This week I was up and out by 8.15 am – an unusual occurrence! But the Setagaya Boro Ichi market isn’t on every day, every week or even every month. It is only on 4 days of the year: two days in December and two in January.

I arrived at around 9.30am and the crowds hadn’t yet developed so it started off a fairly pleasant experience, despite the bitter cold. Why didn’t I bring gloves? There were hundreds of stalls selling everything from bananas to antiques. I was on the look-out for interesting textiles and anything old and Japanese which caught my eye AND was affordable. Well I managed to find: a couple of lovely kimonos; three Japanese glass fishing floats; an old Japanese book (I shall use the pages in my mixed-media work) and best of all – some very interesting raw silk pieces – made, I think, with the left overs from the silk-making process. These will come in handy when I start experimenting with dyeing and stitching.

Pictures to follow!

I left at midday as I was so cold but I was happy with my booty!

I have just enrolled on a textiles course. I am now studying for a degree in Textiles! Wow it may be a long journey but at least I’ve taken the first steps. From time to time I may add some of my work. To get going here are a few pics which I may use later on as inspiration for textile designs.

We were honoured to be invited to the house of a lovely Japanese lady. She had collections of Japanese pottery, hair combs, books, antiques, table ware, obi……the list goes on! I could have spent hours there looking at all the beautiful eye candy but she also provided some very interesting people to talk to plus tasty food, so I was well-occupied. I did manage to take a few photos of her collections though…!

Had a wonderful lunch. I had the set lunch option of soya bean soup, followed bychicken green curry and then organic coffee. Jesshad the veggie option. All food organic and from Tohoku.