FROM AMANDA HO

Received from Amanda in Australia, August 2012.

Amanda from Sampling has send me a nice letter.
She work as an architect during the day and she likes to knit, weave and sew during her free time.

Pretty letter in white and red with a little bit of blue.

Amanda's grandfather use to have a linen shop in Melbourne and these pretty handkerchiefs are from there. They are so lovely. I like this kind of old textiles with embroidery.

Different kinds of weaving structures Amanda have made for some years ago in mercerised cotton.
Dear Amanda, thank you so much for your lovely letter. The handkerchiefs is so beautiful.

FROM ANNA.

Received from Anna in Germany, June 2012.

I have received the most stunning letter from Anna, with the most amazing textile details.
Anna is a communication designer specialized on social media, living curently in Berlin and on her blog BLINK BLINK she write this about herself:
In general:
I'm a designer,
who tends to think a lot.
And also not.

I like these small quotes which often leads to something else on her blog. Like this:
Full of holes.
Check for pulse.
Blink your eyes.
One for yes.
Two for no.

I've no idea what I am talking about.

Anna likes to be in movement and to change things in her life constantly. Her dream is one day to become a consultant in matter of design / innovation brand communication and to focus on her own creativity and design-skills.
If you want to see more from Anna, visit her flickr.
My letter to Anna can be seen here.

The envelop itself is a little piece of art. Love the lines!

The letter from Anna is full of old vintage upholstery fabrics.
This piece in velvet have so many wonderful details. I like the difference in the almost tufted soft yarns together with the more twisted flat areas in the design.

An amazing card made by Anna.

Another velvet in jacquard weaving. I'm in love with the light green color.

Pretty detail in the letter from Anna.

Detail of flower.

I like the way the colors interact with each other and blend together and becomes a new color.

Dear Anna, thank you so much for your lovely letter. Your card is laying on my desk at my studio.

FROM LIARNIE.

Received from Liarnie in Philippines, June 2012.

Last week a pretty letter where waiting for me in my mailbox. It was from sweet Liarnie in Manila.
Liarnie makes the sweetest drawings which can be seen here. She has tried to study Danish, I'm really impressed as my language is not easy to learn and now she is studying Swedish.

Part of the textile letter from Liarnie.

This handkerchief or panuelo is so pretty and fragile. I'm really in love with it. It's part of a full national costume and is worn by the women, even today.
It's made of pina from the coconut tree and the design on it is two typical scenes: the chestnut tree and the house called "Bahay Kubo". The panuelo is usually made of pina or silk.
This handkerchief is already very special to me, as Liarnie writes that it has belonged to her mother, which has past away many years ago and she also thinks it has belonged to her Grandmother. It's such a beautiful present. Thank you so much.

Liarnie likes to do papercraft at her home.
This heart full of small colorful dots is so pretty.

The card from Liarnie is very fine. The cover looks like mother of pearl and have small butterflies flying on it.

Different kinds of cards. I like these cards with there dreaming motifs.

Flowers in three different designs.

 

I so much love this little card with the text: "Take your passion and make it come true". It is so much true and important to follow your heart and do what you have always dreamt of.

Dear Liarnie, thank you so much for your letter full of treasuries.
The handkerchief is so dear to me, so I will put it on my studiowall and the little card above have I put in my wallet, so I can have it with me everywhere I go, as I believe these words are what life is about.
So a big "tak" to you.

FROM KRISTINA.

Received from Kristina in Germany, June 2012.

Kristina writes to me that even when she was a little girl she has always been impressed by exceptional fibers, structures and techniques. She has always been knitting, crocheting and crafting.

She likes working with paper, linen, straw, crepe yarns, silk and wool.

If you want to see more of Kristina’s work you can find it here.

A beautiful sample with linen and overspun wool. Very pretty!

The card is full of the yarns Kristina likes to work with: Italian silk crepe, silver thread from Japan, Shifu –paper thread, straw, horsehair, llama –dyed with onion and homespun, paper thread from Japan.

A sample of towels with pep-border and homespun linen in the weft.

A sample of a mixed warp with inlay.

The weft is homespun soy silk and cotton. I’m impressed by all the homespun yarns Kristina makes and uses in her weavings.

I like the softness and the simple complexity in the inlay. A very beautiful sample.

Photos of woven textiles where the weft is straw.

Dear Kristina, thank you so much for your letter to me. The white sample in homespun soy silk is hanging in my studio.

