kaimito | studio

on trying on the google view of the world

2011-07-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

Google is beyond just a company, it's a concept, an entity, even officially a verb that for nerds like me to conjure "Google" and what that means to step foot in its offices, meet their people is like winning a date with a movie star like Matt Damon. It's insane.

I went to a hackathon sponsored by Google for the Apps for Metro Chicago initiative today and my brain is straining. You know how you haven't exercised in a while and you start and the next day you feel an ache in a part of your body that you don't recognize. It is like that.

Apps for Metro Chicago is a contest sponsored by the city inviting designers and developers to create applications from the massive datasets that the city is opening up for free for everyone to use and make sense of.

I met and worked with some incredibly smart people today --- not just from Google but also from local companies like Obtiva, Webitects, Advanced Objects --- and it was exciting and inspiring. It puts in perspective the daily grind that we call work to show that behind it, outside of the need to make a living, is this desire to do good, to put something out there that is you, that is useful, that means something to someone. It's easy to be critical of something so huge as Google but I'm glad to discover on a somewhat personal level that it lives up to the hype.

with googley eyes,
A.

Inspiration: Erin Considine

2011-07-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

Source: erinconsidine.com via ashima on Pinterest

I love the photography of Erin Considine's Spring 2011 collection. With digital cameras being so proliferate, there is so much emphasis on clarity of edges, the likeness to life. I've always been drawn to middle -- the story of my life -- that halfway point between unknown and clarity that tends to be vague and subtle. I want to embrace that in my own life.

--Ashima
09 July 2011

Inspiration: Evan Hecox

2011-07-09T09:23:00.000-07:00

Evan Hecox from Incase on Vimeo.

A beautiful look at the creative process of Evan Hecox. Old school talent combined with modern sensibility for color and boldness is a winning combination to me. Below is a. 19-color handmade screen print on archival paper. So beautiful and precise.

Source: evanhecox.com via ashima on Pinterest

--ashima
9 July 2011

on repeatability

2011-06-25T16:09:00.000-07:00

Life is getting less hectic and it's nice. I've got a long list of to-do that I've been crossing off and it is the best feeling in the world. One of my silly to-dos was to learn to sew basic things for myself like tank tops and skirts. The time it takes to make these, if you are a novice like me, is so long sometimes I question why I even attempt it. If I paid myself the minimum wage, this tank top is at least $100. But I've come to the conclusion that I don't really do it for the money. I really do it out of curiosity. I'm fascinated by process and steps. When I see something, I think there's a way for me to do it if I just break it down into steps and then somehow whatever that thing is seems do-able. This at times have led me to lots of trouble too and I have a closet full of failed projects to show for it but most of the time it works.

I will confess I'm not a particularly good at sewing. The stitches are all wonky and I don't quite know how to correct the fit. I may even need to hand this one down to my little sister as it is a bit tight on the chest. Despite all these I continue to plan on these small sewing projects. The best thing about sewing from patterns is the ability to do-over and in doing over you have the opportunity to improve. Process -- what did I tell you. I think I like the repeatability of a process as I do the repeatability of printmaking. Here is a linen tank top from a pattern I downloaded from Jen of Grainline. You can find the steps and the pattern at her blog. Give it a try.

I'm going to wear this tank to a fundraiser for M.'s school on Pilsen. It's the perfect summer wear around these parts.

--Ashima
25 June 2011

What we've been up to

2011-06-24T15:06:00.001-07:00

Hello. Did you miss us? Has it really been that long since we last posted? Where did time go? I guess it went to some kind of reconfiguring is the best I can say about it. It's not for lack of projects. We've been busy. Personally I was on a mission to finish and catch up on a lot of things on my end. But we still met, the Women of Letter. We made a plan and we, more or less, stuck to it. Let's hope I can get it together to post more of those but let's just start with the present moment. I'm not big on chronology. I suck at it actually. I am best when I am in the moment. So here is what we we have been up to. A painted canvas rug, Navajo-looking, inspired by the southwest. This is our second now and we get more comfortable with the process with each one. All that remains of this one are two coats of polyurethane and then we can check this one done.

The best part about this project, at least for me, is that it is hosted by the letters M. (seen in picture) and K. and they've been so great at trying recipes from Real Simple. I had to buy the magazine for the nectarine and spiced chicken salad. The marinade for the chicken is yogurt seasoned with onions and masala spices. So yummy.

We've been working on this for weeks, but I'm always surprised at how it looks in the end. I love how the bright orange made all the other colors pop but my favorite feature is the tiniest bits of yellow, so subtle but so surprisingly strong.

I hope you are gearing up for a great summer. I hope it's filled with food and family and friends and visits to places that bring you joy and inspiration.

Cheers,

Ashima

24 June 2011

Up!

2011-03-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

I saw the Pixar-animated movie Up! on a long flight back from India. I saw it twice! That's how much I loved it. Being on air while watching a movie about a flying house --- okay so a bit melodramatic but you have to admit that I could not have set that up any better right?

Well so it happens I was wrong. A team of scientists, engineers, world-class balloon pilots, well they new knew much better -- way better -- that they recreated the whole scene. This is a must read for dreamers. Read more here.

Spring is around the corner. I can feel it. I don't even mind that I have to wake up a whole early tomorrow for the time change. Bring it on!

ashima
12 March 2011

on going home

2011-02-26T17:05:00.000-08:00

Natalie Chanin - Fashion Designer from Alabama Chanin on Vimeo.

My mother would never believe me

but I always think about going home.

I suppose it's part of the immigrant experience

to always feel torn.

see alabama chanin

--Ashima
27 February 2011

Rooted

2011-02-25T05:49:00.000-08:00

Imogene + Willie Story (Wide) from Ian Leach on Vimeo.

Lately my eyes have been rooted to videos from this jean company in Nashville, Imogene + Willie. I like places that make the world so big in small ways.

-Ashima
25 February 2011

This Plea is Brought to you by the Letter A

2011-02-22T19:31:00.000-08:00

Dear Women of Letters,

When I started referring to us as the Women of Letters it initially began because of our shyness in revealing (too much) our public identities in this blog. I wanted a way to refer to us without mentioning our real names. After all with a room full of women, the "She" pronoun can only go so far. A friend once said she liked how it alluded to intellectualism and the pursuit of higher thought. Of course I said suggesting it had been the intent all along. But here's a confession: what truly inspired the idea were memories of watching Sesame Street where each episode ends with credits that say: This show is brought to you by the letter A and the number 7. I loved how clever that was.

