Two-legged Spider
Four of my eight appendages have been removed,
I sew with two hands,
fabric replacing my silk,
I wear a dress suitable for two arms, two legs,
shamisen my voice.
PHOTOS: Some half year harvests: Longans, mandarins, gai lan...
There were so many sweets, as well as plenty of lettuce for ssam! We ended up picking so much fruit that we shared and swapped with the neighbours.
I told Teacher she looked like she was gracefully dancing.
PHOTO: My nagoya obi, obijime and a pair of white tabi (the clasps are the bane of my emotions; after my first lesson I spent time practicing putting them on, fastening and un-fastening, taking them off. )
PHOTO: Kitsuke classes, our first attempt dressing ourselves artfully in kimono.
As she cut into the fabric, she imagines. Hundreds of tiny particles only visible in a light beam rise. She inhales slowly, scent etched into her memory, polyester in her lungs.
What to do of bags of unwanted things? A constant reminder, a memory, a guilty stain of sorts...
From old clothes I spin threads, make fabrics, make accessories, make other clothes.
PHOTO: Embroidered memory of a pattern I saw on a kimono.
PHOTOS: Months, and ongoing; the individual pieces are all hand-stitched.
I’ve been putting old, discarded pillow cases into use. This is a fabric for a 저고리…, or a jeogori-inspired piece. I saw the pattern on a women’s theatrical jacket from the Ethnic Costume Museum in Beijing — and I told myself, “I must have it (the pattern), so I’m making it!”
PHOTOS: Snaps of leaf-curling spider homes; often their front legs are exposed.
PHOTO: Moved a stray mantis onto my avocado tree.
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