Another blast from the past...

I found some photos of the miniature kimonos I made when playing around with the ideas from Itchiku Kubota. They are not very sophisticated, but they show thoughts starting to take form. I found John Marshall's book "Make Your Own Japanese Clothes" and read up on the layout of a kimono, how to measure to make one, and the planning of patterns so they line up at side seams. Again, a student on a budget, not sure how they dye the fabric to create patterns--so I experimented with stuff I had on hand and went really small--like 8 inches tall. I even found my patterns I drew out and the instructions I made. I think it will be worth revisiting now that I have learned some shibori and rice paste resist techniques to see how I have (hopefully) matured. I think of the kimono as a shaped canvas--beautiful because of its shape and line, but a wonderful canvas for my imagination.

So, without further rambling from my brain, here are those early works:




The kimono above was made by dripping colored india ink on fabric and the lining was made by tie dyeing and sprinkling dry rit dye onto wet cloth. Pretty primitive but again it was stuff I had on hand. If I am remembering correctly, the fabric is part of a lot of old cotton sheets my grandma was going to throw away and I was using them for muslins as I was trying to learn to draft patterns. More little kimonos to come...