I'm afraid there is terrible news. The House of Representative recently passed a bill that cuts funding for the show where this inspiring idea began. This is cause for concern. While I understand the need to look into ways to cut spending, I feel that this decision is particularly misguided. The dynamics of our world is changing so rapidly and in enormous ways right before our eyes. With the glut of media choices before us, the need for unbiased, non-commercial avenues for news and programming is more important than ever.

If you have you ever watched Sesame Street, listened to Car Talk, or Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, This American Life, Sound Opinions. If you ever wished Carl Kasell's voice in your answering machine, discovered a fascinating bit about science through Nova or Science Friday, traveled the world through Globe Trekker or Rick Steves, cooked a meal with Julia Child and Jacques Pepin, then you are one of many. In fact you are part of 170 Million Americans each month that tune in to American Public Radio and TV for their news and entertainment.

Public broadcasting is the last remaining standard for quality in broadcast that is accessible to all Americans regardless of income and status. Anyone who has a working radio or TV with an antennae can get all these quality shows produced by dedicated professionals who truly believe that we have the capacity to be inspired by the true details of our lives and the world.

I can't imagine what it would be like without public broadcasting. I learned the alphabet and numbers from Sesame Street. My brother and I used to watch Jacques Pepin and Julia Child every Saturday when he was first learning to be a chef. In fact, the list of shows above are the first shows I watched when I first moved here from the Philippines. I have cable now but my Saturday line up to this day is Car Talk, Wait, Wait, This American Life. When I drive to Cleveland, I have a list of all the NPR public stations along my route. I have saved podcasts written by David Sedaris and Starlee Kline that are so funny I forget I am all alone in that long 6 hour drive to see my family. Public Broadcasting is part of our collective memory. It is the great equalizer. I truly believe that without it we will further the divide between rich and poor not just in this country but for all those other countries that rebroadcast American Public Programs.

My name is Ashima. My real name is Anna Marie and I support American Public Broadcasting. I ask you women of letters to join me in this campaign. Log on to 170MillionAmericans to show your support. 170 Million Americans is a collaborative site set up by public television and radio stations across the nation in an attempt to save their funding. Use this app to send an email to your senators to let them know that you support Public Broadcasting. Share these links to all your friends and family who will share this cause.

sincerely,
The Letter A
22 February 2011

menswear print studies

2011-02-09T21:26:00.000-08:00

You wouldn't know it because we've been so silent but things are going well. The tumult of the last half of the past year gave way and we are slowly just humming along. Some of us lead new lives in new cities. Some of us stayed put in our same old city, living in the same old apartments and sleeping in our same beds yet we find ourselves navigating a new landscape nonetheless. The Women of Letters remain committed to the task of exploration.

For Spring 2011, we prepare for more prints. We find ourselves thinking of rain. We've got a few ideas already. Me, I'm thinking menswear patterns. How that could possibly relate to rain, I have yet to figure it out but I'll get there. We've also started using pinterest to organize our ideas and collaborate. So fun. It's the dead of winter here in Chicago but as I work on my print designs for spring, thoughts of warm rain happily invade my thoughts.

warmed by thoughts of rain,
ashima
9 february 2011

Why we make things

2011-01-01T10:14:00.000-08:00

It is 3PM on Saturday of the first day of the year and I feel the holidays officially drawing to a close. I'm mentally preparing myself to return to the work at hand and begin the year with rolled sleeves and mind clear ready for the year that lies ahead. I gather up the gifts I received and I feel very lucky. It's so nice to be remembered. On the giving side, I'm a little disappointed. Despite attempts to get started early, I fell short of my list. My sister on the other hand is amazing. I got home and everything was all wrapped and labeled and everyone on the list checked. I barely made it with my gifts for my family. In the photo is my amazing sister helping me, the master procrastinator, last minute with the gift wrap. So you know, she also makes her own gift tags.

Part of my problem is I love making gifts. Remember the wave block print we carved a month ago? From those came tea towels that I gave as gifts for families this year. It's sort of a silly gift but this is how I know how to do things. I don't have the mental fortitude to scour stores for the perfect gift. I tried. I fail miserably each time. So I do it the way I know how--by remembering those I love by the act of making.

Neruda says it best here and my hope for the year ahead is that we continue to make things here at the studio knowing that it in the act of making we give something of ourselves.

---

Ode to things
by Pablo Neruda

I have a crazy,
crazy love of things.
I like pliers,
and scissors.
I love
cups,
rings,
and bowls –
not to speak, of course,
of hats.
I love all things,
not just the grandest,
also the infinite-
ly
small –
thimbles,
spurs,
plates,
and flower vases.

Oh yes,
the planet
is sublime!
It’s full of
pipes
weaving
hand-held
through tobacco smoke,
and keys
and salt shakers –
everything,
I mean,
that is made
by the hand of man, every little thing:
shapely shoes,
and fabric,
and each new
bloodless birth
of gold,
eyeglasses,
carpenter’s nails,
brushes,
clocks, compasses,
coins, and the so-soft
softness of chairs.

Mankind has
built
oh so many
perfect
things!
Built them of wool
and of wood,
of glass and
of rope:
remarkable
tables,
ships, and stairways.

I love
all
things,
not because they are
passionate
or sweet-smelling
but because,
I don’t know,
because
this ocean is yours,
and mine:
these buttons
and wheels
and little
forgotten
treasures,
fans upon
whose feathers
love has scattered
its blossoms,
glasses, knives and
scissors –
all bear
the trace
of someone’s fingers
on their handle or surface,
the trace of a distant hand
lost
in the depths of forgetfulness.

I pause in houses,
streets and
elevators,
touching things,
identifying objects
that I secretly covet:
this one because it rings,
that one because
it’s as soft
as the softness of a woman’s hip,
that one there for its deep-sea color,
and that one for its velvet feel.

O irrevocable
river
of things:
no one can say
that I loved
only
fish,
or the plants of the jungle and the field,
that I loved
only
those things that leap and climb, desire, and survive.
It’s not true:
many things conspired
to tell me the whole story.
Not only did they touch me,
or my hand touched them:
they were
so close
that they were a part
of my being,
they were so alive with me
that they lived half my life
and will die half my death.

Filled with hope for the year ahead,
ashima
1 January 2011

The Return to Print

2010-12-11T12:44:00.000-08:00

After a long hiatus, the Women of Letters return eagerly to prints. The letter M undertakes a serious study of citrus and the letter A looks to the East inspired by the Hokusa prints that she loves.