FROM AMANDA R.

Received from Amanda in Canada, June 2012.

I feel so lucky as I have received a second letter from Amanda. Her pretty handhandwriting and the envelop itself is always a treat for the eye. The first letter from her can be seen here.
Amanda is a photo based artist living in Toronto and she makes the most stunning photos. You can read about her photo process here and here.
Recently she has got her very first loom, a LeClerc with 4 shafts, as she likes textiles a lot. Eventhough it's small loom there is still so many options, as long as the weaver have a playful mind. You can weave with overtwisted threads in plainweave together with twill, or make stribes in the denting of the reed, with open-tight, being openminded is the best way to create.

The pretty envelop with Amanda's very fine handwriting, which I love so much.

Amanda always surprises me, here she has written the letter on a piece of fabric. It look japanese to me, like a tie-dyed with indigo.
Amanda is interested in how contemporary artist use craft in their practices, and how people make a living making textiles.

The letter contains a pretty stamp from India her friend Sanjay gave to her. Amanda is dreaming about visiting India with her boyfriend next year.
The little piece of thread is cotton. Right now she is weaving towels of it and finaly pretty initials of my name; KNR.

Dear Amanda, thank you so much for this letter. Your letter written on the fabric will soon be in my studio.

FROM KIM.

Received from Kim, shipbuilding in Australia, May the 21.

shipbuilding is such an amazing blog, and the owner Kim have just sended me this letter. I have been following shipbuilding for a while now and I always go in there, hoping Kim have made a new blogpost. Her photos, weavings, words, everything is so beautiful and I'm so happy we have started to exchange letters.

The letter from Kim, each piece is wrapped inside some handpaper paper. It was fantastic to cut off a little string and open.

The letter were written on a doily in paper. So pretty!

Weaving sample in twill in very fine silk and cotton.

Pretty transperant leafes like the Gauze weavings.

Beads!

Kim's card and some of her favorite yarns and colors. Pretty!

A little origami bird in gold and white paper.

Small strings from each little package.

Dear Kim, thank you so much for your lovely package. Your twill sample will soon be hanging in my studio.

FROM ELISABETH, no. 2.

Received from Elisabeth in USA, May the 21.

My second letter from Elisabeth arrived yesterday. I think it's wonderful to be able to keep on writing with people and to get to know them a little bit better. My first letter from Elisabeth can be seen here.
Elisabeth weaves the most fantastic deflected double weave textiles, also known as cell weaves and I have fallen in love with them a long time ago. This time she send some of her samples to me. I feel so lucky.

Pretty, pretty, pretty!!!

This one is my favorite, as the colors interact in such a beautiful way. Also I think there is a very good contrast in the thick soft wool together with the more fine and shiny cotton.

Elisabeth were so sweet to send me some drafts too of the weaving technique.

Dear Elisabeth, thank you so much for this amazing letter. This time I'm going to make a little book and put your samples in it, so I can take it with me everywhere.

FROM DONATELLA.

Received from Donatella in Italy, April the 7.

Donatella is a weaver like me and we have so much in common, these are the first words from Doni's delis blog: handweaving, textiles and yarns, scandinavian design. Thats us!
Donatella have send me a textile letter which is like a book, made out of fabric, full of bits and pieces from her life.

Donatella's loom and a beautiful old lamp. It looks like a Bauhaus lamp to me, lovely!!

This piece of lace is so amazing and it has belonged to Donatella's Grandmother. I am so happy that it's now mine.

Donatella started weaving in 2001 and she knew from the beginning it would become a big passion. This is a very early sample from her.

This is a piece of fabric from a special time in Donatella's life, when she were studied handwoven textile design in Bradford in the UK.
It's a sample for a double weaving project used as inspiration. She used the painter Hundertwasser as inspiration.

Here is a piece of fabric which is from Naj Oleari, a famous brand in Italy in the 1980's. When Donatella were a girl it was used as a skirt. Now, much faded, but still beautiful -it's a laundry bag that she takes with her wherever she go.
I like the idea of re-designing and this woven piece is so amazing, both in colors but also the way it has been woven, a little bit like a double cloth.

When Donatella get leftovers from thick handwovens, she likes to felt them into small shapes like leaves, hearts, flowers and then she uses them as decoration. What a nice idea.

Dear Donatella, I want to thank you for your lovely textile book you have made for me. The woven sample from Naj Oleari will I put on my studio wall.