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This is what was on the end of the pole – a light shimmery blue silk scarf waiting to unfurl itself.
At that shibori natural dyeing workshop, we also threw some squares of silk into a eucalyptus crenulata (silver gum) dye bath. This particular eucalypt is noteworthy for the browns it gives – its seems that most eucalypts gives shades of yellow and green. I really didn’t expect to see such beautiful bronzes.*
The different mordants give different tones. From left to right: alum, ferrous sulphate (iron), and a mix of ferrous sulphate with alum. Since the mordants are completely absorbed by the fibre the remains of the dye bath can simply be poured over the garden. Now there’s a way to get around Stage 3a water restrictions.
I’m beginning to think about dyeing lengths of muslin to use as furoshiki (wrapping cloths) for Christmas presents. Use eucalyptus leaves, some tie-dyeing with the kids and voila, no crappy wrapping paper to deal with.
*Edited to add: we probably ought not to have been supplied with wild-gathered silver gum leaves. After a little investigating, this site tells me they’re listed as endangered.
I wandered out into the countryside – the neck of the woods where I grew up – for a dyeing workshop. While it wasn’t quite the ‘natural’ experience the innercitygardener and I thought it would be, we did get a good go at indigo dyeing and shibori. Plus it was a day out, a week day no less, and we were on the lam.
It’s been years and years since I’ve done such full on dyeing. In many ways it’s like cooking, putting together a recipe and then closely watching the colour develop through the dyeing process. And then, when you think it couldn’t get any more fun, shibori comes along. Shibori is a form of Japanese resist dyeing made through folding, stitching, clamping and other manipulations of fabric. At it’s utterly basic, you can think of it as tie-dyeing. But at it’s most intricate, it is absolutely stunning.
We tried arashi shibori, where fabric is wrapped around a pole on the diagonal, lashed to the pipe and pushed to the end of the pipe to pleat it.
Itajime shibori involves folding and clamping fabric. For my scarf length sample, I started off with triangular folds and then to fan folding. I tried to go for a twist-and-pleat effect at the end but really had no idea what I was doing. What you can see here is the pretty bit.
The resist was created using clothing pegs around two sides of the triangle.
Kanako shibori was next, with tied off fabric and object wound into the fabric. I’d like to learn to do this properly because I think it would achieve some stunning effects. It’s this technique that can create the small squares and circles you might see in some kimonos. I tried to pleat fold as I gathered the silk to see if I could get squares.
Nui shibori is stitched and gathered to make tight folds. It’s usually a simple running stitch that’s used and when the stitch line is repeated it creates a beautiful ripple effect. This is particularly coarse since it was calico and I didn’t scrunch up all of the fabric as much as it needed. Some of the stitching is still in there so I’m not sure how much of a resist it was.
I haven’t given my samples their final wash yet, since the longer they oxidise the deeper the shade of indigo. These samples also show the importance of making sure your fabric is massaged while it’s in the dye bath. Indigo won’t penetrate the fabric evenly unless it’s swirled, massaged or otherwise cajoled.
I’ll post pictures of the arashi shibori scarf once I’ve done the final rinses. The first one is warm soapy water and then it must be left to dry completely. To set the pleats, I’ll need to do a final rinse of boiling water and vinegar and again let it dry completely. The soapy water will wash out the excess dye while the water and vinegar will reduce the alkalinity of the fabric. The temperature of the water is what will set the pleats. I hope.