The letter K + N are carving away at their blocks. We hear K is inspired by the Harlequin and N is as always looking at African shapes. I can't wait till N gets here next week.

We tread cautiously as we return. We know it will take some effort to get things going again but there is a renewed sense of ourselves. There is geographic reconfiguration in our coming together. We will have to manage quite a bit of distance but (always) we hope for great things.

I hope you are as lucky as I am to be among lettered friends such as these. It's been a tough and chaotic year for many of us and the few times we met since Spring had always been a reprieve from the stress of our lives.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go put on the soundtrack of Home Alone as I get ready the house for the holidays. With (some) gifts ready, I dare say, it is ON!

Cheers,
A

Project No. 5: African Wax Print Tank Dress

2010-06-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

We're shoring up ideas for our next projects. The Letters K. and M. are spearheading a painted canvas rug for the kitchen. So exciting. I might revive my zig-zag print for that one. Hopefully with better results.

Meanwhile, I catch up on the much needed stash-busting.

Here a summer tank dress made from an African Wax Print that I got from Marquam, a specialty store in my neighborhood that sells all kinds of African textiles. The prints are amazing and they sell them in bulk 6 yards long, sort of like saris. This is the third dress I've made from this fabric and I have fabric left for possibly one more. I'll be sad when they are all gone because Marquam recently closed.

For this racer-back tank dress, I traced the pattern from a top that I had. I learned how to finish the seams with an all-one facing which was very confusing at first but fortunately my old high school classmate Eliza came to visit and helped me figure it all out. This also has not one, but two, in seam pockets. They are so easy to add now that I know how. Burdastyle is such a great resource for sewers of all skill levels. I want to make another one with a curved hem that I see is so in style these days like the one from Jenny of Wiksten-made and the gorgeous hemline of hound's Fayne Tunic.

There are all kinds of exciting things in the works for the summer for the women of letters and it all starts of this weekend and they include:

+ Volunteering at a Garden
+ Tennis
+ Evening sea kayaking

Don't you just love Summer?

Ashima
18 June 2010

Project No. 4. Explore your mind

2010-06-17T09:24:00.000-07:00

I was late for work today. What started as a normal paced day suddenly evolved into a panic rush as I can’t recall where my checkbook was. The truly maddening thing about a search operation is that the longer the search comes empty-handed, the higher the stakes become in your head of the importance of finding it. End of the world scenarios swirl in your head on some misguided finder cashing in on your life’s savings – all 253.02 cents. If you took five minutes to breathe in and and out as you yoga dojo instructs you to, you would realize that the check book had been missing in action for a week. There had not been any checks written against your account as your online review of it indicates. In all probability it is in the apartment somewhere, in the most obvious place like your bag or the drawer or somewhere stupid like the Heath Ceramics bowl you got in San Francisco that you wanted to find use for. You probably put it in there thinking, this place holder is so stupid for a checkbook that its’ stupidity alone would be a trigger for you to remember it. And when you do find it, of course, you say to yourself. Maybe, in a moment, of self-delusion, you might even think it was, in fact, brilliant!

Lately I’ve notice everyone is out of sorts as to who they are. They find themselves searching for something, an elusive state in life, a purpose, an identity. Who am I? What am I supposed to do? What makes me happy? What do I want to be when I grow up? I am knocking on 4 decades and by all measurements that is quantiafiably a grown up, what happened? Did I become what I wanted to be? I bite my lips in concentration. I earnestly ask the question and having no idea of the answer I begin an insane search and rescue operation for my identity and life purpose. Similar to the checkbook, this could be infuriatingly frustrating except the stakes as you would imagine go up by a factor of 100 and so too the insanity of the end of world scenarios in your head. You can call the bank and tell them to stop checks. But how do you recon a life purpose?

Do we have a misguided sense of the whole operation of what we call a search? Is it a cardinal rule that when you search you will find it. Can we always expect an outcome? And why when we do why do we think of outcomes as one or the other, a 1 or a 0. We forget there is another valid answer which is null. We equate null to zero, a known quantity, when it's not. In my day job, that distinction is so clear in my head. I work with massive amounts of data and this NULL value is a powerful tool that helps me find things, that needle in that haystack, carving out known and unknown areas in a dataset until I find the prickly one that I needed. Often, thought not always, null often means the value while present cannot be determined and cannot be known in finite terms.

So here is the revelation for me. Null is a powerful answer in that it is the impetus for us to keep on searching. If anything it makes me giddy in the head when I think that it does not have to be known, leaving room for surprise and excitement. I can be anything. Within Limits, sure, but the surface area of our limits are so big that we have our lifetime to find the edge of it and by then we are probably a lot closer to conking out and at that point what is there to lose.

So we begin, yet again, and why not here. The letter N. had a dream about flying the other night. Good Omen, don't you think?

--Ashima
17 June 2010

For me and for you

2010-05-14T15:11:00.002-07:00

this is a conversation
we here
hear often

it is
striking a chord

in all of us
right now

'tis not a sad time
really

but there is
pause

for reflection

Project nO. 3: the plan is pla-i-n

2010-03-11T19:35:00.000-08:00

In between knittings, I made a plan.
It is really a simple one.
Plain, in fact, so much so it is called thus—
PLAIN is the PLAN.
I thought of
what I would want to throw
in a suitcase
for
a
quick
getaway!

I am short of requests and absolute requirements. But I do want something.
-- from Wants by Grace Paley

I want to be always ready.
I want a skirt.
PLAIN—
BLACK—
PENCIL.

Find the patterns for PLAIN is the PLAN at burdastyle.

cheers,
Ashima
17 March 2010

Marching on

2010-03-11T18:28:00.000-08:00

The news
1.
zebra skirt
No wins for the handprinted, hand-sewn, reversible skirt

2.
I frogged a scarf because it was not going to be long enough—
frogging is the art of letting go

3.
The letter N. after weeks of debate frogged a 250 cast on infinity scarf to start over—
frogging is the art of beginning again

We march on.
That's what we do.

The last few weeks we've been meeting at each others' kitchen tables sipping tea or wine and munching on cheese and grapes and knitting shawls and stories, frogging others under the table lest I, the designated frog police, bring out my pointy finger in disapproval. I want to think I have a say but these are all undeniably powerful women, with minds made, elbows always greased for work, purses full of books and ideas and notes of dreams and ambition. Collectively, there is a wideness to our scope, our wing spans reaching the other from tip to tip. all that these meetings do is fill the gaps in between the spacious caverns of things that we want this world to be. We want them to have shape: triangles and circles. We want colors: green and black, plum, yellow, orange and blue. It takes all kinds and we decide even the absence of color is, in fact, color. We want it to feel smooth and soft in our hands.

