Shibori Attempt #3

Add in some resist dye…

Shibori attempt round three is currently under way. I am reusing the dye from my last batch and hoping it works. I’ve also thrown in a few resist DIY techniques in amongst some other shibori techniques. I am using:

1. A craft glue resist technique (which is really a kind of cheat batik)
2. A flour paste resist technique (like spreading pancake batter on fabric)
3. More triangular fold and clamp (itajime shibori)

Glue resist

I used an every day kids craft glue. The tutorials say to use “Elmer blue gel glue” but the problem with reading American craft tutorials is often the impossibility of finding American products in South African stores. So I took a stab at it and decided to use your bog standard craft glue which I bought from good old Pick n Pay.

I washed and ironed the cotton, and laid it down on some waterproof backing (think black dustbin bag) and then began to apply my very simple pattern straight from the squeezy glue bottle. Hand cramp!

I left the glue to dry overnight. It took quite a long time to dry out. It was VERY tempting to keep pressing the little glue blobs to see if they were dry, but I tried hard not to do so.

I then moved onto my DIY flour paste resist.

Flour paste resist

For this I literally whisked up some regular baking flour and a bit of water into a pancake like consistency and spread it over the fabric with a spatula, and then hung the fabric out to dry. It’s quite a messy affair and probably best to try to dry this version in a dust-free, wind-free zone because the stickiness of the batter attracts leaves, moths and other little creatures blown about by the wind.

Next steps

Once both the glue resist and the flour paste resist cloths were dry it was time to dye. For the glue resist I popped it into a warm dye bath. Warning — the water was too hot and it began to melt the glue causing it to blob even more than it was doing already. Panic! I did read that you should probably use a lukewarm or even cold dye for this because of this exact problem, but in the moment I forgot that vital piece of information.

For the flour paste resist I then crumpled up the now stiff cloth, cracking the dried paste. Keep crumpling it until most of the flour has loosened and cracked quite a lot. Then pop it into your dye bath.

The results

After about 45 minutes I took the cloth out. The glue resist item needed some serious scrubbing under running water with an old nailbrush to get all the gummy glue out. I really like how it turned out. (Notice how I had a lapse in concentration in the middle section of my pattern).

The flour paste version was (I think) really great! The blue dye got into all the cracks and creases and has given it a wonderful spidery mottled effect.

I had also thrown in some other clamped and folded cotton, including a chopstick clamped chevron pattern, and another triangle fold.

One last thing — I threw a white longsleeve t-shirt in with the lot, hoping to create a somewhat elegant dark dyed effect by bunching elastic bands in staggered distances along the bottom part of the shirt, and the sleeves. Instead of the effect I had imagined taking place, it came out rather like a grade 2 tie-dye attempt! (It’s still drying, so I’ll post pics of this epic fail a bit later).

You win some, you lose some!