Shibori Window Shopping

Welcome back to my final post on my fabric dying adventure. I've shared with you the results of my 30 step gradation kit from ProChem. Today I'm sharing the results of what I did with the excess dye that is leftover from the gradation process - my goal - shibori - a Japanese form of resist dying techniques.

Kids have finger paints - fiber addicts have shibori. Traditional shibori is typically threaded - using stitches to secure folding and gathering patterns. I did not use any threading with my shibori - instead I used fan folding initially, and then segment folding. Once I had my fabric folded I tightly packed the pieces of fabric into my dying pans. And now the results!

The dentist will see you now!!! The minute I unfurled this piece all I could think of was the dentist - I think this looks just like a dental x-ray. It is a 1/2 yard cut.
Here's a look at some of the detail sections. I love to look for familiar patterns in shibori - it's a game - just like finding familiar shapes in clouds.
Closer still - this is the same piece.
This example in mostly green reminds me of asparagus, or the skeletal image of a Martian's hand.
I love the olive green and turquoise coloration of this piece - again measuring a 1/2 yard. There are many interesting section in this one piece.
And here is the lightest, most subdued example my playtime.
It too has very interesting sections.
To cut or not to cut - there is no right answer.
I could keep throwing pictures at you - this was such a successful exercise.

These last few examples are different in that I over-dyed some past dying efforts that I wasn't particularly happy with. Here I started with a piece of pink fabric, a failed red - I have lots of it. There really are never mistakes in fabric dying - just new opportunities. I love using pink to over-dye. I started playing with over-dying pink to try to achieve a coloration suggestive of the landscape artist Wolf Kahn - I love his use of pink in his landscapes. Here's another example.
Here's an example of over-dying a blue piece of fabric.
All in all, I had a very successful fabric dying experience. Hope you enjoyed window shopping.