Wednesday, February 23, 2011

learning matsuo kozo

so this is what i did in toronto. a bamboo basket, with red lacquer paint. 
matsuo kozo, 1/2 sheet
ready to spin
i stayed in the place where my book becomes a journal for many others' thoughts.
my dear friend wendy and i had lovely conversations.
laughter, and caring.
i leave her grateful, challenged, and celebrated for being just myself. 
this is the amazing gift that mature friendship brings.
i worked with hiroko karuno to understand and expand my shifu education. 
i have far to go, but i must say that getting to this place was a huge victory for me. 
can you see the tiny arches formed between each "string"?
this step proved to be most difficult for me. 
my awkward hands fumbled as i sought to understand the work necessary to prepare 
kozo for spinning. eventually certain things "clicked".
i love that concrete blocks are just fine for this!
one half sheet (two quarters) of matsuo kozo, prepared for spinning.
this elegant wheel is perfect for the job. 
it has a wonderful flexibility in the "maidens" which are made from corded bamboo sheaths. 
(and i suspect also in the wheel adjustments for the drive band)
hiroko sent me home with my two small skeins wrapped around 
a plastic covered bobbin, still damp, 
with instructions to wind off while still a tiny bit damp. 
i forgot to photograph them in their damp state, i was so eager to skein them!
so at 10:30, after my train and car trips, 
i eagerly began to wind off my skeins.
89 yards.
i am ridiculously delighted with this spinning, this handwork, 
this almost meditation of making.
i honor hiroko, her kind husband, my dear wendy, and her husband.
i thank toronto, a city i'm learning to love.
i was made to feel very welcome, for this most exciting step in my textile education. 
when i prepare to make shifu, 
it seems like all the parts of my making are coming together.

20 comments:

  1. the making of shifu seems to be a special kind of magic

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  2. Wonderful. Both the process and the result.

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  3. Beautiful shifu, lovely thoughts. Looking forward to seeing how it all evolves...

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  4. oh, velma! SO HAPPY for you and your learning! the arches!!! you did it!! that IS the hardest part, i think, the rolling part (which is the part i could never figure out and always tried to work my way around). i love that you always keep learning and keep going towards what you love, like plants to sun. and though i know wendy loved having you, i also know wendy is very happy to have you back. the travel makes HOME all the more precious.

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  5. you are so right, aimee.

    the experience was all i could have wished for, and more. except the part about me dropping my roll of paper in a puddle...

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  6. oh,oh, I'm speechless. wonderful arches and shifu thread. We used concrete blocks at Kawashima but I use the back of carpet samples now as I was worried that the concrete was too harsh. I'll have to give it another try. I always wanted to bring a Japanese wheel home but couldn't fit it in my luggage.

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  7. i thought you might know the arches!!! i want a japanese spinning wheel, too.

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  8. what a creatively spiritual experience!

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  9. I love that wheel! - I am trying to imagine what all the strange terms and techniques are leading toward..... but enjoying the story even in my ignorance

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  10. What a wonderful exploration, experience and success! It all loos so mesmerising and enticing, fragile delicate and strong. I love the ongoing learning process and that gentle sense of mastery. Continue to explore and enjoy F

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  11. V - an amazing painstaking art - requires too much patience for me but I so admire it and you. B

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  12. and it's really *just* spinning...requires presence. and strength, surprisingly.
    the wheel is a tool perfectly crafted for its use. the differences between it and, say my louet s10, are not so different yet subtly precise for the intention.

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  13. japanese tools are simple beauty and oh so effective!it's the difference between good,but not perfect as sensei would say and perfection

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  14. I'm fascinated by that wheel too. This is such a great post...

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  15. yes, the wheel was exactly the right tool. good, butnot perfect, and perfection. i like that.

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  16. incredible! you've experienced something i yearn to do; learn shifu from hiroko karuno. i was able to touch a woven piece along with some skeins of hers while in kyoto last november, so light! the delicacy and fragility of the work, yet so strong!
    if i was spinning then, i would have tried to bring a wheel home along with all of the weaving tools i managed to carry through the airport. if you're desperate for a japanese wheel, check out this website for a kyoto weaving store: http://english.inagakikiryou.com/kudamaki.html it's listed as a bobbin winder.

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  17. edit: this one's the spinning wheel link...http://english.inagakikiryou.com/s_tumugi.html

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