Riches from a far away land

I've found that a really good way of getting lots of different bits of fabric with Japanese patterns is to go wild at places that sell handkerchiefs or small furoshiki. These are the ones I picked up on this trip, from a stall at a festival in the town I used to teach in, 100 yen shops, a stand of products made from chirimen fabric and traditional patterns at a game/anime goods store in Ueno, a shop in Kyoto's amazing Sannnenzaka, a shop in the Kappabashi area of Asakusa, and at duty free in Narita airport.

The maple leaf fabric is from a vintage garment, bought at a stand at a festival. (I nearly bought an amazing cloth bolt for a yukata at a nearby shop, but I'm still not good enough to make the best use of it.) The dense flower pattern is a tenugui from a 100 yen shop, and the three at the bottom are super-soft gauze handkerchiefs from the Ninenzaka area below Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto.

Small furoshiki bought at Narita airport duty free.

Handkerchiefs with traditional patterns bought at a small shop near the Kappabashi kitchenware equipment area of Asakusa in Tokyo. The shopkeeper and the friend I was with told me that all of the very traditional patterns like these have meanings - they symbolised protection, good fortune, etc.

Bunnies, flowers and fish.

I love these simple striped fabrics - the colour combinations really make them work. The bottom right handkerchief and the one lying over the others are from a stand in a game/anime goods shop in Ueno.

Mind the glass!

A friend who is seriously into glass (by which I mean owning her own portable hospital oxygen generator to super-heat propane) invited me over last weekend to have a go at making glass beads. She was a great teacher and I managed to make some pretty good pieces that day!

Some of them ended up looking like turnips, but I like them anyway.