Amsterdam (Part II ) for Urban Jungle Bloggers

Our theme this month for Urban Jungle Bloggers is 'botanical zoom' looking at the details in our house plants, and so, as I bought many new plants in Amsterdam, I thought I would continue to talk about shopping in that city and show you what I came home with.

Something I haven't talked about so far is my latest tattoo, I have waited for some time to be able to book with the legendary Angelique Houtkamp of Salon Serpent and finally I managed to see her.  I will be revealing the tattoo when it's healed over on Instagram, alongside my new wood watch.

Angelique sells her artwork, limited edition prints like this below of wolf girl.  I bought these two plants in Wildernis which is just along the road from Salon Serpent.  I find the spotted one really fascinating, it looks like someone has painted the spots on!

We can't talk about plants without talking about planters and pots, this for me is all part of the fun, finding the right pot for the plant, allowing enough space for it to grow and allowing it fit with the decor.  This year's story for plant pots is natural baskets, seagrass, wicker and woven.  The above two came from a man on a street market (Lindengracht on saturdays).    

this is the orange tree blossom from a mini tree I have in my house, the smell is absolutely amazing

Jeska Hearne who blogs at Lobster & Swan has recently got hold of a lovely and delicate plant called sophora prostrata.  I was lucky enough to find some sitting outside a wonderful florist shop called Fleur Monde on Haarlemerdijk, an enormous shop full to the brim of wonderful specimens. That was the first time I had ever seen one other than in Jeska's photos, it had quite a journey home in my hand luggage, Im still hoping it can get established nicely.

The good people at Urban Jungle Bloggers have also found some great colouring illustrations for us this month, I only had a small set of coloured pencils which came out of a Christmas cracker, so my palette was somewhat limited!  Still it was pretty relaxing to do even so. Also in the photo above you can see one of the little mother of pearl spoons I bought in Zenza. 

These two hands came from de Weldaad which I featured in the last post.  The victorian tile is actually English, I intended to buy some antique Delft Tiles, even beaten or battered ones just as a souvenir, but boy were they expensive!!  The tile above came from a man specialising in tiles, mostly Delft, on Noordmarkt and his prices were much better than in any shops.  It seems that the cheapest you can find old Delft tiles for is around 20 Euros, but frequently they are up to 60 Euros and more, so you would need to be a pretty serious collector to buy these.  I stuck with the English one because it has the same colour tones as those set into my new cupboard.

This is the old Indigo scarf with tassles I bought on Noordmarkt from Stern Africa. It feels like a light denim and the tassles are a status symbol for men in certain parts of Africa. Birgit really knows her stuff and can give you so much information about the things you buy from her. This type of cloth is from the Mossi people of Berkina Fasso, it is thin strips of fabric sewn together to form a whole cloth and then Indigo dyed. The prices from Birgit are about a third of what you will pay elsewhere, so well worth finding her.

My yoga teacher was talking to us this week about being 'present' in all things you do, she had been away and while everyone was madly dashing down the Ski slopes she was stopping and appreciating the weather and nature.  I can honestly say that this approach of slow living, is well worth practising.  I have visited Amsterdam many times, but all too frequently when on business dashing from one place to another. This time I took it slow, appreciated the details, walked instead of dashing and enjoyed the city so much more for it. 

Have a lovely week everyone while we are getting ready for some time off over Easter. J x

Styling The Seasons - August

Funny old month eh? usual weird weather, hot then cold then rain then sunsets.  Still it doesn't stop us Brits getting out and about, we are made of stronger stuff.  Nothing is going to scupper our holiday plans.

As per usual, I try to make my birthday celebrations last as long as possible, every year I use it as an excuse to spend loads on trips away and presents for me and home. 

Since loosing my parents I've taken it upon myself to take control and mostly I do stuff as a distraction to the fact that they aren't around to spoil me anymore. I'm very spontaneous these days so our trip to the coast was rather last minute. Having now also been reminded how quick and easy it is to fly to Amsterdam, this too is something I need to do more often.

My styling the seasons this month is to feature all my new purchases from the UK and Amsterdam, combining the finds from The Firle Vintage Fair, various shops around Hastings like Butlers Emporium and the enormous flea market in Amsterdam.

My photos are a reflection of the different moods that this August has provided us with, dark and light.

Almost autumnal in parts.  Above is a lovely vintage picture from the East Sussex Firle Vintage Fair held in the grounds of Firle place. I thought it had overtones of being Chinese and put me in the mind set of things from the Orient, Im definitely on a trip with Japan and China at the  moment, this was to come to a head in Amsterdam, when my host showed me her Japanese textile collection.

The cone of wool was from the flea market in Amsterdam and I will use it in weaving, I couldn't help popping those feathers in the top. They are from Eagle Owls and Hawks. Im going to hang them from the wall hanging I think. 

Above here, in a more pastel mood are two more purchases from Firle, the blue glass 'milk of magnesia' bottle and the green glass dish with lid.  The tray was also from there and has mother of pearl set in with bright reds and greens.  Look out for that tray again in photos as I haven't featured its full glory yet. The flask was from the Amsterdam flea and was only 5 euros. I photographed these against my work area cupboards which Ive painted in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, mixing up green and white and grey.

The book above is clearly from Holland, its about house plants and the pictures inside I think are cards stuck in from tea or cigarette packets maybe. This again is sure to feature in future so that I can show you the inside. I may need help with translation but Im sure that my Urban Jungle Blogger friends will help if need be. The wooden spoon is the best priced hand carved spoon Ive yet to find and this was from Butlers in Hastings.

