My chaotic wanderings through creation and restoration.
Vivid Pink Plum Blossoms Against A Gilded Temple With The Seven Treasures On Purple Silk. If I'm being accurate, I have been finished with this piece for a few weeks now. I wanted to wait until my new iko (kimono stand) was ready to do this entry. Originally, she was the first piece I was … Continue reading Castles & Dreams–Restoration Complete
Peaceful Willow Branches Over Running Water On Black Silk. Story time. A few days ago, I was clicking mindlessly through my usual kimono-buying haunts. You know, just seeing what's good, what's interesting, what's new, and perhaps what's mislabeled for my grubby little claws. I ran into this one with just a frontal picture. It also … Continue reading Antique Hikizuri–Willow & Water Wheel
Vibrant White And Red Plum Blossoms Intertwined With Golden Pine Sprigs On Black Silk. It's chilly for May, so it felt like a good day to show this one off. I'm kidding. I don't have a good excuse to show this one off. I don't need a good excuse to show this one off. In … Continue reading Taisho Kuromontsuki-Living The Dream
Flaming Red Silhouettes Of Bamboo Stalks And Leaves On Decadent Silk. This week has been kind of wet and miserable, so I've taken some time to start photographing some of my absolute favorite "full kimono" pieces in my collection; meaning pieces that aren't a jacket (haori, douchugi, michiyuki). I'd also like to point out that … Continue reading Taisho Era Houmongi-Sasa Sunset Fire
I started this journey looking for a haribako--a sewing box. You see, right now I'm using a tackle box, and it's fine I guess, but as my collection of silk threads, couching threads, needles, and other such repair items for my antique kimono repairs gets larger and larger, it's starting to be a massive pain … Continue reading Restoration In Progress–Taisho Era Kyodai
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
Vibrant Carp Jumping In Wild Waves On Black Sheer Woven Silk. Today is a little different, even though it's really not because I don't think I've actually had this blog long enough to have established any patterns. I'm working on a tutorial for resizing haori, and in the meantime I was posting pictures of my … Continue reading Taisho Kuromontsuki–Dancing Koi
Warm Hued Black Silk Gauze Internally Painted With Drums And Weeping Willow. Did you see it? The sun! The goddamn sun was out today! And we edge ever closer to springtime here in the US Midwest. It's currently the proper mud season, but it's trying to be warm and so here I am, continuing my … Continue reading Antique Haori–Summer Music
Vibrant Bamboo Leaves On Beautiful Teal Silk With Woven Gold Threads. Here's another piece that qualifies as a restoration that I never bothered to keep any records on. It's actually pretty safe to say that most of my older kimono qualify as that in one way or another. I usually have to clean something, remove … Continue reading Taisho Haori–Bamboo Explosion
Silk & Bones 