One Monday all of us were practically sick, sniffling and head-achey but we went for the uncommon cure. We thought of things we want to make and do, gathered up clothes we want to mend, words we wanted to learn, food we wanted to make, weddings we need to tent with fabric and wooden structures.

We march on. We name our projects. We try to be funny. The letter N. wants to sew a shapely shift number in black. It will most likely be studded because the letter N is obsessed with hardware. Many things I doubt but of this I am sure: She is destined, in this lifetime, to stud something. She will name this little stunner in French, some two syllable word that almost always sound as if that last syllable is meant to be enunciated with a toss of hair, a flick of a wrist thrown into the air like a scarf against a soft but willful wind. We will insist she pronounce it in English! We'll topple over ourselves, out of our chairs, laughing. How silly! How true! Lanvin, she'd say. And the rest of us women of letters would shout in a chorus: Lanveeeeeen!

--Ashima
11 March 2010

a sneak peek

2010-02-24T20:56:00.000-08:00

I just finished this skirt. It's for this contest. Can I ask you to vote for me? Send me on my way. Somewhere warm. That would be nice.

cooking up some prints

2010-02-06T11:08:00.000-08:00

Last week I was asked by RecyleGirl if I could show a friend how to enamel. So they came over one evening and I did a workshop. I had to dig my kiln out of the basement and, as any digs go, it uncovers yet more things, more projects--abandoned or unfinished-- from its dusty spot and it made me feel so wasteful.

Lately I've been thinking about needing to focus and was thinking of how I may be spreading myself to thin by getting into too many things. I get overwhelmed easily so if I begin to think too much about the reasons for doing something, I tend to abandon it so instead of trying to think of the whys, I said yes to the request to show a friend who is curious about the process of enameling which is something I happen to know something about. I also thought it would be a good use of the supplies I already have and instead of them languishing away in the basement, why not make something of use. This is, afterall, why I began the studio to begin with. I wanted to share the stash of supplies I've hoarded over the years.

I'm glad I did because the workshop was so much fun. For starters, it was good to meet SuperBadFriend and Recycle Girl and to be introduced to some new characters like Egdar, the very cute bird who acquires quite different personalities when fired on a kiln. I also realized what got me into enameling in the first place. I liked it because it is yet another surface for printmaking. So, in retrospect, maybe I'm okay. Maybe I think differently and my focus manifests itself in a different way. I just have to trust the process and my own instinct. I hope to meet more of SuperBadFriend's friends and when I do, I'll be sure to share them with you.

--Ashima

6 February 2010

Project n0. 2. Something poppy for the bedroom

2010-02-03T09:28:00.000-08:00

We're trying a few new things this year. First, we are going to meet on a project basis to keep things moving along in a somewhat more focused manner. So we agreed to meet for three consecutive weeks working on specific named projects, sort of like calling the shot in pool: the number 2 on the left corner, we say.

So here is a sneek peek at Project No. 2. This project is from the letter M. She's been wanting something orange for her bedroom and as M and I are somewhat kindred souls so did I. You can find instructions here at Purl Bee. We loved the color combination so much we stuck to the original.

For those contemplating this project, a few heads up. We were unprepared at the steep cost of wool felt but M found coating material at the fabric store and felted it herself which worked out great. We also think recycling sweaters would be a great source. The instructions look complicated but once you start making it is really quite easy. We've cut all the panels and have started the sewing the panels together. Next week we expect to be done.

There's also knitting by the fabulous letter N which I will post as soon as I can take photographs.

Until next,
Ashima
03 February 2010

Post it!

2010-01-29T09:00:00.000-08:00

When I hear or read something clever, especially one-liners that pack a punch, I often would say, you should needle point that in a pillow! But it takes so long to needle-point and haste is crucial in order to capture the moment. I'm working on a project to offer these custom posters at the shop. It's a great way to reuse those very nice security envelopes that usually come with bills and other junk mail. If you know of anyone that has something important to say, tell them you should make a poster of it.

--Ashima

doodlin

2010-01-28T12:35:00.000-08:00

I doodle a lot. This is what I doodled while waiting for a big database query to finish. Lately I'm into triangular shapes and have been doodling with arrows which led to Indian motifs. The herd sort of just followed. This particular herd is quite famous. Find them here at Skinny Laminx.

doodles,
Ashima
27 January 2010

The Big Freeze

2010-01-27T10:45:00.000-08:00

Here in the midwest, we are cold. We live in a fridge. We don boots and smart wool socks. We shovel the sidewalks. We knit hats. We dream of lap blankets while waiting for the train to arrive. We stomp our feet on mats not just to wring off our snow-clogged boots but to protest, to unleash all the held up resentment at something we can't control. It is toe-numbing, breath-fogging, bone-reconfiguring cold out here. Though really there is no need to dress up the language of coldness. It's just plain cold.

So if you are thinking of moving here, we won't stop you. We could use the company. Maybe we can set up a system like those penguins who move in concentric circles towards the inner core of warmth. We'll make room in the fridge. But first a few lessons and tips:

Bring a hat.
Bring gloves.
Bring scarves.
Bring a bucketful of warm thoughts.

And if you don't have any of those, bring some knitting needles, or just show up and we'll show you a thing or two.

thing 1: how to knit

thing 2: How to layer in the cold midwestern freeze.

The knitting pattern for the hat and scarf is from Rowan New Shapes.

bundle up,
Ashima
27 January 2010

Project n0 1: Making time for time making

2010-01-12T18:02:00.001-08:00

Calendars made by us here at Kaimito Studio. Yey!
It had to be done.

What I liked about this one is how we arrived at the third set which is the set featured here. Always, I find the best ideas come from the collaboration of ideas. N and I have very distinctively different approaches but together we made this set and it represents us in our own way.

What a way to start the year. I have a feeling it will be a good one.

Cheers,
Ashima
12 January 2010

Brave the Cold

2010-01-06T08:03:00.000-08:00

it's been so long
i miss posting here
but it was so hectic
but we are starting back up
soon

we promise.

we are braving the cold
with our skills
not fire building
but keeping what warm we could muster

this is a gift
for my sister
who needs a no fuss scarf
because she has a new baby to hold in her arms

the pattern is from Parikha Metha
who is a mom herself
i figure
moms know best

Cheers,

Ashima
6 January 2009

2009-11-19T04:55:00.000-08:00

a bunting, a garland

for the arrival

of a much-awaited

little boy

named

-- Jacob --

how can one little bitty thing

bring so much

joy?

