My chaotic wanderings through creation and restoration.
As I mentioned in my post about resizing haori, I was handed the opportunity to create another tutorial about patching a hole. Since that haori was decidedly sewn together by a...crazy person...originally, it led to some damage that I had to repair on the fabric as I removed the stitches. I'm not going to go … Continue reading Tutorial–Patching A Hole
Before we get into it, I want you to know that I lost my goddamn mind creating this tutorial. I picked this haori to use for this tutorial because it's one that I want to wear in the super near future, and because of my -looks down- large tracks of land, I would have needed … Continue reading Tutorial–Resizing Haori
Alright, buckle up, nerds. I've been driving myself absolutely insane on getting satisfactory images and video to use in this tutorial for the better part of a month now, and I gotta tell you, I absolutely suck at taking video of things I'm doing with a tripod. In the end, I had to check with … Continue reading Tutorial–Couching Repairs
I'm making lots of great progress on this piece, gifted to me for restoration by Nancy from Kyoto Kimono. As predicted, most of my work is sewing. I had to wait for awhile to get the proper weight and color for threads in to get started, but now that they're here, things are going very … Continue reading Update: Restoration In Progress–Castles And Dreams
I have been asked a few dozen times over the years by various individuals, usually in good faith, why my lily-white ass is so interested in kimono and such. It's usually people that don't know me very well that ask that question, because if they did then they know that I'm a goddamn artist and … Continue reading Restoration In Progress–The Elephant In The Obutsudan
I sat silently on the floor in my room with both hands over my mouth after I hung this up. My little ritual when I open up a new kimono package is to avoid inspecting it closely until I have it hung up properly. Then I just sank to my knees; I was speechless. I … Continue reading Restoration In Progress–Castles & Dreams
Pictured: OHMIGOD OHMIGOD OHMIGOD OHMIGOD Or at least I think it's an uchikake. I'm actually not fully sure. I rarely get to handle uchikake this old to begin with, and this will be the first that I own if that's what it is. I know that older ones tend to be structurally different than the … Continue reading Restoration In Progress–Meiji Takarabune Uchikake
There are a few risks--or maybe "hazards" is a better word--when buying vintage and antique kimono domestically. You are, frequently:A. buying from someone who really doesn't know what they have, and never knew how to care for itB. buying based off of really bad photosC. cannot anticipate how they will ship it.D. ALL OF THE … Continue reading Meiji Kuromontsuki–Hidden Decadence
Gentle Irises On Deep Purple Textured Silk 100 Years Old The finished piece. I actually very recently finished this old girl, considering how long I've had her. It came to me with a lot of damage--as a lot of kimonos that I buy domestically do. In fact, I bought it as an "oriental bathrobe." What … Continue reading Meiji Furisode–Soft Ayame & …shaving?
Silk & Bones 