Mother and Child, Mirrors of Love

Today is Mother's Day here in the United States. I would like to dedicate today's post to my mother, Donna Biel, and to all mothers around the world.

My mother grew up in Western Minnesota in a tiny town called Minneota. She is a Gislason, a descendant of Icelander farmers who settled the area. Mom went to St. Olaf College in Northfield, became a nurse, met my Dad and after six months, married him. I was born a year after they married and when I was six months old, they took off to Brazil for twenty years of service as Lutheran missionaries. My brother and sister were both born there.

Mom in college in the late 1950's

When I look back on our lives, I think of my mother going off into the unknown at the young age of 24 years. This is no small undertaking coming from a small Midwestern town in the 1960's. She met her first Black person in college and had no contact with Latinos growing up. I was an adult when she told me that she had been planning on going to Appalachia as a nurse if she hadn't met my father.

We struggled with each other when I was growing up. She was practical and determined while I was impulsive and conceptual. She wondered why I couldn't be "normal". But, some of the wildness in me had to come from her. When she was a teenager, she put eggs in one of my grandfather's hats. My grandfather cursed her, "May you have yourself as a child someday!" (Me, I think...)

The 70's were unattractive for most of us...

My mother worked hard all her life. In Brazil she kept life running smoothly for all of us. We had a maid, but they cooked, cleaned, and prevented chaos, side by side. She organized the church women, was the local "shot" lady (neighbors would have her give them their shots), had cookies and kool-aid as constant supplies for the scores of kids that constantly swarmed our house, mended my Dad's socks, patched up our clothes, read to us, and was just always there and always constant. When we moved back to the United States, she worked at horse radish factory for awhile until a position opened up at a nursing home for an RN. She finally used her academic training and continued her ministry with the elderly. She retired last year and now continues to serve as a hospice volunteer.

At the age of 70, my mother has more energy than I ever have had. She bought herself some snow shoes this winter and trudged around just for fun. As I age, I see how many good things she has instilled in me and how much of her determination I also have. My mother opened the world to me and let me go forth, finding my own path. We are different from each other, but we are also of the same stock. With all my heart, I thank her for her labor, her guidance, her persistence, and her purity.

Here is a little tribute to mothers around the world. Those of us who love textiles and fiber art need to keep in mind that someone, probably a woman, most likely a mother, made these things. They represent cultures that are quickly disappearing, giving way to technology or violence. They were made for a purpose that might no longer seem relevant to most of society. In admiring their work, we should also give credit to their origin, to their integrity.

Following are photos of mothers with a child, Madonnas of the world. The photo titles are linked to their site of origin and many are available for purchase, so visit the sites for more information. When a photographer was named, I included them in the title.

Basutoland, South Africa 1947

by George Rodger

Yanomami Mother and Child by Steve Cox for Survival

Meiji Era Japan

Andean Mother
by Beatrice Peltre

Nepal School Project



Afghan mother- Herat

Piute Woman and Papoose


Reang Tribal Mother and Child
by Mitchell Kanashkevich

We may seem so different from each other, yet these photos all show the love these mothers have for their children. If we can look beyond our cultural trappings, we will find common ground. I was once at a friend's house where three small girls sat at a table with my friend's daughter. They were working on an art project together. I knew all the mothers. As I watched them, I was shocked by how similar they each were to their mother. The way they spoke, their opinions, their method of reasoning, their body language- they were little xerox copies of my friends. If you are a mother, may blessings be showered on you. May your children grow healthy and strong. May they be leaders of peace and mirrors of your love.

Mary, mother of Jesus the Christ, most favored of women
Credited to Leonardo da Vinci

Mother and Child, Mirrors of Love

Book Review: Traditional Textiles of Central Asia by Janet Harvey

As a companion to yesterday's article on Afghan Tribal Arts, I thought this book review would be a good complement. Traditional Textiles of Central Asia is my favorite book on these textiles and has a great deal of information on the history and use of items both Abdul and I carry.


My book actually has a different cover, a weaving with tassels and beads. Published in 1996 by Thames and Hudson, it has 262 gorgeous illustrations, 212 of them in color and 2 maps. There are plenty of people photos, showing the textiles in their cultural context, which I always enjoy, and the rest are excellent product photos with descriptions of their use.