--Ashima

19 November 2009

Focus on Shapes: The Bunting Season

2009-11-04T09:04:00.000-08:00

All over the blogosphere it is bunting season. All kinds of shapes and sizes and colors, pretty little triangles strung on a string announcing everything from a newborn to a grand opening sale and quick give away.

I don't always use triangles. I find them a little intimidating and pointy. Unlike circles that seem to always suggest itself softly to you until you are in its warm embrace.

Today's studio, I am jumping into the bunting season with a project of my own. We are meeting tonight. I'm inspired by these:

+ Timothy Nolan, paper artist

+ Geninne's use of scrap paper
+ Some handmade love from SoulMama

+ and always, Mav, withher show Come Darkness

Inspiration is everywhere.

–Ashima
4 November 2009

Inspiration: Stella's Subtle Colors

2009-11-03T23:45:00.000-08:00

Have you seen all the lovely things going on at the Baby Gap? Stella is spinning magic. Those Sgt. Pepper jackets are so cute, but what I'm truly inspired by is the subtle color combination. I like those soft grays and pinks and mustard and the shots of dark black. It's a very sophisticated color palette which on kids are so adorable. I saw the same color scheme at Dwell Studio which made me think of it.

Tomorrow we plan on making some headway on gifts for the holiday season. On the list are calendars and dishtowels and a welcome bunting for my soon to arrive nephew who I await with bated breath. Send good vibes to the universe for a safe delivery for my sister, will you?

–Ashima
31 October 2009

Fall Starts

2009-10-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

We met finally after a few weeks of delay to print carved blocks we've been obsessing for weeks. We discover a major mistake. See the zigzag print above. So far, we've accounted the lack of preciseness of the consistency of our color application to us being beginners and we tend to love our mistakes anyway so we continue on. But because we've been doing this a while, there is that nagging sense that we were doing something wrong. Why are our impressions not as clean as we expect them to be. Here at Lena Corwin's forum on her book Printing By Hand, we discover we've been using the wrong blocks for the wrong ink. It turns out that the hard linoleum blocks we got on sale a few weeks ago at Blicks are only good for oil-based inks. It's too bad because I really love this zigzag print and because out studio is also our home it is best to stay with water-based inks. I'm going to have to find a way to carve this print again. I loved it so much the first time I saw it here. It can't be said enough: Fundamentals is key.

Still a couple of false starts is not going to keep us away. We shall come back another day for better, clearer, crisper prints. You may not have to wait long. Here's a preview of M.'s amazing chevron print.

more here.

What are your plans for the fall? I hope you like the new Fall Banner for Kaimito Studio. I picked it for it echoes Fall Colors in a bright way. As I write this quicky, the gang is prepping for a nice Fall Walk on this beautiful Sunday. The trees are alive with color and I can't wait to bring my camera and take some photos.

cheers to this fall season,

Ashima

18 October 2009

Foreshadowing Fall

2009-09-17T10:38:00.001-07:00

I made this mid-summer for a friend who celebrated her 30th birthday. I know numbers are arbitrary and to think that certain birthdays are more important than others because of various reasons meant to indicate an achievement of certain maturity is by and large suspect to begin with. But while this may have begun with the cliche of celebrating the big 3-0, the final result had more to do with relevelant numbers that define our lives which are many. Let me count the ways:

26.2
marathon miles ran

79212
her birthday in JDE date format

1
for the pearl that she is

as
a reminder
of who she is
and how far she's come
at the ripe age of
30

I'm starting to recognize that we do things for a reason and I keep going back to images of this necklace whenever I'm browsing. Fall is coming soon and with it the quiet and the cool. As I hold the cup of steaming coffee to my lips, I'm brewing ideas for the studio and thinking there would be more of these.

looking ahead,
Ashima
17 September 2009

Where do I ideas come from?

2009-09-15T05:36:00.001-07:00

Where do ideas come from? I've been thinking about this lately because of this project I'm working on which is a pattern design for the facade of a hospital. For as long as I can remember I've always tried to come up with ideas by looking parallel to what I need but alter an element of it. If I needed to write an article about buildings, I would read articles on cars. If I needed ideas for florals, I would look at the bowels of the sea and look at corals. If I looked at something too close to what I needed, my mind hits a roadblock. I couldn't see past what I see.

This time around it was different. I just went with a feeling and then without even really knowing it arrived at an idea that I think would work really well for its intended use. The difference is that peripherally I had been thinking about science partly because of the books I've been reading lately. I had been holding on to the The Canon and rereading chapters on the train while I wait for a new book to read. Then I came across the description of DNA and the spectacular Spelling Bee Contest happening within the cells that make up the lovely world of genome of our body parts---heads, fingers, knees and toes as well as the not so child-hymn friendly livers, pancreas, and thyroid.

This got me thinking that the pattern I did the first time around, when I was just playing, so closely resembles DNA fingerprints given the right orientation. So forms the idea to mimic the striations of a DNA fingerprint and for a hospital facade I like how subtle that is. Not much has changed from that first iteration of that pattern to these. It is essentially rectangles on a grid but this time it is choosing to see it with a particular filter. What really sells the idea is how it complements another design feature of the planned building which is a brain cell pattern on the facade of the parking garage (image not mine otherwise I'd share it). Is the match coincidental? Was I thinking of the brain cell pattern? Was it there subconsciously as had been suggested to me. What about the book, The Canon? I just picked up a new book from Liz about the history of salt. Should I look forward to patterns I shall discover subconsciously that would be put forth by this book?

What do you think? How do you come up with ideas? I'd like to know.

pattern study .05

pattern study .06

pattern study .07

pattern study .09

There are talks of having a Fall Party at the Studio. Just what we need to embrace the change in season. Stay tuned!

Cheers,
Ashima
15 September 2009

lines and shapes

2009-09-04T16:04:00.000-07:00

Lines are mere concepts of the mind,
the paths on the sand of our vista,
the motions and dialogues between variant poles;
where one form begins and another ends
no folds of boldness encrouch on the seam
of its geometry; time wrinkles; time waits;
as wealth's accrued claims -- as life that goes on;

--Simon Tang

Blue Line

2009-09-02T08:10:00.000-07:00

It started with this drawing.

