June Chanoyu Okeiko Weekend

I got a lot of practice for tea ceremony last weekend! We had a big group class on Saturday, and then I had a private lesson on Sunday.

Saturday's outfit: 

Pink ro komon with kikyou, cream Nagoya obi with hyotan, purple summer obijime, mint summer obiage, summer zori from Calen Blosso

May and June Kitsuke Dump

I haven't posted any kitsuke pictures for a while, but I have been taking them! (Note: some of these pictures are sideways. While I righted the images before I uploaded them, Blogger keeps putting them the wrong direction. Go figure...)

At the very end of May, I wore this ensemble: a grey hitoe komon with water design and raspberry susuki and dewdrop design nagoya obi. I chose blue accessories to play on the water theme:

In the middle of June, we did one of our monthly "basic" tea ceremony classes. (We do demonstrations of tea ceremony for beginners, and if time allows, we do extra practice to hone our skills for our next class with our sensei.) I wore a green sha komon with ivy leaves and a cream fukuro obi with kikyo design. I used pink accessories in this kitsuke.

 My husband took some pictures of me while I was performing (these are from later in the ceremony):

Picking up the second chawan (tea bowl)

Cleaning the chawan

Adding matcha to the chawan

Putting extra water back in the kama (kettle)

Whisking the matcha

At the end of June, I was a guest at Anime Blues Con with my group Tsuki no Ie Okiya. We had a VIP meet and greet to attend, so we all wore yukata. I chose my favorite one, black with kingyo design, and a cream sha hanhaba obi with silver lamé.

It's not in the pictures, but I also wore a tonbo obikazari. In the musubi picture, you can also see the uchiwa I carried.

I will try to upload more kitsuke pictures from this summer!

Anime Blues Con 2011

Sorry it's been a few weeks since the last post. I was CRAZY busy with last minute preparations for the very first Anime Blues Con! It went so well! We had over 1,300 attendees plus 300 presenters and guests! I was so busy that I didn't have time to take many pics, but I did get a few of me in my omodaka sha kimono from the first day.

Josh wore his Kisuke Urahara costume (from Bleach). Even Oshawott made an appearance. ^_^

The next night he wore his rangiku yukata.

He's so handsome in it! XP

Summer Kimono and Obi

Well, after an unsuccessful try at another ro obi, I bid on and won this one. It's not perfect for the omodaka kimono, but it will do:

Also put in a small bid on this sha kimono and won unopposed:

Ro Ensemble - All Put Together =)

Despite the fact that it is still only March, it's already 80˚F (27˚C)! Since I finally got my ro ensemble finished, I took pictures outside. Some of the photos are "accidentally artistic". Despite two of them being blurry, the look was still very neat, so I've included them anyway.

Ro Ensemble

I finally got the ro obi I ordered, so my ro ensemble is finally complete! The only piece I'm concerned about is the obiage, as it kind of blends with the light color of the obi. I'm considering dyeing the obiage and obijime bright red to match the red leaves on the kimono.