Bento Boxes

Every since visiting Little Tokyo in L.A. and visiting my family in Portland, I have been thinking about bento lunch boxes. Since September means back to school for grown up grads too, I decided to try packing these myself. But before investing in authentic bento boxes, I wanted to make sure that this was something that I could actually do without too much trouble and that we would actually enjoy. I purchased four inexpensive plastic containers and sewed up two chopstick covers and two bento bands from Japanese scrap fabric.

There is an asian market near our house and while the selection isn't amazing, there is enough to make packing bento lunches much easier. Some items like frozen fish cake and assorted dumplings, tofu, and furikake are nice to have on hand. I have also been enjoying this blog http://justbento.com/ and recently purchased Makiko's The Just Bento Cookbook.

Weaving

This holiday weekend I decided to try my hand at making a small wall hanging on my very makeshift picture frame "loom." I'm actually quite pleased with the way it turned out and have just finished hanging it on a narrow wall next to the big window in our living room.

I mostly used a variety of cotton and wool yarns in neutral tones, although there is a small portion on the right side that is made of very fine silver thread.

I found the process generally enjoyable- especially working without a pattern and it gave me the opportunity to pay special attention to the feel and texture of different yarns. Here are a few textile artists whose work I really admire: Metrode, Nightwood, Justine Ashbee.

I had all sorts of problems with this thin metal poster frame-- definitely not the most effective or time efficient method out there but it worked for my purposes and didn't cost a cent. Maybe one day I'll actually purchase or build the real thing?