The book is divided into four sections:

1. History and Motifs (nomads and settled peoples, trade routes, jenghis khan, foreign influences, etc,)
2. Materials and Dye (wool, silk and sericulture, cotton, dye sources and dyeing)
3. Felts, Weaving and Dress (nomad felts, woven fabrics, nomad and village weavings, looms, flat weaves, knotted pile, covers, hangings, ikat, etc)
4. Applied Decoration (embroidery, nomad, village and urban traditions, block printing and fabric painting

These topics cover a vast amount of information, any of which have books written specifically addressing particular traditions or crafts. Harvey's book serves as an introduction to the region and its traditions, an overview which brings it all together. Specialists can then zoom in on their particular interests.

Harvey describes her journey in the preface:

"I travelled widely, using local transport, along the bumpy tracks which are the ancient 'ways' of nomadic tribes. Occasionally, a family would be on the move, the animals laden with woven bags and the women magnificent in their dresses. In nomad encampments the activity of producing the essential fabrics and furnishings was apparent at once in the warp pegged out on the ground, and piles of shorn fleece waiting to be made into felt or spun. ...

Although the pace of social change has accelerated in the past decades, warps are still being pegged out on the desert ground, and women continue to gain status with their exquisite embroidery. I have no doubt that when I next return I shall again find a man from Hazarajat standing on a street corner selling from his barrow piled high with gloves, socks, pullovers and hats knitted by the people of his village." (page 6)


Harvey's book covers textile traditions of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizistan, Tajikistan, Kohistan, and Eastern Turkestan, areas known traditionally as the silk road of Asia. Much of this terrain is austere with either mountains or desert environments demanding hardiness from its inhabitants. War and social turmoil have also created chaos in the past decades leading to a further dwindling of resources. Deforestation under the Russian occupation in the 1970's, as an example, has made wood a precious commodity. Wool and silk continue to provide warmth and functional materials for clothing, blankets, bags, carpets, and wall hangings.

Following are some examples of items that I carry that with text that Janet Harvey uses to describe similar work in her book:

Textiles are woven primarily for utilitarian functions, but also important in the nomad culture is tribal identity, manifest particularly in the decorative appearance of the textiles. Despite the common factors of a simple loom-type, wool yarn and dyes, the weavings of the Turkmen tribes, the Uzbek, Kifghiz, Khazakh, Karakalpak, Balouch and other tent-dwellers of Central Asia, are astonishingly diverse in their structures, colourings and decorative patterns, even when fulfilling similar functions. (page 72)


Lacking vegetable fibres to make baskets and wood for furniture, nomads turn to woven bags (known generally as kep throughout Central Asia) to store and transport their possessions. The wealth and status of a family is judged by the number and quality of the bags that hang from the lattice of the tent to store clothing, bedding, domestic items and hunting equipment, or are slung from sides of camels, horses and donkeys when the tribe moves camp. The gol and decorative patterns woven on the bag-face are the badges of tribal identity. (page 89)



The skill of weaving is not only a respected but also valuable asset among the Central Asian tribes. As well as being a necessity of nomadic existence, the woven rugs are an insurance against hard times. During periods of drought or other hardship the men of the family will clear the home of surplus rugs and weavings and sell them in the bazaar. (page 71)
Sun-disc motif, rooted in ancient beliefs, decorate a bolim posh, the canopy held over the bride and groom during the wedding ceremony. (The one pictured is a Suzani from the 1970's or 1980's. Harvey's photo is much older.)


Embroidery is considered a protective element in its own right. Worked round garment-openings like sleeves and pockets, it guards the wearer from harmful forces. ... Hooked disc motifs to guard the hem and side-slits of a Turkmen robe, worked in lacing stitch (kesdi) and chain stitch. (pages 37, 38)


Religious and social edicts frobidding the wearing of pure silk resulted in the use of silk warps with cotton weft. Turkmenistan women's gowns made in rich red adras (plain-weave) silk-and-cotton. (page 111)


Gul-i-peron, 'dress flowers', small embroidered felt discs designed to be stitched to clothing, bags, and animal trappings. Emblems of good fortune such as beads, cowrie-shells and metal discs are all incorporated, and metal thread is often used to work the pattern. The discs are widely used and have a long history. Examples have been found in burials dated before 400 BC. (page 40) (Abdul has several of these listed in his Etsy store.)