Then a carved block .

this print one way

here another

here a little more detail

This last one reminds me of the blurry haze of an express train, the el blue line maybe. I think I was on the damen stop and I was really hungry and was desperate to get home and this one just whizzed past. They do that sometimes, the CTA, so that trains delayed can catch up.

Note to self: Remember to clean the block before inking for you can still see traces of watercolor pencil used to sketch out the pattern onto the block. I have to say though, I sort of like it, however unintentional.

More here.

cheers,
Ashima
02 September 2009

Pattern Study .04

2009-08-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

Pattern Study 04.

I've been working on more pattern ideas for a project that if it works will be so amazing. My friend asked me to design a pattern that he'll use for the facade of a hospital that will be built in the islands where I grew up. It is so exciting but I'm also a little intimidated. I mean this is serious stuff now, ladies. No more horsing around.

Still I know myself. If I start thinking too big, I can get really overwhelmed so I have to chunk things into small pieces so I can feel progress working up to the big goal.

So last Monday, I set out to just play and of the ones I sketched this was one I liked for myself so I started carving out a block with it. I hope he likes it. It's just a start.

See you next week,
ashima
28 August 2009

Ying-Yang and the Art of Balance

2009-08-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some patterns from my the Japanese pattern book I picked up on a trek to the Art Institute a few months ago. I am drawn to Japanese patterns because it carries with it that duality I've always liked: it is both simple and complex at the very same time. Balance -- it's the hardest thing to achieve in both life and art.

Our studio workshops have been on a bit of a slump lately. It's been hard to get together. Sometimes I think we have to heed momentum where it leads us and then sometimes you need to get a kick in the arse to get you going. Recently, what got me going is someone that got my goat, a well-meaning but still infuriating man who told me to stop beating around the bush, stop talking about somebody else's work and make my own. I make my first attempts here and for the next few weeks, the plan is to sketch up patterns as rebuttal to Infuriating Man that I'm no bush beater. It is probably not the best way to be working, angry and fired up and so antithetical to zen which is the japanese aesthetic that I'm going for, but sometimes you take any kind of energy that can push you forward, disregarding for the moment any others other than the present to set you sailing to the next. Perhaps it is wrong to think of balance as contained in every step and that in fact, balance happens as we work out the problem or challenge at hand -- one step towards ying, the next toward yang.

Onward and upward,

Ashima

20 August, 2009

Understanding Magnitudes

2009-08-04T12:32:00.000-07:00

The amazing creators of Boohou Designs are giving away this inspiration-filled gift set and all you need to do is choose from one of her many craft projects. I have so many picks it's hard to choose. I've written about it before here. I pick a different one each day but today I pick the shadow boxes.

I think it's because I was floored by this picture sent to me by a friend of his daughter's impromptu hotel. Her name is Pipay and I've never met her but from one lone picture that I saw she seems like she's always up to something and I like that. My friend is an architect and you can already see Pipay laying claim to her design credentials in her wonderful use of proportion and space.

I just finished The Canon: A whirligig tour of the beautiful basics of Science by Natalie Angier who also writes a column for the New York Times. In this book, Natalie interviewed scientists in various fields of study and and simply asked them what would they would like people to know about their brand of science. What misconceptions they want to banish away? What main ideas they want us to embrace and promote? The first chapter was about magnitudes and in it she explains that the way we measure the world is so anthropocentric, so centered around us humans, from the way we measure time to the way we measure distance. Because we always see scales in human terms we then fail to grasp the vast universe contained in our planetary system or the microcosm of cells in our bodies--those concepts seem either too small or too vast to wrap our heads around it. I never thought about it but she is absolutely right. I thought the shadow box is an interesting project to do with kids to give them awareness of space and how one thing scales to another. It's a clever way to teach kids about numbers and it's various measures of magnitude. For afterall, 1 is a little dinky number until you put it in binary format, harnessesing the power of exponentiation to represent numbers in the infinite. Who you calling little now, one would say.

So here's one for shadowboxes. I hope I win. I could use a new set of carvers.

--Ashima
04 August 2009

pamaypay (fan) + om print

2009-08-03T15:09:00.000-07:00

Our lives outside of studio half past summer have been so busy with good things like friends and family visiting and making sure we don't miss the beautiful summer events in our city so our updates have been so spotty at best but here finally are photos of the test print for the block we carved of a japanese pattern from one of our favorite books. Pamaypay is the tagalog word for fan which this print reminds me of. There's also a test print of the om sign if you look at the top picture closely but I have been so busy I didn't take a proper closeup shot of it.

Do you see the mistake? This is a side drop down repeat and the dropped side of the print does not connect cleanly. So if you look closely the second row and alternating rows is different from the first row. Oh well. I like it anyway but it's a good thing to take note of when planning another repeat pattern.

--Ashima
03 August 2009

Inspiration: Popham Designs

2009-07-16T10:33:00.000-07:00

photo: Popham Designs

Often when I think of art, especially the fine arts, I think of some supernatural ability, a deft skill of hand that allows one to recreate so realistically what they are able to see. Those were the skills I held in admiration for I've long recognized that my drawing skills are limited and that maybe the fine arts would not be a good place for me. Lately however I've come to realize that in art and design equally as important as the rendering of the hand is that ability to see, like the way Mav of Port2port Press frames her photographs, or the way Martha of Uniform Studio sees the shape of woman's body when making her dresses, or the way Abigail Percy is able to distill the image of flowers we see everyday in our garden into it's simplest sillhoutte.

Here at the studio, as we make our first attempts at multiple prints, I notice that I look at things a little bit differently. I see patterns everywhere around me, in the shape of office building windows that repeat 20 or some floors above me or how foliage can shape themselves from individual pieces to provide restful shades to the weary traveler or bystander waiting for the next train to rescue them from heat. There is such power in that repeatability, replication as quite plainly and simply and literally there is power in numbers. I know this because of what I do for a living (computing) and it is comforting that there is universal truth in something that powers what I do both for work and play. And then maybe it is not so much a stretch the idea of poet Czeslaw Milosz about love and how to love is to see yourself as one of many.

Here I see love at Popham Designs in its simple and efficient and inspired renditions of repeat prints. I think I'm going out hang out here for a few days so I can learn to practice the very necessary art of seeing.

--ashima
16 July 2009

Seeing multiples

2009-07-15T09:31:00.000-07:00

An exciting week for us at the studio as we make good progress with carving linoleum blocks just in time to start a new photo set called { summer 2009 }. Yogi N made carved an om print and I carved the repeat print that M. helped me outline a few weeks ago. The sketch in green pencil is how it is supposed to look when printed side by side.

