I'm Baaaaack : a BORO textile experiment

I t's official, I deserve the title of "Bad Blogger" of the month. I've got excuses, but I am not going to bother you with them, because, they are after all, well, excuses. So I'm back after a long hiatus. I've finished a few projects that I now need to photograph.

And for starters, I have found this japanese textile art form, that I find fascinating. It is called "Boro" which translate into "rags" or "waste fabric" in English. The story behind the Boro textiles is a little similar to our quilting tradition. When fabrics were rare and expensive, poor people in Japan did not throw away any of them. Instead, they patched and mended, and replaced and added to the garment until it looked a bit like Joseph's Coat of Many Colors. I find this art-craft form poignant since it represents a history of the person, or family that owned it. You can see a few exemple of beautiful Boro pieces here :
http://www.kimonoboy.com/catalog.html?category=Sold_Boro

Anyhoo I tried my hand at making a New Boro (and as you can see I just I love Indigo.) I realize that it is cheating, for the value is in the antiquity, but, in my defense I want to mention that all the fabrics I used are quite old, leftovers from dress making and faded tea towels and old blue jeans. There's something so primeval about the rough, visible stitches and the raw edges, it has inspired me to do other pieces, not Boros, but, my own creations. So much so that the title of this blog "My Little Papers may no longer be appropriate, and perhaps should be changed to "My little Stuff," Whadaya think ?

Toodles

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TEXTE EN FRANCAIS

J'ai decouvert cette forme japonaise de Patchwork, qui s'appelle "Boro" qui se traduit a peu pres par "Tissu perdu". Il y a un ou deux siecle quand le tissu coutait tres cher, les pauvres gens reparaient et ajoutaient des pieces avec un resultat tres interessant. Bien sur, les Boros authentiques coutent les yeux de la tete, et sont tres recherches par les les collec-

tionneurs, alors, pour rire, je m'en suit cousu un (voir photo.) Il n'est pas trop mal reussi, meme si il lui manque la patine de 2 siecles.

Vous pouvez voir des Boros authentiques dans le lien si dessus (au milieu du texte Anglais) je les trouve superbes, si touchants, et personnels, et en meme temps, tres graphique et modernes enfin c'est le design Japonais... imbatable.

A plus tard.