I’m a little shy asking people to buy my tea towels, so I opened an Instagram account @RUEDESBELLESFEUILLES to speak about it without feeling ashamed ; )
It is a new account with only a few posts so far, but surprisingly this account feels more personal than my main account. Something about not having many followers somehow gives me freedom to speak and post more freely and personally.
Paris was melting hot in June. For good and bad, I started a new printing project during this month, which involved lots of tests and patience. Good because I was experimenting with dye which works best in warm temperature, but bad because the printing process turned out to be quite a workout and the hot weather significantly shortened my patience. But at last, here they are – my first tea towel series!
I love the quality and the characteristic of linen, and it was important for me to print on 100% good quality linen. To print, I made giant stamps to press with dye paste. Pressing with hands was almost impossible from the beginning, so I ended up stepping, which quickly turned into dancing steps, on top of stamps. If you are interested, I shared work-in-progress some months ago.
I made a little online store RUE DES BELLES FEUILLES, where you will find more information about the tea towels. I’d very much appreciate if you head over to the store and check them out. And let me know what you think <3
How long have I been gone. Embarrassingly too long. And longer I kept this place quiet, more difficult it was to come back. I wondered if I should start posting from old stories and try to catch up to most current? Or start from most recent story and move backwards? Well, I should stop thinking and let you know first where I am now, and the rest will follow in random order : )
I’m printing on tea towels right now. It’s something I wanted to do for quite some time. Quite some years to be honest. My first attempt to make tea towels was a tea towel painting series I’ve done a few years back. Those tea towels were closer to paintings as each piece was a unique piece. Afterwards, I wanted to make a series that is closer to being a simply tea towel, a product. Fast forward to now, I’m stamping on linen tea towels with fabric dye. More precisely, I made giant stamps and Mattie made a press surface with wood pieces for me and I stamp with my feet.
Dye is a very difficult medium for me. The color I see when mixed into liquid is different from when it is soaked into the fabric. Then there is always another surprise when the fabric is washed, and usually an unpleasant one. It requires lots of tests, patient and time. I struggled with all three of them.
Two weeks into printing, testing, cursing and 75 failed tea towels later, I manage to make nine satisfying tea towels. These nine are not perfect in any ways, but I told myself while looking at those nine tea towels that if I can’t enjoy these ‘unpleasant’ surprises, I should not continue the project. So I decided, and here I am, continuing the project.
To add to a big mess I am already making in the house, Mattie started printing his zine using the same technique but on paper (if you’ve been following this blog for a while, you would know that our small flat is our home and our studio). First few days, we had no floor space as it was covered with Mattie’s prints.
After tiptoeing around for a few days, we installed drying lines across the living room, and at least we got our floor back : ) Then to top it all up, we also made prints on papers with the stamps I used on tea towels. The house is still a big mess, and it will be for some weeks. But I am happy my hands are more often dirty than clean these days.
I don’t have many photos documenting the process up till now, because the process hasn’t been all fun fun and I was quite buried under it. But I hope to share more with you soon and I can’t wait to show you the final tea towels and prints in a couple of weeks : )
A few of my tea towels are finding their permanent homes. This is quite new to me, selling my personal work. And honestly it feels strange. Excitement mixed with embarrassment mixed with nervousness mixed with gratitude and many other subtle feelings which I can’t put into words. Perhaps because of all these feelings, it took some time for me to pack them. It is also (positively) strange to imagine that my tea towel paintings are chilling at other people’s homes.
I desperately hope these warm people who purchased my works are happy with what they’ve received. And I really thank these people who support my projects. With their support, I can continue making my personal projects. Thank you!
Here are the hand painted linen tea towels I’ve been working on. I’ve been occupied cutting, sewing, washing and painting these 33 tea towels for a while now. Now that I decided that the first series is finished, I taped them up and took some photos. I call them the first series, because I hope to revisit this project in the future and do more series.
Each of them is a functional, one-of-a-kind hand painted tea towel with a cotton hook sewed in the corner. But of course they can be hung or framed on the wall : )
Now that these are finished, I’m going to fully concentrate on the scripts I’ve been writing for several short film ideas. I’m a director, but I’ve been painting way more than filming last few months. It’s been a nice break, but I’m itching (‘dying’ would be more fitting perhaps) to get back to moving image. Time to go back home : )
and how are you.
I'm Jin Angdoo.
This is what I do. But here is a little more personal and casual place where I hope to share and meet like-minded people.
Welcome. Hope you stay awhile.
If you'd like to know a bit more about me and the blog, please read my very first post : )
And you can contact me here.
