Above: Textile Design © Jennifer Parry Dodge 2010- 2011


Still life with Daffodils and ERMIE Wawona Print.

Above: Textile Designs © Jennifer Parry Dodge & Tomory Dodge 2010- 2011

The last few days:

Making labels, shipping orders (thank-you!).

Record browsing.

Dinner at Polka.

Some Bling from a friend (wouldn't it make a great print??).

Did you know Renee was opening a store?

Be sure to enter Elizabeth's Raffle for Japan- it's a good one, for a good cause.

Wish we could have seen the Super Moon here last night, but it was cloudy...cold and rainy today, makes me want to stay in bed, but it's good for the garden.

Happy Spring!

Spring Cleaning.

It's that time- all sales final! Quantities and sizes are limited. Making way for new ERMIE Spring and Summer items coming soon to the shop in May!

Above: Textile Designs © Jennifer Parry Dodge 2011

Of course thinking of Japan today, and my friends there...all of them safe, thankfully.

My Aunt Ermie traveled to Japan, and became friends with a woman there. They sent each other Christmas cards every year. Ermie kept all of the cards she received from her penpal in a scrapbook. I loved looking through that scrapbook as a child- as you can imagine the cards were beautifully designed. They seemed so exotic at the time; I definitely think looking at those cards fueled my interest in Japanese art, crafts, and culture.

I actually developed a couple of prints for this spring using scraps of antique Japanese textiles.
One is an ikat design printed on silk, the other a shibori motif, printed on knit organic cotton.

With each collection I've done, I've donated some of the profits to charity (the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, the United Way Gulf Recovery Fund, and currently the American Cancer Society). It seems appropriate to donate some of the proceeds from the garments I'm going to make with these textiles to the earthquake and tsunami relief efforts in Japan. The Red Cross is one option- if you have any suggestions for charities over the next few days, I'd love to hear them.

Nieves/ Raffi Kalenderian

Another NYC trip purchase, another funny coincidence-

I was in Printed Matter feeling a bit overwhelmed by their large inventory, when all of a sudden for some reason I thought "I know- I'll look at the Nieves books."

Anyone who has been on the interwebs for a while is probably familiar with Nieves Press out of Zurich. I located their section in the store and the first book I picked up was Memoranda- Raffi Kalenderian. I had to laugh (I'm sure the clerks thought I was a bit off my rocker because of all the laughing and smiling to myself that was going on). Just a few months prior I had met Raffi at the LCD show at the Hollywood Bowl through a mutual friend. I knew Raffi was an artist (he is also is a musician and in the band Wounded Lion) but I had no idea that this is what is work was like! I had to purchase this - again not only for the coincidence, but also for all of the marvelous patterns, colors, and textures in his work. I mean, look at that rug depicted in the second image!

Another coincidence: If you are curious, Wounded Lion actually have a show tomorrow night at Pehrspace here in Los Angeles.

A break from the books ( a couple more book posts are on the way).
Shots from around the house & yard, where I have been spending a lot of time lately.

I just wanted to say thank-you to Jen and Jennifer for their sweet posts over the last few days. Lovely gals...too bad we live on opposite coasts!

Also: A big hello to all of my new readers & visitors & customers that have been stopping by the past few days because of the Jennifers. Welcome! Leave a comment...certainly ask me any questions that you might have about the items my store. I won't bite!

What else...lusting after this, this, and these.
Thinking about buying a surplus jacket. I love this one at Bird. Price is a little high though.
Did you know Bird has a blog? Jen Mankins is my new style hero.

Oh, I cut and colored my hair again. Shorter and redder. I swear I was trying to grow it out, but it just does not want to cooperate. Pictures to maybe follow!

I just started reading the Tibetan Book of the Dead and it is blowing my mind...

Miniaturegarden/ Book of Books

"...when you buy a book from an independent press, you are supporting the work of altruists. Take care to remember that without altruism there is no culture. Besides, they provide the best example for the survival of culture: None of them publish junk. " -Michael Silverblatt

Another favorite purchase from Printed Matter: The Book of Books by Minaturegarden Press, 2010.

A lovely little art book-
From the Printed Matter website: "Synopsis: This collection of collage, drawing, and photographs referencing books leads it's reader into a literary world. The iron spiral staircases of a library invite you to touch the wood of the shelves, to work up to the rows and rows of dusty hard covers, shoved in and around each other beholding the accumulative history of knowledge."

The book also contains a limited edition poster with photographs from various contributors of books, books, books!