Do you see the possibilities? Next week is the actual printing. I can't wait. I'm so excited, I can't decide what I want to make. What should we make?

In other news, over at design*sponge, I came across a kindred idea in moomah, a place much like us here for people to meet and play. I love the way they describe themselves as a creative cafe, a living classroom, a quiet hideaway, a playscape. I like to think that's what we offer here. I feel validated that over there they see things the same way as we do here. That in working with our hands, the stresses of our daily jobs fade in the background and we come into our playful selves with hands ready for dirt and ready to find solace in the simplest things such as carving away the excess rubber that will make the curved shape of the sanscript symbol 'om'. I can feel the pranayama breath as we carve away.

See you next week!

--ashima
15 July 2009

Squint and Repeat

2009-06-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

M.'s repeat prints was the highlight of last night's Open Studio. It is a subtle thing but thinking how patterns repeat is a skill and quite a difficult one. N. and I squinted and squeaked and shifted in our seats as we looked at my book of patterns attempting to find the point at which a print repeats. We played twister with our fingers placing the pinkie on one shape and the thumb on the other and the index finger didn't quite know where to go. It was not easy. Yet M. seems to just see patterns as if she had a geometry preview filter option for vision. Quite amazing.

In other news, Mandolinheart comes to studio nights with recipes to try and this week it is sweet potatoes with maple syrup and scalions which made for a yummy meal. She's sort of my everyday Madonna always reinventing herself to a new version from hippie, to fashionista, to health guru in what seems to be one heaping of breath. Equally quite amazing.

--Ashima
30 June 2009

Inspiration: Vera Neuman

2009-06-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

Finally the much awaited summer is here and with it the heat and humidity and what better way to ward off the blazing heat this summer than with a colorful scarf. Scouring my favorite blogs I discover the work of Vera Neumann. See design*sponge post here for more photos.

I'm thinking this might be the perfect summer project for the studio. I know N. will love that last picture with the triangle prints in blue brown and cream, but if all else fails, Anthropologie is paying tribute to the life and work of Vera with a special series called we heart vera, a sentiment that I heartily agree with.

ashima
26 June 2009

Don't underestimate kid stuff

2009-06-20T06:13:00.000-07:00

photo: Bloessem Kids

The big take away from the Spring plan for me is that we can really learn a lot just from honing down the process to the basics. Early in the Spring when I sat down with my books on printmaking I had set it up so that we would progress from potato prints to screenprints in a matter of weeks. Yet here we are at the end of spring and we are just getting into linoleum. I didn't think we'd be in potato prints this long. When I thought of potato prints I thought of them as child's play. It turns out there are many a great things that can start out that way and that maybe I should take that lead and follow that instinct through the summer. The key is to find something that is simple enough to do but has all the elements of the craft you want to pursue and practice.

So here are some ideas for studio projects from bloessem kids which I find inspiring. I'll keep it simple this summer. That's my hope.

+ paper zine

+ fabric collage

+ extended landcape

+ paper print book cover

+ reduction print in soft lino

+ found objects mobile

+ shadow cutout painting

+ alphabet poster

Hatching a new plan

2009-06-11T11:32:00.000-07:00

Here at the studio we're hatching a new plan. Summers here in Chicago are precious for days when there's sun and light are gone before we know it so we must make way for all these ideas we've been sitting on all those freezing months that came before. Right now we gather inspirations. We poise for our move. Here's a few we love.

+ Tanya Traboulsi
+ Anna Wolf
+ Abigail Percy

I'm thinking one of these weekends call for a walk along the lake with our cameras in tow for a much needed photoshoot. Meanwhile here's a few we've been brooding on. MandolinHeart is into coloring her photographs. M. is making repeat prints for her cupboard. Taki is making a simple but very chic leather bag which she traced from a bag she bought in one of her travels.

It warms my heart that so many little projects are underway. There's so much more to look forward to in the next few weeks. There will be prints for sure, but these new brooches by Abigail Percy have been keeping me up at night. I am thinking I need to brush off the cobwebs of the old backroom to make way for some jewelry this summer or early Fall. I'm also feeling confident about sharing a few tips we've learned from our potato printing sessions. Watch for it in the next few days. It's all coming together

xo,

ashima
11 June 2009

one potato, two potato equals lotta prints

2009-06-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

Have a look at our prints from last night. N. was inspired by Lotta. For N. this was an exercise in random placement. She had to fight her natural inclination to always have a plan, whereas I on the other hand never ever have one. Between the two of us is a defiant mix of random + order, the results of which I love. We are back to our Monday night schedule. We continue with prints through this first bits of summer though it's pretty hard to tell it is summer given the chill.

In the next few weeks we hope to show you some prints made with linoleum blocks.

ashima
08 June 2009

take spring

2009-05-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

I've learned that you must take spring by its heels. You can't say, "Oh what pretty flowers. I'll remember to bring my camera tomorrow to take a snap." No. You go home, load up your camera, and take that snap. Now! Because before you know it it's all over.

So I'm happy to report that we did take that snap. Early in the spring we set ambitious plans to learn printmaking and with Spring coming to a close, we find ourselves still at it. With much prodding to pick a shape and move on, N. finally made a commitment as to which potato print is worthy of a tea towel. Let me just say, many a great potato shriveled and dried at N.'s meticulous eye. M. is making a very bold step moving up to linoleum and repeating pattern all in one step. I commend her. If there is however one that can do it from this group, M is the one. She has good visualization for patterns, the way negative and positive spaces work and interact in a page. On my end, I'm making a bold move myself finally making business cards for my company which up until recently I treated as a stop-gap until I found something better. There is no better day than today to do what you want, to live what you love.

So I hope the next time you see something lovely, something that makes you stop in your tracks to take it in, to record it in the database of memories you want to remember, ideas you want to pursue, people you want to get to know, challenging things you want to try, that you do more than just stop but take the time to do something, even one small thing, such as write your friends an email asking them to hold you to it.

We haven't made plans for summer. Wish us well.

Happy Spring,

Ashima

24 May 2009

The Institute for Figuring

2009-04-23T19:23:00.001-07:00

Sometimes it's hard to explain, maybe even justify, what we do here. I went back to work a few weeks ago and people often asked me what I've been doing all that time I was let go. It was surprisingly hard to answer mostly because job hunting is tough on anyone and I didn't do much of that for lack of trying. Instead I spent my time carving potatoes, scouring cheap fabric, and finishing up projects around the house. At the time, it felt indulgent to do that. People are fighting for jobs out here and there I was carving potatoes so I do what most people do, provide a non-answer, one of those handy phrases that don't mean anything, a meaningless response that fulfills the purpose of expediency in ending a conversation while waiting for you printout or the coffee to be replenished at the break room. Why couldn't I just say that I spent the time figuring things out. Why hide? Why be sheepish about something that most of us do in some capacity every single day of our lives.

