Shibori Attempt #2
A little darker please…
I wrote about my first experience with indigo dyeing a little while ago — imaginatively titled “Shibori Attempt #1”. A few days later I found a different type of dye and thought I’d give it another go. This was a hot water dye using a much darker colour and I incorporated stitching, cable ties and a triangular fold into the process. The colour was much better, a rich dark blue. I also used a range of fabric types — 100% cotton, twill, damask linen, and some off white upholstery fabric.
This time my stitched attempts were really ridiculously ineffective (I did it totally the wrong way). Instead of just embroidering a running stitch across the fabric and hoping it will block out sections of dye resulting in a pattern, I found out (later) that once you’ve done the stitching, you need to pull each thread tight to bunch up the fabric. Next time. :)
The triangular concertina fold on the other hand was a triumph!
A few more results
I was especially pleased with the way the dye took to the 100% cotton. Definitely going to use this fabric in future, and avoid any kind of synthetic blends.
A bit of research
Okay, it was a LOT of pinteresting. I found out quite a bit. I discovered MORE shibori techniques. I discovered some brilliant textile artists like Rowland and Chinami Reckitt and many more who seem to have been hooked by this fascinating technique. I realised that as much as my first attempt seemed amazing to me, that in comparison to the real masters, they are really only very elementary scribblings.
Here’s a collection I’ve started of inspiring images, tutorials and products on Pinterest.
