From the Collection: All the Way from Lhasa

The Roommate changed around some of our textiles when he was on school break last week. One of the items now decorating our bedroom is a Tibetan monastery wall hanging appliqued with a dpal be'u (eternal knot).  

You'll see some detail at the right.  And here's a picture of such hangings in action, decorating the Nechung Monastery near Lhasa.  

This amazing souvenir of our Himalayan Holiday (2003) is about 3' x 6' and doesn't really fit too well in our house--mostly because we have every possible space already covered!  Surprised?!  ;-) 

 

We had an amazing summer on top of the world...here are a few photos I hope you'll like.  The first is Kailash (གངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ), the point of the trip, from across Lake Manassarovar.  

 And the second is Everest, from our plane, flying from Lhasa back to Kathmandu.

Art Admiration 101

The Kuba peoples, who live along the Sankuru river in the Congo, make raffia velvet (you'll see some of that eventually) and this, Kuba cloth, which is dyed & woven raffia (from palm fronds).  They then applique it onto the darker, woven raffia background.  I can't deal w/ applique with cooperative fabric like cotton & a sewing machine--imagine dealing w/ raffia!  And this is about 4' x 14'!  (This is just a close up of a small part.)  This textile is a wrap, for ceremonial purposes.  The symbols don't mean anything, per se, but I wonder if their intricacy indicates the skill of the seamstress?  I'll be showing you lots more masterpieces (mistresspieces?) as this blog continues.  Thanks for your attention!