Shibori using a natural dye
0I’ve been crazy about shibori, a resist dye technique, since I bought a piece of fabric in 1996 with the small tie dye geometric patterning. My romanticized idea of the process was that the cloth was tied around pieces of rice then submerged in a dye bath. It was only later I found out what the technique was called and how it worked (and I haven’t seen any substantiation for this idea I had earlier). I’ve since brought several other shibori fabrics–from India, from Japan–into my “collection.”
In October 2012, I received an email from the Museum of Craft and Folk Art* in San Francisco that they were offering a workshop in collaboration with Etsy Labs and Fibershed on shibori, a very accessible way for me to finally get some experience in this centuries-old technique.
This was the blurb about the workshop:
Create your own natural dye with one of the world’s most ancient dye flowers – coreopsis tinctorium. Fiber artist Rebecca Burgess of Fibershed will lead a workshop where each participant will participate in making a fresh vat of dye from locally grown organic coreopsis flowers, and will create beautiful surface designs using simple shibori techniques on silk fabric.
Here’s a pictoral journey through this very informal, evening workshop.
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- Supplies for the shibori craft bar at San Francisco’s Museum of Craft and Folk Art
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- Both the fresh and dried flower heads were used in making dye.
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- A strip of silk cloth prepared with a mordant of boiled sea water (soak for an hour in the 180 degree sea water) and a tiny bit of alum in order for the fabric to take the dye. I used a variety of techniques to block color from areas of the cloth.
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- The dye bath “steeping” like tea with the coreopsis flowers visible both in the hot water and next to the jar. The wood craft stick is used to activate the flower heads to produce more color.
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- After a steeping period of about 10 minutes, the bound silk cloth is added to the dye bath and left for 7 – 10 minutes. Using the wood stick to stir helps distribute color throughout the fabric.
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- My silk cloth freshly dyed, with one end unrolled to show the pattern created by the way I tied it on the edge (folded accordion style and tied at a diagonal at each end with twist ties).
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- I also created several circles by pinching and bunching the fabric and tying it with the twist tie.
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- One side of the cloth turned out a bit more vibrant orange color than the other, which is more of a copper brown. The middle whitish section was folded as an accordion and bound with a popsicle stick and rubber band.
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- My friend Musette was also in the workshop, and created a beautiful diagonal shibori design which was quite popular!
* The Museum of Craft and Folk Art is closing at the end of 2012, after 30 years of operation. I am both saddened and impressed that they are closing. I can’t tell you the quality of the curated shows I’ve seen here over the past decade. I’m saddened to lose such a well-curated window into the textile and folk art world. Personally, the effect that weaving in the museum space had on me is reflected in the fact that I bought my own backstrap loom soon after and have really enjoyed experimenting with it. It’s impossible to say where the electric charge of inspiration I had looking at new works there will have on my own creations—from paper art, to lace work, to bojagi, to weavings, to all sorts of textile designs. But I’m also impressed that 1) they aren’t dragging out financial difficulties, and 2) they recognize they have probably fulfilled their mission sufficiently, as now you see craft work included in many exhibitions in the museum setting.