Rug woven in slit-tapestry or kelim technique, a method producing clearly defined geometric shapes. Each region has distinctive patterns and colours. This example is from the Maimana area in northern Afghanistan. (page 79)


Turkman bag for storing clothes, with knotted-pile face displaying the tribal gol. (page 82)

This is just a small sampling of the fascinating textile traditions Harvey covers in her book. She has extensive information on felting and ikat, neither of which I have samples at the moment. This book is a must have for anyone interested in this region, its culture and the weaving, dyeing, embroidery, and other techniques used in Central Asia.

Book Review: Traditional Textiles of Central Asia by Janet Harvey

Those Versatile Textile Stamps

Rubber stamping and scrapbooking have become big business within the US craft industry. Fancy papers, inks, embossing supplies, and rubber and foam stamps command high prices. One can easily walk into a craft store for a couple of items and shell out a $100 bill, a far cry from the carved potato stamp days many of us played with as kids. The technique of stamping images on to a surface has been around for centuries all over the world, ranging from simple forms to highly stylized, multi-layered images that take a lifetime to perfect.


I carry wooden stamps from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the region in both my eBay and Etsy stores. Carved out of hard pear wood, they are considered seconds to the artisans who used them, but have continued use to us as artists, both in functionality and as ornaments or decorative objects.

Textile stamps have many uses. My customers buy them to imprint on fabric, paper, and clay. I even had an Italian customer buy several to use to apply henna on skin. I am also a henna artist and have not tried that yet. The paste I use is thick and it seems to me like it would blur when stamped, but she sent some photos and apparently it works. More conventional uses involve using either inks or wax to apply the design on fabric or paper.


When working with ink, thicker pasty mixes work best. It can be applied to the surface with a brayer or lightly dipped. Use a thick pad of newspaper or batting under the paper or fabric and press down firmly. Those felted table pads are excellent. Wax options for batik include paraffin mixed with beeswax, soy wax, and potato or rice starch. One of my customers, Ruth Garrison, sent a beautiful photo of fabric she stamped using soy wax:

Another customer, Justmare on Etsy, uses the stamps to imprint on clay:


As you can see, these stamps have endless uses! Here are some examples of textiles from different countries who also use stamps for printing or batiking on fabric:



This is a batiked piece of hemp which was then dyed in indigo by the Hmong, a hilltribe people from Laos, Thailand and the region. Indigo is a favorite dye in many cultures. Here is a batik textile by the Miao, the largest minority group of China:

This process used tie-dye and embroidery, but a similar effect could be done with textile blocks. Here is another Miao batiked piece that uses both free-hand painting with wax and stamps:

These fabrics are cotton batiks from Africa which have used batik stamps. Bold, bright and beautiful:


India and Indonesia have taken this cottage industry to the highest form of production in mass quantities, both for internal consumption and for export. Indian textiles often incorporate images of animals and birds. Here is an example of a cotton spread hand blocked with stamps and ink:


Indonesian batik textiles evolved into a technically challenging form of art. They developed copper stamps, tjaps, that can render superb intricacy in design. The island of Java is the center of this craft. I have been looking for a source for the tjaps, but haven't found one yet. Dharma Trading has a few available and is also a great source for batik and printing inks and supplies.


Here is an example of a Java batik:


Many fabric stores that cater to quilters now carry gorgeous cotton batik yardage. Here are a couple of pieces I made using Indonesian batiks that were stamped:



The golden fabric in these pillows I made is stamped fabric from Western Africa:


Once you own a couple of these stamps, you want more. It's just inevitable. Each one has it's own charm and function. There are border stamps, central motif stamps, running design stamps, and stamps that are just too beautiful to pass up. I've had several requests from customers for animal or bird stamps and then it recently occurred to me why I don't have any. These stamps come from Muslim artisan groups and Islam forbids portrayals of people or animals in their art. Therefore, we have floral or abstract motifs, all quite beautiful in their own right. A border stamp:


The ones I carry come in many different sizes and are priced accordingly. Some have chips or wear that can be repaired by using wood filler. The one below is an example of one which could benefit from a little filler. Carefully press in filler into the dents and sand when dry. Very easy.