The highlight of my trip to the coast was to meet up with Jeska and Dean from the online store The Future Kept. I'd arranged to collect my little hand thrown ceramic mug from them (above). They sell out of these super fast so you may need to message them.  

And my  last picture is the fruits from my trees. The apple and plum trees were already in the garden at our house when we bought it. We struggle to make use of the fruit, Ive tried cider, chutney, jam .. you name it. But this year we are on our Nutribullet diet so this lot will end up in the juicer.  I photographed them on the dark wall with rust and galvanised iron because I thought the colours of the fruits shone out more this way. Its a good example of how to work with a dark wall, using natural bright pops like apple green. The colours in the plums are so beautiful a perfect example of how to mix shades of pink and green.

Lots of my friends, along with myself, have been nominated in different categories in the Amara Interior Blog Awards so please do look out for Lobster & Swan, A Quiet Style, Capture by Lucy, The Cabinet Makers Lovetale, At Mine, Apartment Apothecary, Breath Happiness, Make, Joelix, Happy Interior, Lotts & Lots,  oh and so many other great ones, Ive mentioned just a few of the 589 blogs nominated just to help you maybe find some new ones. 

If you have a look on the right hand side of this blog you can click on the Amara IBA15 badge and it will take you straight to the voting page for me.  I would love to be shortlisted. 

Thanks for reading as usual, see you next week. 

Turning Japanese in Amsterdam

This blog is being brought to you by the letter R and the colour Indigo.

Hi everyone, Ive just got back from Amsterdam after a flying visit to see my friend and to get a tattoo from Salon Serpent. These world famous tattooists, headed up by Angelique are in a cool area called Jacob Van Lennepstraat in Amsterdam Oud West. If you are in the area and looking for food head to De Hallen, an old factory with an enormous food hall housing a multitude of restaurants.

My friend Rosey has lived in Amsterdam for many years on and off, and although she is British she grew up in Japan because her father worked there. This lovely lady who works in fashion, is a leading expert on all things Denim but also has a hobby where she collects vintage Japanese textiles called Boro and has learnt to dye and create Shibori work.  After hearing all about it Im hoping to find a course to go on myself, although it won't be quite the same as the one Rosey went to in Japan for ten days with a world expert.

Rosey lives in a little house in Amsterdam in the old diamond quarter "Diamantbuurt" just of Van Woustraat. The old gem factory is surrounded by streets named after precious stones full of cute houses which were for the factory workers. Despite being an old building on the outside, Rosey has styled the inside with her passions for art, textiles and retro furniture.

We had a good look around a few areas outside of the centre, these being more interesting now they are gentrified. I noticed that theres a great love of house plants in this city and many cool house -plant shops and florists. 

I can see where Judith from Urban Jungle Bloggers got her passion for house plants when you see shops like these.

We also visited an enormous flea market (IJ-Hallen) which is once a month over on the island area called NDSM.NL where the famous Botel (boat hotel) is moored and the restaurants are in old shipping containers, like the one called Pllek.

If you don't drive under the water to get there then you can get the ferry from just behind grand central station. Its a free ferry that takes you to a post apocalyptic world of old abandoned boats and docks with innovative buildings and art/street culture.

And now onto all things Indigo ...

To start with lets me just say what Indigo is. Well, its a plant and a natural dye comes from it. Many countries grow it in abundance particularly Japan, India and Africa. 

When choosing your fabric for dyeing its best to go for natural fibre and boil wash it to remove any chemicals that may barrier against the dye.

The best results are achieved with a large vat, say 9 litres. Obviously natural indigo is the best but synthetic will be the most easily available. The water should be free of chemicals so try to collect rain water for it. Add lime (garden suppliers do this) and the water has to reach a ph of 11.5 so test it with litmus.

Dissolve the Indigo powder in hot water and add it to the vat.  Then add hydro sulphate to remove the oxygen (this goes off quickly so just get little bags). 

Now about adding your design or pattern to the fabric. The technique of Shibori is about sewing through pleated fabric, then the thread pulled tight to create areas of resistance where the dye can't reach. The stitch used is Sashiko, a running stitch.  You can find the patterns for this on the net or from books. 

Another way to create patterns is Katsomi - stencilling. Cut a stencil on special paper, then a muslin is glued over that.  Squeeze the mochi paste through the stencil holes, there are different techniques for this, and most definitely something you need to learn in the flesh.  Alternatively you can draw with the paste using something akin to a piping bag like you are icing a cake. 

Rosey can recommend a few good teachers, there is Bryan Whitehead a Canadian living in Japan, he runs ten day courses like the one Rosey went on. He works in the Fujino area outside Tokyo.  This course is considered very intensive. Bryan grows his own Indigo so you would get the real deal training from him.  

Also there is Clarissa Cochran in Saffron Walden who does simpler half day or weekend courses and Jane Calender whose company Callishibori do courses and supplies.

I really have over simplified here but hope it gives you a flavour for Shibori.

Also in Rosey's collection is something called Boro.  Literally meaning 'ragged', boro is patchworked indigo fabrics on old garments and blankets. Much like the idea of Kantha quilts, the Japanese do not waste anything, so repairing and patchworking holes was part of their ethos.

Below is a sample book of Indigo dyed fabrics, a very old book that was found in a Temple market.

 This is how the book looks from the outside, in the background is a piece of Boro fabric. Due to their age and fragility Boro folk art textiles sell for large sums of money, one well known dealer is called Kimonoboy who specialises in this area.

this is a little rice bag made of patchwork, worn round the waste when workers are in the rice fields

I hope you found this post informative and inspirational, perhaps you will get the bug to hop across to Amsterdam and go off the beaten track a bit too.