Losing Our Cool

Losing Our Cool is a book about the consequences air conditioning has had on the environment and people's health...

That was one of the chief reasons I wrote the book was the ill ease I felt in going through neighborhoods that I knew had once been very lively places in the summer and then turned into dead zones. You would not see any human life out there, and the only sound would be the compressors and fans on the air conditioners. And I really do believe that what has been called by one author "nature deficit disorder" is a problem that has been facilitated by air conditioning. You can make a dark home entertainment center with cool, still, dry air a lot more appealing than a meadow, say, in summer. - author Stan Cox

Radio segment heard here.

thought about textiles

Textiles embody the creative vision of cultures that produced them.  
- Gerhardt Knodel

don't go chasing waterfalls

Did a serious hike in Escondido Park in Malibu this past weekend. It was amazing, but we did not know what we were getting ourselves into! The saying for the day - Don't go chasing waterfalls!!

sewing lately

I've been on a serious sewing kick lately. Trying to get my skills up to date for Haystack. With the help of Jin at Common Thread who reminded me of the word improvise, Cal Patch's book, and some YouTube videos, I've managed to get over my sewing hump and am finally feeling liberated.
Made 3 cute summer tank tops, one using a classic seersucker fabric I've had in a drawer for over a year now cut on the bias and the other straight grain using echino fabric, green one is being re altered. Love them and have worn them too much already. 

Altered a dress from a size large to a medium. Bought it on sale so no returns. Took in the sides and part of the shoulders. Wow. I learned more about the intuitive feel of clothing construction and how those little pins that tailors use to "take in" a garment becomes a perfect fit. It's not about cutting a straight line, but making it seem like a straight line when you wear it. 2d vs 3d perhaps?

And this last week and a half involved making a pattern from an existing top I already have. This is the top with sleeves. This has been the biggest aha moment. The tracing tool is brilliant and yes, I have a closet full of clothes I want to recreate. Lots of work, but worth it if the style and fit are right.

More fabric to last me till the end of the summer!

happy 4th

I LOVE fireworks. We went to our local park to see these. So fun and great to gather with the community! It's been 30 years since they've put on a show. According to our local councilman and thanks to private sponsors, the reality was to bring people's spirits up from the high unemployment.  Happy July 4th and thanks to all our troops and veterans for their service.

PS. ...and I think this is still Venus (per Lou) in plain sight!

white flowers

white flower spots everywhere on our hikes. look like snow, maybe because they usually grow from brown stems.

around

shoe store hanging rattan chair installation near hollywood farmers market, tim hawkinson's "Orrery" with the spinning dress pattern, echino by etsuko furuya fabric, first baby tomatoes from a plant given by lorrie and dyane, evening on the patio...

a moment

I'm sitting outside in the backyard in perfect partial sun, writing my little posts, listening to the birds chirping from all sides and feeling the warm summer breeze whose gust has been fervently blowing my laundry off the drying rack. lol.

Ptolemy Mann

Ptolemy Mann is a British textile artist I had the privilege of hearing speak a few weeks back at the Christopher Farr Gallery. Her signature work takes the process of ikat and modernizes with color and in the form of a stretched canvas rather than a wall hanging. I love classic ikat, but it was exciting to see the reinvention. She is also a color consultant for architects wanting to add a dimension of color to their structures. It seems like such an obvious collaboration, but apparently a new way of thinking as well. A hospital is one of the works in progress. I asked her about how she comes up with her color combinations while dying her yarns, she compared it to being a painter mixing paints. She recently came out with a gorgeous line of soon to be available ikat inspired upholstery fabric that are actually beautifully laser printed fabrics. Thanks David!

Ikat book

Ikat has been resurfacing around me these last few months so I'm taking it as a sign to investigate.

Got this great new used book called The Dyer's Art: Ikat, Batik, Plangi. It's describes these ancient dyeing processes and has big colorful photos of historical textiles. It's even signed by author and famed weaver Jack Lenor Larsen. 

First of all, the process of dyeing is coloring fiber and then using something else like mordant to fix it" or keep it from washing away or make it "colorfast". Products like Rit dye are all-in-one products which makes it easy to do in your washing machine.

The look of ikat is the soft feathery edges of a woven graphic on a textile as a result of the imperfect handmade quality of dyeing and weaving by hand.

In the process if weaving ikat, yarns of a warp are wrapped in certain spots to resist dye, so when yarns are dyed, then unwrapped, and put under tension on loom it creates a warp with a dyed design.

Will try dyeing first!!

an evening walk

weekend in 30 seconds

digital harinezumi

playing with my new digital harinezumi these last few evenings... video next. love this sample video. via Lisa

the week...

Ice and blue carnations at TOTNLA; real lens flare effect in a nighttime shot; new ikat placemats from the PI; ceramic art from UCLA MFA open studio; tree roots...

words of wisdom

"Moderate your greed." - R.L.N.

clouds

followed the clouds this weekend...

spirograph and sun prints

Baby-sat my 4 year old nephew today and played with an updated version of the Spirograph. This was one of my favorite things as a child. We also did sun prints from Berkeley's Lawrence School of Science which I had never tried before. The last pic is of his 2 year old brother messing around and whose little hand we sun printed. In their words it was "awesome!"

Venice Beach

Spent some time in the Venice Beach area this weekend. Quintessential Venice sunglasses, the skate park on the boardwalk, my favorite - the guys who fly the gianormous kites, a nightime shot from the balcony, yellow powder coated table here and this awesome watercolor poster by David Hockney from the window of a shop on Abbot Kinney. Too cold for May, but being by the ocean is good r & r no matter what. Will be back for warmer temps when it's really summer...

photo album and box kits

These last few months, Yuka and I have successfully carved out some "crafternoon" time on Fridays for making these photo album and box kits from Paper-Source. We both realized that we hoarded them (I actually made 2 of those pink boxes a la Lily Pulitzer) way back and needed to bring them to life. The instructions need a little help and it takes some time getting used to the cutting and gluing, but we're seriously pro now. Hoorah!

more around Manila

Picture of my Lola (my grandmother), grade school classroom in Liliw, handwoven paymapay (fan) in Greenhills, hot pan de sal and queso (hot bread and cheese) before breakfast, my uncle's collection of chinese miniature statues, election time banners (update: Nonoy Aquino wins presidency).