Update!!!

Miri Bridal is now live!!!
take a look at my other shop at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/miribridal

Packages arrive at my home several times a week in mysterious cloth wrappers with exotic writing and crazy stamps. Inside are these breath-taking fabrics. The boy looks on worriedly while I rip them into shapes. I sit in my studio (living room couch and coffee table) and hem them. It's soooooo peaceful and zen-like. When I'm done, I show them to the boy for his critique. When I showed him my most recent piece he said, "No, mama. I don't like pretty." I said, "What do you like then?" And he said, "I like danger." So there's that.

I am obsessed. Working with these fabrics is an honor for me. I feel connected to the weaver, artist, community, and culture they came from.

Weaving is one of the oldest human arts. As an archaeologist, this intrigues me very much. Textiles, naturally, don't survive for very long under normal circumstances, but the non or semi-perishable artifacts of textiles (spindle whorls, loom weights, and even the looms themselves sometimes) have survived. Ancient cultures have left ceramics impressed with braided cord, clothed figurines, and other evidence of textile use.

Fabric has, in the past and today, been a central aspect of human culture. It is used ceremonially and in daily life. It communicates status, gender, education, wealth, power, and much more about an individual and a community. The importance of fabric to the economy and social cohesion of a community cannot be overstated. Some (myself included) even believe that weaving and other textile arts may be a crucial factor in our survival as a species. Dramatic stuff!

Right now, as my business is still just a seedling, I am working primarily with saris. I hope to branch out to other textiles soon. My saris come from three suppliers in India. All three are mothers to young boys, like me. Weird, right? These ladies are all entrepreneurs! They go from village to village buying saris from the women there. This provides income for the villagers as well. It's pretty cool being a part of a network like this that benefits so many people.

I'm loving being a part of Etsy. I've made a lot of new friends and feel like part of a creative, ambitious, electrified community!