Shibori Fun

For my non-textile friends I describe Shibori as Japanese Tie-Dye. But it's so much more than those words imply. Shibori is an incredible art form.  Using simple stitches, threads, clamps, and wraps as resist, patterns are created on fabric. It is detailed, finicky, surprising, unique and always lovely.

I took a Shibori workshop last weekend with Glennis Dolce. Her blog is here. Her website is here. Her work is amazing!

The workshop took place at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, downtown Los Angeles. My friend, Kathy, and I spent two fun filled days stitching, tying, dyeing and meeting other avid Shibori artists. I highly recommend the workshop. Glennis teaches at the museum throughout the year. It is studio format. She teaches newbies as well as regular students who prep stuff at home to dye in the workshop. Not everyone has space to have their own indigo vat at home so it's a great opportunity to have vats and all supplies available.

What follows is a photo essay of what I did in the workshop.

Inspiring samples on every wall of the room.

My favorite piece on the wall was this large quilted Sashiko piece. The table had a selection of fabric pieces we were given to play with.

Silk Noil, cotton lawn, silk kimono lining, silk organza, silk jacquard, silk Habotai.

 I started with silk Noil and a selection of stitching samples. I used red nylon thread.

Pulling the red thread tight makes a funny unidentifiable wad of silk.

This is Kathy's sample.

Dye vat and my sample is now blue. When a pice comes out of the pot it is more green. Magic happens when indigo dye is exposed to air, a process also known as oxidation...it changes color! You can actually watch it happen.

There were two vats. One darker than the other. The piece on the right is from the lighter vat but it is still oxidizing and turning darker blue.

My two samplers, pressed with all the stitching remove.

Next, using cotton wrapped thread, I wrapped the silk Habotai around a tube (polypropylene in this case). Glennis has this nifty contraption where the pole sits on old skateboard wheels. I'd wrap a few inches and then push the fabric and thread up to one end of the pole.

Closeup of fabric scrunch. This Shibori technique is called Arashi.

The pole in the indigo vat.

The pole in the vat along with the whole dye table. Rinse buckets, water buckets, clamps and other tools piled up.

The finished piece of silk Habotai. It looks and feels like a cloud. I plan to sew the ends together to make a mobius scarf.

I forgot to take pictures before dyeing of this folded and clamped piece of silk kimono. It is still changing color.

Personally I think this piece was uninspired and not really attractive. But that's what sampling is for right?!?

Glennis showed us how to use stencils and fugitive dye with this cool little Japanese brush. Fugitive dye is color that disappears in water.

I stenciled these circles to stitch in the evening as homework for the next day.

All of this was the first day of the workshop!

Next morning, I finished stitching the circles. Glennis had us use tiny scraps of silk as anchors for the thread knots. It is a great technique for loosely woven fabrics and for finding your knots after dyeing.

The new wad of fabric. I had to poke up each of the spaces between the threads as I pulled tight so that the fabric would dye more evenly. I also added Kanoko knots in one corner. They are tiny wrapped points of fabric.

The circles half undone.

The finished sample with the rip in the upper corner when I got too aggressive in pulling the thread out. You can see where I pulled very tight (white lines) and not so tight (faint lines). It is a very pretty pattern that I will repeat again I think.

This is the organza that I did 4 different samples on. Clamped diamonds that I'm not sure how I accomplished. A scrumble (just scrunching the fabric with my fingers) below the diamonds. Then a spider web. The top right corner had spiral stitched lines that I forgot to pull tight. I saw the error after the first dip in the dye. So I pulled up and then dipped the corner again. You can just barely see the slightly lighter blue lines.

I dyed some cotton floss thread for Sashiko sewing. By this point in the workshop I was very tired and decided not to dye anymore.

But I did use the stencils to prep more samples to take home.

This is a sample from Glennis' collection. I just love the crisscross stitching. I hope to make something like this next time around.

This is another piece from Glennis' collection. All of the diagonal lines are made up of tiny wrap-tied points so closely crowded that the fabric feels at least 1/4 inch thick. The white tangled thread surrounding the flowers is released knots that reveal the design. I think I can safely say that I will NEVER be accomplished or interested enough to tie knots like this. Though it is incredible to see and feel an artisans work.

An amazing weekend of fun that I hope to repeat again.

Spinning in Madrid

I am spinning 4 oz. of a 60/40 Merino/Bamboo blend that I purchased from Chameleon Colorworks. The fiber was white and tightly braided when I put it into the indigo dye pot at the Griffen Dyeworks Fiber Frolic in 2009. When the braided chain came out of the pot it turned a lovely blue.

As I unbraided the chain, random white spots appeared throughout the roving.

I then split the roving into 3 sections to spin 3 fine singles. The finished yarn will be 3 ply. The yarn has a lovely sheen from the bamboo and a bounce from the merino. Here is a picture of the 2nd bobbin.

Along with spinning this week, I’m in the middle of reading Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte (translated from Spanish), about a down on his luck swordsman in 17th century Madrid. Also, my son has been fixated on the 1981 cartoon Zorro. It’s been strange to “hear” a Spanish accent in my head as I read and then hear a questionable version of the same accent from the TV as I spin. Anyway, my head is filled with images of doublets, hose, capes and felted hats with plumes. Captain Alatriste often wears something called a buff vest, a densely quilted canvas or leather vest which can repel incidental sword thrusts. 

As I spin and quilt this week, which I have managed to do everyday this week even if only for a few minutes, I think about how long it would take me to spin enough yarn to knit a pair of hose for daily wear or quilt leather by hand in an effort to save a person’s life. Well, it would take me FOREVER. But pre-industrial revolution it would have been my job. Regardless of the time it takes caring for my family, I would have had to spin and sew MANY minutes of the day. My fingers would be tipped with calluses like rocks and spinning and quilting would not have been fun. Making textiles would have been food on the table and maybe a penny or two in my pocket.

Frankly, I’m super happy that I get to work with fiber and yarn because I’m interested in it and not because it has to pay my bills. I feel lucky to live in a time when materials are readily available and the selection extensive. I’m happy that my 5 minutes of spinning per day yields pleasure and beauty.