Invisible

This is the last of the warp has been on the loom since 31 Dec 2010. 
It is a scarf length based on the samples that I have dyed. 

There is still about half a meter of warp left and will weave them up as test pieces for different dyes.

It is strange to be weaving white on white and I won't really know the final outcome until the piece has been dyed, and untied to reveal the patterning. It is a bit like writing with invisible ink....

PS These images are taken with small file sizes directly from my camera, I have not figured out how to reduce file size on iphoto yet.....so apologies if they are crappy.

Hong Kong_8th International Shibori Symposium

I am so lucky to be able to attend this event in Hong Kong. Some pre-conference talks and exhibitions have already started.

In the last couple of weeks, Edith Cheung from Cloth Haven gave a talk on the use of wool in Traditional clothing, and Yoshiko Wada gave one on 'Slow Fibres'.

Below are some of the images from the exhibition: 

Animal Fibres: Art Informs Shibori. 

All the images are taken by me and if you use any text or images, please link back to here. Thank you.

Amanda Ross: Rise Up (Handwoven, Hand-dyed, Felted Shibori)

Hiroshi Murase: The Large Surcle Shibori (Yataramiura Shibori, Somewake Boushi shibori, Fulling)

Charlotte Buch: Untitled 1 (Feltmaking)

Jeung-Hwa Park: Panel 2 (Machine Knit, Tie, Felt, dye)

Jeung-Hwa Park: Panel 1 (Machine Knit, Tie, Felt, Dye)

Mie Iwatsubo: the Wave (Knitting, Shibori Stitching, Felting)

As above

Tomoko Iwaizumi: Fire of Passion (Felting, Shibori)

Jorie Johnson: Zebra Crossings (Hand feltmaking, Itajime clamp resist acid-dyed, Japanese lacquer application)

Sarah Martin: Mound #1 (Felting, Tegumo Shibori, Dyeing, Discharge)

As above

Takumi Ushio: Shelter (Felt)

This is only a small selection of work on show and all of them are breath-takingly beautiful. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do!

Natural dyes......

A couple of weeks ago, Woollenflower organised a get together to try out some natural dyeing with eucalyptus leaves.
It was a fun day and we had some good results. The smell of the dye pots were amazing with the eucalyptus fragrance. Very different with using synthetic dyes!
One thing that is even more exciting is that I will have to opportunity to learn more, much more about natural dyeing before the end of the year.
I have registered to attend the 8th International Shibori Symposium 2011 in Hong Kong at the end of December and have also signed up for a couple of workshops. One of the workshops is on natural dyeing by Michel Garcia. The other one is on Shibori by Suzusan. I am really excited with the opportunity to participate in something that looks to be amazing!
I am really keen to keep experimenting with more woven shibori in January, and finish off the warp that had been sitting on KaTe for the whole 12 months.
Another friend has mentioned that he has a persimmon tree and that I am welcome to harvest any quantity so hopefully, there will be some experimenting with that as well.
Note: usually I love having lots of images in my post. However, this time please click on the links and there will be lots of lovely surprises!

Slow.....but getting there

This warp was put on the loom (KaTe) for last new year's eve. It has taken me that long to get to this point. Four dyed samples:

Sample 1 to 4 (from right to left)

Sample 1 - cotton warp & weft

Sample 2 on loom - straight pleating with twill base weave

Sample 2 - cotton warp & weft

Sample 3 on loom - patterned pleats, twill base weave

Sample 3 - cotton warp, silk/linen weft

Sample 4 - cotton warp, linen weft

I used Procion dye in Black MX2R but had forgotten that I would not get a true black. It came out more like a dull indigo on the cotton. However, on the tie weft, which was pale yellow in colour, it has dyed as a deep ink black. I managed to untie the pieces without breaking the yarn. I am saving them to use as weft on another piece of weave as it has quite a nice space dyed effect.
All the different fibres absorbed the dye well and had good coverage.
I spoke to a friend of mine and she mentioned that I may have to add yellow and blue to the black to make it more black, but if I wanted a grey, then I should get the grey dye!

