Red Thread Studio

I Lost the Thread

Dear readers,

I know I've been gone too long. I find it's much easier to write a blog post when I'm posting every day or every few days. When I've been absent for a while, there's a mental bottleneck. I've lost the thread.

I lost the thread, I lost the map
It's not a feeling, it's a fact
I had it once, I was on track
Why won't it stay? I want it back.
                    - shawn colvin, I Want It Back

It's partly that I keep waiting for my cup to fill up a little. Autumn got off to a gray, wet, cold start here that doesn't really bode well for the winter. As I look back over the summer,  I'm discouraged and disappointed in how things have gone. I had many possibilities and seeds in the spring, and somehow the decisions I made haven't yielded a fruitful harvest. I look down this path I somehow ended up on, and I'm not seeing a lot of potential for joy or creativity.

Yeah, I know that's abstract. I really can't say any more.

So. It is what it is, all of it. Where is the love? Here are a few textile-related things that have made me smile with interest, inspiration and delight:

• If you haven't seen the fabulous NY Times story about the fabric made from spider silk, and the amazing efforts of the two textile experts who have spent years searching for the rare golden orb spiders in Madagascar, it's a must-read.
• The Colour Lovers blog has a gorgeous post on The Colorful Art of Batik.
• The Victoria & Albert Museum has a stunning selection of prints for sale, many of them textile designs ancient or modern, wallpaper, fashion photography, costumes, quilts . . . you can order them small or large, as art prints or on less expensive paper. Below, I've posted a few of the many hundreds available.
• More V&A: Over at StyleCourt, a lovely post about uses for a small book of Indian floral designs from the V&A pattern book library with CD of images for noncommercial use. The book is available in the U.S. here.

From the V&A print shop -- cintamani! More of their lovely prints:

This last print is so gorgeous, with the loose, bright watercolor spots, that it does lift my spirits. I hope it lifts yours too! Back soon, I hope, with a more optimistic heart.

xo Lainie

Connections and Companions on the Journey

I've thought a lot about how to express, in art, the concept of the red thread that joins us to our destined companions without it  being banal or obvious. Artist Beili Liu of Texas has done this exquisitely in this work, titled Bound #2. Visit her site to see more. Thanks to the Soolip blog for the link.

It's September 11, and it seems like a good day to remember our connections.

The rather unpleasant intensity of August has passed, but so many people I know are having a tough time these days. It seems to reflect everything that's happening in the world and yet it's also deeply personal.

I'm going to buy this book today and I know I'll be inspired. The story of textiles is, in so many ways, the story of the lives of women, so maybe this book will help me find direction for this blog and my own work. NPR reported that a piece of dyed flax fiber has been dated to 30,000 years old; if you ever feel like everything's been done with fiber, well, it has. Yet it's also a thrill to feel this connection to all the souls on this planet who have spun, woven, dyed and stitched in the name of beauty, warmth, protection, expression and communication. So you might say that we're all tied by a thread that moves across time as well as distance.

Here's what I wrote in my first blog post:

Why Red Thread Studio? About twelve years ago, a friend told me that, in Japan, there is a legend that says that each of us is connected to our soul mate by an invisible red thread. I love the idea that our world is a huge spinning sphere of red thread, if we could only see it, leading each of us to our greatest passion and destiny. It's a mystical story of textiles and color and connection, and red, the color of the heart, of fire, of roses, is my favorite hue. So the red thread, the most mundane of objects, is also magical.

I might write something different today (and name the blog something different, truth be told) but it's okay. This is all a bit heady for a Friday morning, though, and I have to get to the commute and the cubicle.

EDITED TO ADD: Here's another story on the 34,000-year-old flax fibers, which were dyed black, gray, turquoise and pink. Modern!

Full Harvest Moon

full harvest moon photo by Loriejeanne

Thank you so much for the lovely comments on my last post. It is so gratifying to know that the things I write here make a difference to people, and I'm not just whistling in the dark. I appreciate your thoughtful and kind words more than I can say.
More soon!