Wednesday 18 January 2012

intangibly treasured


at about 3.30 this morning
Morpheus kicked aside the covers
and went somewhere else
leaving me sleepless
so i dangled a hand over the edge of the bed
 and fished up the nearest piece of reading material
which happened to be


an excellent text sent to me by
Janet de Boer
organiser of the Geelong Textile Forum
where Miyoko Kawahito will be teaching later this year

pootling through the pages i learned something new [several, really]

that in Japan, certain processes may be denoted Intangible Treasures. and then there are also Tangible Treasures.
and 
that there is actually a proper Japanese descriptor for the process of beating leaves into cloth. Miyoko Kawahito calls it tataki-zome, whereas i gave it the label hapa-zome [back in 2006 when i sat in the green room of the Yamaguchi Performing Arts Centre, beating leaves from roadside weeds and cemetery prunings into a 6 metre x 6 metre floorcloth for a scene in "Wanderlust"]

the funny thing is that hapa-zome has become part of the dye vocabulary and i've even seen it referred to [in print] as "the ancient art of hapa-zome". the art may indeed be ancient but the appellation certainly isn't.

anyway, for the record
tataki means "beaten"
whereas hapa means "leaf"

Martha was busy digesting a mouse
and couldn't care less

7 comments:

  1. The funny things is, the cat and the bed and the book is allways related in my life and please dont hold it against me but since i'm used to hapa-zome i like to keep it that way.......
    XXXm

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  2. pootling is what Winne-the Pooh does in the HUndred Acre Wood. a sort of purposeful wandering. or it could be Jeremy Clarkson in a sprightly motor along a country lane.

    and thanks Martine, i'm sticking with hapa-zome...much sentimental value in it for me!

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  3. I love the lyrical values of this post -- the pootling experiences are light and airy. You made me smile. Thank you!

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  4. I guess I haven't been by in a while. Love the new look of the blog and the lovely red prints. I think I'll pootle off to bed now, nearly 3 AM and I hope I have some luck in actually falling asleep.

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  5. Ahh, thanks for the 'pootling' clarification - I'm better now. Agreeing with Pat, love the new background and, joy of joys, my copy of Second Skin arrived yesterday (delicious and gorgeous and so much more) along with the new Selvedge ... a perfect mail day. I'm a happy camper in the mountains of western North Carolina.

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