mottainai

I just finished reading Jacques Pepin’s wonderful memoir, The Apprentice. He is passionate about not wasting food. His approach has inspired me to pay attention to waste not only in my kitchen but also the studio and the rest of my home. It’s been eye opening and habit changing.  

It reminded me of “mottainai”, a Japanese concept which expresses regret over waste. I like to think of it as, “Every little thing is precious.” (I have Shelley Rhodes to thank for introducing me to this concept in her great Fibre Arts Take Two course.)

For the past few weeks, I’ve been sorting through old collage papers and fabrics which threatened to overwhelm my studio. They are now organized in a way that allows easier access to those precious little bits.

But I still have a big bin of small fragments that I couldn’t figure out how to organize. I decided this year I would make a small piece (sometimes two) most days from those scraps. I’m calling them my Mottainai Pieces.

I love making them.

And I’m curious how they will change over the course of a year.

When I sell my other smaller pieces, I mount them on eight ply archival matboard. Since the smallest size is 8”x 8”, and most are larger, it adds considerably to postage expense, other expenses, and time. I love that format, and it does set the pieces off beautifully. 

For these Mottainai Pieces, though, I wanted to create a simpler, less time consuming and less expensive method to keep the price low. I mount them on 4”x 6” spiral notebook paper and mail them in a flat cardboard envelope which saves so much money and time.  As a result, I can sell the pieces for $50 which includes shipping (even international) and the 9% WA state sales tax.

I’ll post them on Instagram so if you see one you like, message me or leave a comment here. Here are this week’s pieces. I’ll share others here, too.

Happy New Year Everyone. Thank you for all your support and encouragement in 2024.