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About Grass Slipper
Several years ago I read Hisako Sekijima's book Basketry: Projects from Baskets to Grass Slippers and was fascinated by her reflections on rice straw slippers. She wrote, "They wore out fast, and when they were part of everyday wear, even children had to make pair after pair. Cultures that depend or have depended on perishable materials like grass, rice straw or wood instead of longer-lasting materials are likely to develop different values, especially those concerning labor and possessions." Rice straw slippers are not a part of my cultural heritage. Instead, I grew up in a time and place where ladies wore high heeled shoes with narrow toes. And oh, how lovely they made your legs look! But the shoes outlasted the feet in our culture, and left a legacy of hammer toes, calluses, bunions and fallen arches. 'Grass Slipper' is the marriage of ideas about two different cultures, and a tribute to the Prince Charming who found the real me hidden in hiking boots with custom orthotics. This piece was included in Fiberarts Design Book 7, published in 2004 by Lark Books.
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