You Had Me at Shibori

Just a few weeks back I took a Shibori class in Malibu from Kaari Meng, owner of the French General in L.A. (Look here for that post). It started off as an absolutely beautiful day, gorgeous really, but within an hour of our arrival,  the clouds covered the sky and it was transformed into a complete waterworks show, including wind and very cold temperatures.  So yesterday my friend Suzanne and I decided to try dyeing again with our Shibori kits.  And these beauties are my dyed pieces!

I cannot begin to tell you how much FUN I had.  Each piece, each reveal had  an element of  surprise. Though many of the folding techniques we used were the same, no piece was exactly identical. Personally, I love that.  The dyeing of the materials was not difficult to achieve at all, however,  it is an all day event.  The longest part of this Japanese art form is in the binding, folding and clipping of the materials and the dipping and oxygenation process. For those of you who might see this as simply tie-dye, the techniques and most importantly, the dye itself, is very different.  Additionally, most Shibori is done in indigo.   Recently, Shibori has become quite popular and has found its base in  trendy organic decor, from pillows and cushions, into textiles, clothing and scarves.
We have all our materials and are ready to go…

So here is our dye vat with our indigo bloom in the center.

There are several different ways to fold  materials.  Shibori generally speaks of three different types of techniques or methods, clamping, stitching, and gathering and binding.   The clamping-style is shown below.
After several sessions of dipping…

Beginning of the big reveal…

Interestingly, the color of the indigo dye changes from yellowish green, greenish-teal to eventually dark blue upon introduction to the air. The napkins below show two different folding styles. One was the triangle and the other was the rectangle and both used popsicle sticks and rubber bands as clamps.

Suzanne and I had heard we could dye beads and paper so we tried them both and definitely liked the results.

Although I loved every single piece of everything I dyed, I loved this crinkled silk scarf the most. The fabric washed up beautifully, just in time for me to wear it out today. Obviously my hands, not so much. (Just noticed my hands in my pic.  Oh well.)

Truly, our day would not have been complete without our guard dog “Lucy”, who towed the line and made sure every creation had her smell of approval. Lol!

Thanks for stopping by. This art stuff. Yea, it’s my happy place. And I hope to learn and do something new every week and share it with you.

XO,

Debi