Thus, it was with great relief and sense of validation that I came across the work of Margaret Wertheim, a science writer, who together with her sister started crocheting a coral reef in 2005 and since then hundred of contributors, 99% women, have added to the collective that has promoted environmental awareness, defied modern mathematic's conventional modes of modeling structures and forms, engaged a community of artisans and provided a much needed makeover of the mathematician stereotype (san the pocket protector). I hope you take a look here and visit her inspiring talk. She works here at the Institute for Figuring. Don't you just love the idea of an institution designated for the task of figuring things out!

And if the weekend finds you needing inspiration, I send you these. I can spend days here figuring these things out:

+ crochet me reef
+ preserving the tradition of age-old craft
+ slowing down and being mindful of your work

Hope you have a good weekend,
Ashima
24 April 2009

More Bogolanfini

2009-04-18T13:40:00.000-07:00

Credits:
Bamana Peoples, Beledougou Region, Mali

African Mudcloths

2009-04-17T06:35:00.001-07:00

I found this link to a wonderful online exhibit on African Mudcloths. I've always known there were meanings behind those symbols and shapes but never had the time to look into it before. It is always good when your intuition leads you somewhere you never thought you'd be but after having discovered it never visualize a life without having known it.

Another thing I find fascinating about these age-old crafts is that if you look for it you'll find a sense of humor behind all the seriousness of the business of stuff making. Look, for example, at the motif above inspired by Kumi Jose Kan, the hero with the long neck. At the Chicago Art Museum, there's this sculpture from China, maybe from the 15th century (I can't really remember), of a woman with her arms on her waist, chest out, neck held high and I swear I think her tongue is sticking out. It never fails to make me smile.

I'm looking forward to next week's prints. I may have to do something with that long-necked hero Kumi Jose Kan.

Have a good weekend,
ashima
17 April 2009

Dreaming of Africa

2009-04-16T14:00:00.001-07:00

Our prints in the past two weeks have been decidedly African-inspired. N. has a lot of influence in that. I'm back at work so it's been harder to keep up with the blog but I'm hoping I can keep some of that momentum going. I have so many things to tell you including some really good tips we've learned along the way. We are still potato printing. I thought for sure by now we'd have moved on to linoleum or stencils but there is much to learn from this simple process that we find ourselves staying within the moment.

The scarf is melwell item nO.2.

We hope you like the results.

--ashima
April 16, 2009

nature-improved

2009-03-26T17:35:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you have a vision for how something will look and you give it a try. When everything is working right, you get what you want. Sometimes you don't expect that the new ink you are trying is not as great as another and you are disappointed and you chalk it up to experience and you try again. But nature thinks otherwise, the next day, light pours into the studio and weaves its way through the rattan and suggests that you give another look at last night's studio reject.

In many ways nature was really quite at play with this print. This is a test of potato stamp's longevity. I stored our stamps in a ziploc and put them in the fridge. Two days later the edges are a bit compromised but it's still pretty nice.

We have to follow nature's lead on this one, I think.

--Ashima

26 March 2009

melwell project

2009-03-24T16:24:00.000-07:00

This is a nice little project and something I hope we can build on as we continue the studio workshops. My friend Mel is not well. She was recently diagnosed with cancer and needs chemo and more treatment. I've been thinking about her and sometimes I find that the best way to channel all that useless worrying is to get busy so that's what I did. Somehow in some kind of wonderful fluke or flow, I managed to do in an afternoon something I've been wanting to do for about two years now which is setup a shop at etsy. This all happened Saturday. All the stamping, the sewing, the taking of the photographs, even making the little banner for the shop. It's crazy. Something that had been burning in the back of my mind forever and in a single afternoon I am able to get my big red marker and write out the words: DONE! Life is wonderful and unexpected that way. It has an ebb and flow that we cannot control or predict I think but if we are open and accepting we can revel in its mystery.

I hope the same goes for Mel. I hope she gets well, hence MelWell.

If you can help with our cause, please visit our etsy shop and check out our melwell section.

--Ashima
24 March 2009

gingko prints

2009-03-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

M. made a gingko stamp

ashima quickly followed.

on flour cloth fabric

we made one stamp run after the other

--.M and Ashima

23 March 2009

When two or three are gathered

2009-03-21T22:40:00.000-07:00

Studio Sessions

I started what one friend suggested was the equivalent of a modern day salon. In French, it means a large room meant to receive and entertain guests, a gathering of people, a private gathering of artists, conniseurs and intellectuals, like those exhibits in Paris when the expressionists was just busting out into the main scene in art with their seemingly vague and unintentional brush strokes. It sounds more loftier than what I had planned but I like the idea of the gathering. Last Fall, my long-time roommate and friend moved out and I turned one of the bedrooms into a studio and offered the stash of art supplies I've accumulated over the years for use by me and my friends. Every week we gather for a few hours at my apartment and we work on, well, whatever. This week whatever is the last bits of winter knitting and the beginnings of our Spring Printmaking and Photography sessions. Have a look here .

N is knitting a beautiful vibrant green scarf with a Malabrigo wool yarn. She is a natural in knitting. Watching her hands is mesmerizing. A is taking photographs but her true interest these days is cooking and more specifically healthy cooking. See what's in the stove top. It's her amazing fritata. M is the expert knitter and by the looks of it will also be the expert printmaker. Renegade has been drawing. She made an ingenious set of cards. They sort of work like tarot cards except they are based on characters from literature. She's given us readings which have been uncanny in its accuracy it borders on scary.

For spring we have ambitious plans for printmaking but we start with the simplest, those of potato prints. The potato prints turned out great. I've had these Lotta Jansdotter books that I've been collecting and I've been itching to try these projects for quite a while now because they look so easy but finished at the same time. I like that we figure things out together. We simply followed the directions together. The important thing to note is that you do need some kind of a cushioned material so that the material gives in a bit to make better, clearer impressions. Here, we used felt. My prints are the peppermint pinwheels and the lovely M made ones that look like a egg nests or bike tires. We don't know what these will turn out to be and I'm excited to find out.

--Ashima
21 March 2009