My fan collection

My collection of fans is something that happened quite by accident - in fact until I gathered them together for these photos I had no idea I had quite so many! But I suppose that 4 trips to Asia, where they are a natural thing to buy as a souvenir, and the others that have been picked up along the way, all add up! Since they were spread around the house, either as decor or in places they might be useful, I didn't realise how many I had.

And this is not the whole collection, because I have at least one in my drawer at work! It's a purple Spanish one that I bought for practical reasons at the local charity shop on a very hot day!

My most recent fan purchase, from Vietnam, is another one that was bought because it was a very hot day!

Free fan from a play at the Edinburgh Fringe by a Japanese group, and a secondhand woven fan.

 

The other side of the free Japanese fan

Found this fan when clearing my Gran Reid's house. The paper on it was completely falling apart so I replaced it with this wrapping paper.

This was bought from a craft centre in Kyoto on my first trip to Japan.

A brush-painted fan I bought in China

 I think I bought this at a museum of traditional crafts on my second visit to Kyoto

I love this old fan that I found in a charity shop. It looks like someone has been practicing their signature on the back, or maybe repeatedly writing the name of the person they love, but I can't make out the writing very well. My best guess is J Currie.

Folded paper fan from a dollshouse magazine

Blank fans for future craft projects!

Wrapping with furoshiki

When I was ordering some shampoo bar tins from Lush, I also sneaked in one of their lovely furoshiki wrapping cloths. I have a couple of furoshiki already, and lots of scarves that I could also use, so I thought I would try out some wrapping techniques.

Furoshiki are Japanese cloths that are used to wrap objects – whether gifts or your packed lunch! They are a great way of avoiding using other wrappings such as wrapping paper.

I also have some instruction cards for how to tie furoshiki wraps – but I have no clue where I have put these, so I just looked up some instructions on the internet!

Cowden Japanese garden with Marceline and family

I recently visited one of my favourite places, the Japanese garden at Cowden, and met up with Marceline and her family. I've known Marceline Smith of Asking for Trouble for some years after first coming across her through her zines about Japan. And I've also got to know her sister Nicolette on Instagram, after we both took part in a postcard exchange that Marceline organised.

Marceline and Nicolette were on holiday in Fife with their dad and his partner, and I'd put together some Fife travel tips for them (eventually those will become a blog post as Marceline suggested!). I really enjoyed following their travels on Instagram and seeing them enjoying some of the things I'd suggested (especially the Fisher & Donaldson cakes!). On their last day they were going to visit Cowden, so I quickly dashed back from the Orla Kiely talk in Edinburgh to join them!

I seem to have mostly got photos of the back of people's heads, for which I must apologise! We were all having so much fun exploring the garden that I didn't want to disturb anyone by asking them to pose for a photo, and I always prefer candid photos anyway.

We had a good look round the garden, then, after I was treated to lunch (thank you again!), we headed out again and luckily the sun came out! It was lovely having their company when exploring the garden.

Kimono talk

I recently went to a talk about kimonos at the National Museum of Scotland, given by sustainability expert Lynn Wilson. She explored how we can take inspiration from the kimono to create alternative fashion options that are sustainable. She looked at the idea of loving our clothes and keeping them for longer, the circular economy, and how wasteful clothing production can be.

Some things I hadn't thought of before were the fact that clothing donated to charity and taken to other countries can disrupt their local clothing markets, and that there is a lot of hidden waste in the garment production industry such as samples and surplus when cutting patterns out.

I'd thought about the fact we need to buy less clothing, but I hadn't thought about how the design practices need to change too. Making a kimono produces less than 2% waste, so can we design patterns that are zero waste? Yes, but unfortunately the first zero waste magazine pattern was cancelled at the last minute! Designers also need to look at producing items that are practical and comfortable, and that can work for us when our bodies go through changes. Make things that people really need and will wear!

We also need to play our part by repairing our clothing - why would only 13% of people sew a button back on when over 70% know how to do so! We can also look at ideas like valuing tradition in our clothing rather than following fashions, only buying what we need, and renting clothing.

The only thing that would have made the talk better would have been if there was a fashion show of kimonos and some of the other clothing mentioned! 

Cowden garden in spring

Today I’m continuing with the blossom theme, although there wasn’t quite as much at Cowden Garden as some other places. Most of the trees there are quite young at the moment, but I’m looking forward to seeing them mature over the years. 

I bought a season ticket to the garden, so I’m looking forward to spending lots of time there this year. I enjoyed sitting in the tea house on such a sunny day reading a book.