favorite. The circles close to the center were spaced evenly and then closer together. At first I planned to knot off after each circle, but it is less time consuming to “hide” the thread between the layers of wool when moving from circle to circle. Depending on how thick the material is, use as many layers of wool as you see fit.  It’s one of those perfect small projects that can be done in an evening. Very very satisfying.
There are plenty of other projects that can be done by hand besides the trivets: The story-scarf, the reversible summer bag, the insulated lunch sack and versatile blossom bands made from jersey all pictured below.

More projects for hand-sewers include a girls forager skirt and a clever vintage linen bag to store your undies or socks. I have never sewn burlap by hand, but her inspiration board doesn’t even require needle or thread.

‘Reinvention’ is organized by material and includes a short history of linen, burlap, jersey, wool, denim, Tyvek and vintage linens, which she embellishes with freezer paper stenciling. Personal stories and a special cookie recipe give the book a warm feel and personal touch.

Reinvention is one fantastic book! (For a signed copy by Maya, you can order it here.)

Don’t forget to enter the give-away in the comment section below (at this time unfortunately only open to US residents).

***
Please follow along with the rest of the Reinvention tour to see more of the book, enter the contest and even some free projects!
week one
5/2- Craft
week two
5/7 Whip Up
5/10 Annekata
week three
5/15 Etsy (tuesday tutorial)
5/17 Made

The Greatest Human Strength

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This morning I awoke at 5am. After 8 hours of sleep (yes, very early bedtime yesterday) I was reasonably well rested, but for me there is no such thing as too much sleep. The bed was warm, soft and cozy, it was still dark outside and the air was crisp. But I also knew that not only was there no post for today, but I also didn’t have the faintest idea about what to write.

Of course, now that you’re reading this, you know what I did. After making myself a cup of tea, I started typing while watching the sun rise. This was my first act of willpower for the day. And that is what today’s post is all about.

All of us need willpower. Think of what happens during a typical day: traffic can be frustrating, the snide comment is swallowed when the store clerk is slow, you resist the cookies left on the table and bite your tongue when your partner does something stupid. All of these situations require willpower.

Researcher Roy F. Baumeister and NY Times writer John Tierney have written a fascinating book called “Willpower“. We all know that willpower diminishes during the day and yes, there is scientific proof. We are more likely to lose temper in the evening, when self-control has been used extensively over the course of the day. That’s also the time when we’re most likely to eat junk food. An exception is when women have PMS. That makes us wake-up without any willpower at all and is responsible for really bad decisions, including ridiculous haircuts, binging on junk food and losing temper without any reason whatsoever in inappropriate situations. All of that is covered in the book.

“Willpower” is not only a great read about willpower, but also gives plenty of practical advise. Chapters include:

Where does the Power of Willpower Come From?
A Brief History of The To-Do List
Raising Strong Children: Self-Esteem Vs Self-Control and
The Perfect Storm of Dieting

One last and interesting fact: People with strong self-control spend less time resisting desires. Why? Because people with good self-control (willpower) use it less for rescue in emergency situations, but rather to develop effective strategies to prevent these emergency situations from happening. And that makes sense: The closer a looming deadline, the more willpower is necessary.

I wish all of you a productive week!

Willpower: Rediscovery of the Greatest Human Strength
Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney
ISBN-10: 1594203075
ISBN-13: 978-1594203077

If Peas Can Talk… Pottery and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

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Who knew that peas can talk?

This and other interesting and inspiring finds from a around the web to conclude this week:

A team of researchers found out that pea plants who were subjected to drought conditions can communicate the distress through their root system to nearby plants, which helps the other plants to respond appropriately. In other words, they can talk. The Secret life of plants is more complex than previously thought.

Watched this beautiful slow video of potter Maria Bosch hand building a vessel. This would be the way to work if I ever ventured into experimenting with clay. Toast’s travel blog is very inspiring.

Read an interesting article on “artisanal” production and “Made in Italy” which made me think about what “hand-made” really means. GOOD magazine features many more inspiring topics on ethical style.

Two new books I want to read/look at are Tomboy Style: Beyond the Boundaries of Fashion and Advanced Style.

And last, but not least, I can’t wait to see the feel-good movie “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel“, which is opening in the US today. Seven financially distressed Britons, amongst them Judi Dench, Maggy Smith and Bill Nighy are lured into spending their retirement in Jaipur India. It got a great review in the NYTimes. Has anyone here from the UK seen the movie?

Enjoy your weekend…

Bangs Or Not : From Ellen Barkin to Donald Trump

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This is a post that could have probably stayed in draft mode forever. But it didn’t.

Yesterday evening I decided is was hair salon time. It’s always salon “annekata”, because I don’t like proper haircuts, which I’ve talked about before.

I think haircuts are a lot like shoes in the sense that one is always on the lookout for the perfect pair. One that will be comfortable and stylish at the same time and go with everything from jeans to summer dresses. However, the perfect pair doesn’t exist and that’s why I own many shoes, most of which lead a totally sedentary life in my closet.

With hair, it’s much the same. I’m always looking for the “perfect cut”. The one that fits my face, reflects how I feel and is unfussy. I’ve been wearing some kind of a bob since my 20′s, but now it is more layered and not the Louise Brooks type that I favored at the time. But even with layers, I’m afraid that a bob might be a too childish haircut for me, especially with my greys coming in.

Here’s the question: Shall I grow out the bangs, will grey bangs look cool, or just plain ridiculous? Should I dip dye them green when the time comes?

Getting older has its challenges and there seems to be two ways of going about it. First there is the “I ignore my age and dress and style myself the exact way I did when I was 30″ or “I re-invent myself and dress myself entirely different to reflect the older me”. I guess I’m somewhere in between.

Have you ever changed your hair style dramatically and has your age something to do with it? Do you wear bangs now and haven’t before? Bangs are supposed to make one look younger, isn’t that true?

Isn’t it interesting how much hair has to do with how we feel? After all,  graying hair make us aware of the passing of time. And besides, one can think perfectly well about the world economy in the morning and wonder about (grey) bangs in the evening.

Of course, the French are exempt from getting old, I think they become timeless and seamlessly transition to icons of style. Look at Isabelle Huppert on the left, without and with bangs. I think she’s in her late 50′s in these images. Same for Ellen Barkin, who is not French, but whose wonderfully crooked smile I’ve loved ever since “Diner“. I’d say no to bangs for either of them.
Women seem to constantly change their hair style, even if just a little. They part their hair right, left or in the middle. Last year, Radiolab broadcast an interesting episode “Desperately Seeking Symmetry“. It included the feature  “Mirror Mirror” about mirror images and right handed and left handed molecules. A sweet man named John Walter explains how changing the part in his hair subsequently changed his life. It was intriguing and prompted me for the first time in my adult life to change the part in my hair from left to right for three months. My life didn’t change, so I changed it back.

Men don’t seem to experiment much with their hair except maybe Brad Pitt and Donald Trump. Most of them seem to adopt a hairstyle and then keep it for the rest of their lives (until it falls out).

What do you think? Bangs or no bangs or long bangs, that is the question (but only for today).

Elfi Cella

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Isn’t it clever how this artist  incorporates clothes into her painting?

Elfi Cella is a Swiss based painter, who paints miniatures and mixes paint and textiles in a wonderfully innovative way. Now that’s what I call fabric manipulation.

Not sure if this is printed or painted, but it’s very much alive and intriguing. To me it’s like catching a glimpse of an emotional storm .
She has a blog in French, but I haven’t found much more of her work on the web.

Aren’t her pieces spectacular?

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