Clean stamps with a stiff brush and soap. Oil them if they look dry. You should wash these thoroughly after purchasing as they have dye or ink from their previous use.

Not an artist, but like the stamps? Consider them as pieces of art in their own right. I have smaller ones on book shelves and large ones look great displayed on a plate stand or on the wall. I can ship several smaller ones in a flat rate envelope for $5 US, $9 Canada, or $11 everywhere else. A bunch fit in a flat rate box in the US for $9. I combine shipping between both stores and give free shipping to purchases over $100 in the US and cover the first $20 everywhere else. May you, too, become impassioned with these gorgeous stamps!

Those Versatile Textile Stamps

Suzani Fever

I still remember the first time I saw a Suzani. I was managing an artisan co-op in Chicago (Fourth World 1988-1992) and this guy from Afghanistan walks in with a bag full of textiles and dresses. I think I got dizzy, then warm, then flooded with happiness. That's what a suzani means to me, the translation of happiness into embroidery.


Suzani actually means needle and refers to larger tapestries made by Uzbeki women. Many are wedding canopies or decorative textiles traditionally used to decorate yurts and nomad dwellings. Girls are taught embroidery at a young age, and as in many other cultures where embroidery thrives as a cultural expression, a woman who excels in the art achieves status in the eyes of her peers. Urban Uzbeks have also appreciated the art and helped spur the art into a cottage industry that continues to thrive to this day.


The photos I have in this article are of suzanis I have for sale in my Etsy shop. Most are from the 1970's and 1980's, but I have older ones in my own collection where the stitches are tighter and denser. The Uzbek palette gives preference to a burgundy red with white, gold and other colorful flowers, but suzanis can be found in almost any color. Older ones traditionally used silk threads on silk fabric. Most of the affordable suzanis we find easily today use silk, cotton threads on cotton fabric. I have seen some using acrylic threads used as well. The common denominator are the large floral mandelas that dominate a piece. The backs are embroidered almost as heavily as the front.



Larger suzani are often made by several different women. They will draw out the design and then each work on a strip, joining them together when finished. Thus, one piece might show different skill levels and materials. Sometimes the pieces don't match exactly. Every now and then you see one where someone decided to go off on their own with wild colors or an erratic change in the design. This individuality and apparent lack of concern for the overall design of the piece gives it an organic quality, almost like a garden that is alive and fertile. There is a tradition in some Chinese embroideries where a mistake is purposefully incorporated into the tapestry so that the artist will not get too inflated with pride. The women of Uzbekistan do not have to worry about that! They are too busy growing their wild flowers to philosophize about imperfection.



I think that the main reason I felt feverish when I saw those first Suzanis was that I know how to embroider and I understood the time, effort and life that went into those pieces. I grew up in Brazil (1962-1980) and have always had a desire to make things. My parents were very supportive and nurtured those talents. We each got an allowance which I spent on my stamp collection and art supplies. Those were the days when Brazilian girls also prepared things for their dowry chest. The middle and upper classes sent their girls to private lessons in piano, embroidery, oil painting, and so on. I was sent, too. I had lots of different teachers in private homes who taught the crafts of the day. My most valuable ones were with my embroidery teacher. But, I was scared of her. She was a Spiritist, which spooked me. Small, boney, with a brittle personality, a bit on the mean side, our classes were fear-filled sessions for me. Still, she taught me the art of the needle. We worked on traditional Portuguese embroidery, the fine pale, pastel, silky, small floral work that is beautiful in its own right, but not what I am drawn to. When I saw those Suzani, I saw my spirit let loose. I saw how the needle can come alive. I saw sunshine and flowers. I saw a safe place. I was hit with Suzani fever.

Suzani Fever