Waterville Ohio Public Library – New Years Celebration and Kimono Workshop
2010 is the year of the Tiger. To celebrate the New Year, the Waterville Public Library has invited me to host a kimono workshop, and traditional Japanese culture dicsussion.
Waterville Public Library – New Years celebration & Kimono Workshop
Date: January 25th, a Monday
Time: 7pm – 8pm
Admission: Free, and open to the public
Phone: 419-878-3055
Adress: 800 Michigan Ave, Waterville, OH 43566
Website: http://www.toledolibrary.org/about/location.asp?brch=Waterville
Holland Ohio Library, Kimono Presentation
So, today I had the pleasure of…once more, speaking to a younger audiance about kitsuke and traditional culture. They were an engaging audiance, and the young ladies – were particularlly enthralled. This was a high school anime club, that meets weekly at the Holland Ohio Library. In short I had fun – after the presentation…however I had to run straight to school. In fact, I am sharing and posting this right before I am due at my first day back in college. My first day of class is, public speaking. I am wearing the presentation outfit to school. It is fitting 
So, here are some photos from the library presentation. I look forward to working with additional libraries in the future.
My self and the librarian who helped make this possible.
The following two photos are of lovely ladies trying on kimono, as I discussed kitsuke.
My outfit for this presentation was winter themed. Golden obi, pale blue kimono, ice green haori, with pale blue leather Coach purse.
Winter outfit
Winter is here. So, for the Holland Branch Library discussion, I thought it was suiting to dress for such. Here is the preview of the outfit for the discussion today. The pale blue kimono, paired with a gold obi, and ice green haori just screams winter to me.
The kimono in a modern world.
Most people regard Kimono as ‘historical attire’. That meaning that there are little in the way of modern styles, and themes to be had. One of the things I enjoy the most about kimono,is that for such a simple piece of attire they have such a marvelous range of styles. There are many modern takes on kimono that I have observed over the years. When doing a discussion, or presentation I really can’t share these modern twists…but online, here I can! So, I present to you a small sample of some of the modern twists to be found with kimono.
Kimono wedding dress.
Kimono featuring the one..the only, Godzilla.
Yukata(informal cotton kimono) pulled short into a dress.
Toledo Area Kimono club?
This past Sunday, I met a friend for lunch. I had met her through the elaine’s Tea Shop presentation. She too is a kimono addict.
Over lunch something came up that struck me as a good idea: What about creating a Toledo area Kimono club?
The wheels in my mind are turning.
Bashcon 2010 BOOKED!
The Bashcon interview went very well, and I am booked for BashCon 2010 http://www.bashcon.com/ . I even have a photo preview of the room I will most likely be presenting in, and a pic from the discussion with the Bashcon board.
My BashCon Room…maybe. The rooms in the area, are all equally as nice, and will make for a beautiful setting.
During the discussion, I let one of the cordinators model a tomesode for the others who were present. Tomesode, are worn by married women, to formal events. As a married woman I can wear these kimono in formal settings. However, due to western tastes I like wearing them in less formal settings to create a stronger impression.
The BashCon crew were alot of fun, and a VERY interactive audiance. Amusingly, one of the Bashcon team members, met me at the Pinnacle event.
Later, I will announce the planned workshops and discussions for BashCon once they are formalised.
Bashcon Interview
This coming Wensday, I am interviewing with the board for Bashcon http://www.bashcon.com/ – a gaming convention here in Toledo. It is hosted through the University of Toledo.
I believe UT’s colors are blue and gold? If so, I have just the outfit to match the schools colors. Photos, and more coming after the interview.
The Pinnacle Wrap Up and Review
The event at the http://www.pinnaclecpwevents.com/ was a great success. I felt very honored to have been invited to have worked at this event. Everything from the food served, to the staff on hand made this venue first class. The clients for the evening, were particularlly fun and engaging. Not only did I get to share my passion for Kimono and origami, but I also made some great connections.
Some of the businesses I had the pleasure of meeting (but not all!):
Tapestry, live Harp music: http://www.tapestryduo.com
Party Booths, photo booths for your event: http://www.partybooths.com
56Daze, live band with a wide range of music styles to offer: http://www.56daze.com
Que Sera, marketing/advertising firm: http://www.kseraads.com
For such a professional group of people, it was a very relaxed and pleasent setting. To be honest, I did not feel as though I were working, but rather having fun at a big party.
Here is a photo of setup. I arrived around 2pm to begin folding. The design and origami fold is a simple one, intentionally so. A simple design is easier to mass produce, and faster. More complex designs, such as the well known peace crane are much more time consuming, and have room for more errors – thus more waste.
This is a photo of my work area, prior to opening.
A pic of some lovely ladies, and myself. They were a fun group, and really open to having fun. They were too happy to try on kimono, and pose in them for a few photos. After they had taken photos for themselves, I snagged one as well.
All in all, I had a great time and hope that some of my connections bloom into something more.
Event tonight, and a cont of washing kimono.
Today is the Pinnicle ( http://www.pinnaclecpwevents.com/ ) open house. The show is from 5-8pm for perspective clients. I hope to return with a few new connections, and some photos. Until then, I am off to prepare for the evening.
Also, the washing machine experiment went very well. Concerning kimono, the fanbase is fairly rigid against the use of such to wash their attire. The problem being, a concern and fear of destruction of their precious kimono. To be honest, I was largely against using a washing machine until I had such great success.
I had my machine set on cold water, a delicate cycle for 6 mins. I used standard fabric cleaner, and NO fabric softener. From the washing machine to the dryer, I just put the kimono in on a standard heated tumble dry. This process cleaned the kimono, improved their smell, and removed deep wrinkles from the fabric. IMO, the key to properly doing this was the use of cold water to wash the kimono in, and quickly moving the kimono from the washer to the dryer so they did not sit in the wash after it was done.
From the dryer, the kimono were folded while still warm, and put away.
All in all, I am VERY pleased with the results and will consider machine washing some of my less delicate kimono in the future.
Kimono meets household washing machine
So, I recently purchased a kimono that was in worse shape than pictures showed it to be in. It is very dirty with deep wrinkles in the fabric, and a few tears. I can mend the tears, however the level of dirt and scuzz on the kimono I can’t deal with.
Figuring this kimono to be a total loss..I have done something with it that I would never dream to do with any proper kimono: I threw it in the washing machine. It currently is in the wash, and I will be back in a few with an update as to how the kimono fares.
No, I don’t recommend doing this normally – this is just an experiment with a kimono otherwise suited to be cut up, or trashed due to its dirt level.
