A new book which I want to draw your attention to is
'One Needle, One Thread: Miao (Hmong) embroidery and fabric piecework from Guizhou, China' by Tomoko Torimaru as author and photographer. It was launched at the recent symposium in Hawai and published by University of Hawaii Art Gallery
http://www.hawaii.edu/artgallery/one_needle/index.htm I have to say that I emailed the Gallery wanting to buy the book but was completely ignored. I had previously tried to source it from one of the translators who sent info on it to me, Yoshiko I Wada, but again failed to get any response! I managed, eventually, to source it in the UK via the Handweavers Studio
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/9814/index.htm thanks to a tip off from Ruth Smith (£40 to include postage and packing).
The quality of the photos and printing of them plus the diagrams are first rate. The book is a 'how to' but, to me, more of a 'how the Miao do it'. Due to the quality of the photos/printing the myriad of small photos crammed into the text around the larger images give loads of information. The prentation of the whole is very Japanese in that they are so very, very good at producing 'how to' textile books where the images can demonstrate very clearly regardless of text - and here all the text is in English as well! There are lovely photos of the costume being worn and some good specific location identification.
The book is the product of 25 years of research in Guizhou initially by Sadae Torimaru and then, in the last decade, by her daughter the author Tomoko Torimaru whose comment in the book strikes such a cord with me:
Quote:
"These pages convey only a small amount of my astonishment for the Miao's incredible decorative work practiced so deftly with but a simple needle and thread."
Oh, and on the page 2 facing this comment there is a large image of a thread/embroidery booklet (see thread
http://www.tribaltextiles.info/communit ... php?t=1249 ) with the info:
Quote:
"This handmade Miao embroidery case, a ubiquitous accessory in Pingzhai, Qiandongnan resembles the Han period (206 B.C. - A.D. 220) artifact zhenyi (found in Mawangdui - No.1 grave in Changsha, Hunan)."
I thoroughly recommend the book for all those interested in Miao textiles.
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Pamela
http://www.tribaltextiles.infoon-line tribal textiles resource