This is... my favourite fabric/craft shop

This is also a day late. Sorry!

I have so many craft shops that I love so usually it depends on what I'm looking for or inspired to do at the time. If I'm looking around, playing with new ideas, wanting to try new techniques or materials, I love a large department chain store called Tokyu Hands. It has so much funky stuff and that was where I first discovered silver clay.

If I am more focused on a particular project, I prefer to go to a store that specialises in those materials.

Being in Japan, I have to say that Tomato in Nippori Textile Town is one of my favourite fabric stores.

I'm blessed to live close to an old paper making town, so would usually go there for paper, but this photo was taken at a gorgeous little shop I love in Asakusa in Tokyo.

And definitely my favourite is any second-hand kimono store or market. These fabrics are truly amazing and I love to breath new life into something with a history.

I know I've said it before, but I will say it again, I'm going to have a lot of trouble leaving this country next year!

Thank you to Handmaiden for this week's theme to Angela, the fabulous hostess of This is...

An Admission

Hello. My name is Melanie and I'm addicted to vintage kimono fabric. It has been twelve hours since I last bought fabric.

I think I may soon need to seek some professional health! I must buy! I must buy kimono fabric! I need my fix!

I'm not going to add a photo to this post because my small Japanese apartment is chaos! By last weekend, I had it looking like a some-what neat, but short on space, warehouse. Now some of the fabric is draped over the iron board in different stages of becoming bags, some on the sofa in the midst of unpicking, some more, in another pile is on the sofa after a (successful I'm happy to say) experiment with washing and I have today's finds in bags waiting to be sorted.

While I've always loved buying fabric but I think it was a couple of weeks ago that it turned from a slightly obsessive past-time to a full blown addiction. It was then that I went to my first kimono auction. I was nervous. I was concerned that it would be a sterile environment, that it would be very formal and serious and that it would all be too fast for me to keep up with in Japanese. It was none of those. It was so much fun!

The auction house was set out like someone's lounge room. Their was a clean viewing carpet in the middle, with floor cushions on three sides and chairs set up behind that. I had arrived early and so managed to score a cushion right up in the front.

Most items were auctioned off in lots, only the really high end pieces were done on their own. Before the bidding for each lot began, the pieces were spread out on the carpet and we all got to feel the fabrics and inspect the pieces. It didn't take long to get a feeling for the bidding and to join in. People were polite and friendly while bidding. The auctioneer cracked jokes the whole day. The group all knew each other well, and if a piece came out that someone would be particularly interested in, but they weren't in the room at the time, they would call them in and wouldn't start the bidding until they had a chance to join in. At times the auctioneer would be auctioning and bidding on items at the same time.

Occasionally, lots wouldn't even be auctioned, but rather offered to the person they thought would be most interested in them. Myself included. I laughed and chatted with different people all day, oh and bought six boxes worth of kimono and obi!

So you'd think, that after buying that many kimono, I'd be satisfied for a while. Wrong! I stopped into an antique store on the way home and bought more!

I had to wait a couple of days for the boxes to arrive, and I'm happy to say, I had them sorted by the same evening. We now have what we are calling my "Wall of Fabric". The fabrics are residing in large clear plastic containers, packed carefully with bamboo (sustainable) charcoal (to get rid of musty smells) and moisture absorbing stuff, all sorted into types and eventual destinations. I just love looking at them all. I have three containers of unpicking to do, and it has been a great excuse to sit down and watch a dvd or two while I unpick. I find unpicking rather soothing. I imagine it's the same way that some people feel about knitting, which as hard as I tried, I never got the hang of.

Somehow though, the more I look and touch and play with the fabrics, the more I want. I bought another nine kimono today! I'm really going to have to start selling more to support my habit. That, and to make some room for more.

Kanzashi

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I had a great, though very busy time. I had family come to visit, firstly my brother and his wife and then my cousin.

I thought I'd do today's blog in honour of my cousin, Danielle. She's a very talented jewellery designer whose work is strongly influenced by Japanese designs. While she was staying with me, we managed to fit 20 hours of shopping into a 48 hour time period. I kid you not! It was funny, I realised how much I've learnt about kimonos and their fabrics when I took her to my favourite second-hand kimono haunts. She even suggest that I start running vintage kimono buying tours.

One thing she fell in love with while here are the Japanese hair ornaments, known as kanzashi. They are so delicate and sweet. Knowing her taste, I had already bought her a book on how to make some of them.

The kanzashi are usually worn with a kimono or yukata, but look great with any outfit. We also saw many made into brooches and hanging ornaments.

A geisha wears kanzashi that would not only be co-ordinated with her kimono and obi, but would also reflect the season. You can see below a close-up of a geisha's hairstyle below.