Weft yarn - mercerised cotton

I think this calls for more sampling and dye tests to find the 'right' colour. This has so far been a good exercise to decide on what combination of patterning/pleating I would like for the next lot of samples. There is at least 5 more meters of warp on the loom so I don't have to worry about running out of warp!

Woven shibori II

Our little Shibori group get-together has been cancelled. I think that this time of the year can be overwhelming and I certainly feel that. I need to feel calm and collected before going back to work on Monday! 

In the meantime, I can prepare more samples till we do meet.

At the base of the photo, you can see the 2/2 twill woven in a contrasting waste yarn, so that I can check the pattern. That is the background cloth structure. This sample has a regular pattern for the tie threads and hopefully, the result will be a more stripe-like pattern.
The shuttle is one that I bought in Japan. It is made of oak and has a very wide opening for the yarn to come through. I think that it is designed for thicker yarn so that it does not get snagged or caught as the bobbin unwinds.

Woven shibori

The sample piece is off the loom and tied up, ready to be dyed.

When I bought the yarn for this, I was thinking white cotton. Suddenly at the check out counter, I realised that the pattern weft will be better as a contrast colour so that I can see it! I bought a pale yellow so that when it is over-dyed, I may be able to keep it if I can undo it in one continuous length. I have been saving the yarn from other shibori pieces for a future project.

This is very exciting and I am looking forward to the next shibori group get together!

Shibori catch up

At the beginning of December, a few of us who participated in the Yoshiko Wada workshop got together and did a mini-dyeing session. We had a lot of fun eating, chatting and did some dyeing. We also discovered that we all enjoy sewing and will probably get together to do some of that as well!

Here are some of the results:

Jane R. had a piece of cream coloured silk and she had already started a serious of ties before hand and finished them off while we were getting everything ready.

The dye we used is a Procion MX Morrocan red. It resulted in different shades and intensity of the colour depending on the fibre and the base colour.

This was mine and it was a piece of ready-rolled hem silk scarf that I had left over from the workshop. I was not very well prepared for the get together and only rolled and knotted the scarf on the day.

Esmae folded, tied and knotted this piece and it also came out really well. The colour is more pink but this is a cotton base.

Jane S. who also prepared an eucalyptus natural dye pot had to leave hers in the pot overnight so we don't have a visual yet. She is also the person instrumental in getting all the dyes so we were very grateful for her expertise!
We are going to get together again in the new year so it will be interesting to see what we come up with next time!

Shibori blooms

This came as a little pre-tied bundle of white cotton. At the last shibori group get together, we set up som procion dye in 'Morrocan Red'.
I never thought that shibori can be this easy. Literally open the packet and add dye.
The hardest bit was waiting for this to dry so that I can see what it looked like as it unfolded.

This little bundle of surprise (54 x54 cm when opened fully) was bought at this amazing shop. The Tanaka Tadashi dye shop which was established in 1733. So if you are in Kyoto or Tokyo, put it on your intinerary.

Shibori with Yoshiko Wada: III

There were twelve of us at the workshop so we took turns at the dye vat, making sure that we did not get too much air into the vat while agitating the bundles of fabric. I don't think we did that very well as the indigo dye did not survive well into the second day. Yoshiko and Colleen Weste revived it and we tried to be more careful.

While we took our turns at the dye vat, Yoshiko demonstrated the capping techniques using some special tools.

There was a 2-dollar shop downstairs and some of the others wrapped their fabric around strings of plastic beads. It was a simple and quick technique but very effective. Yoshiko was encouraging minimum effort, maximum results! I can't agree more.

We wrapped the fabric around the PVC pipe, tied with string and pushed each section up as tightly as possible. In the midst of all the action, it was actually quite difficult to keep up with taking photographs.

Another technique we touched on was using the sewing machine to help create the paths of resist. We laid layers of calico over the fabric. In this case, a bit of cotton/silk off cut that I found in my fabric stash. (I knew there was a reason I don't throw them away!)

I really liked this technique as it was quick and easy. The quick-unpick tool came in handy. It is like a combination of fold/clamp and stitching but gives quite clear, defined shapes.

You can see some of the works by the others in the class. They were far more patient than I with the multiple dipping into the dye vat. I think the piece at the back, with the circles was made with the machine stitching technique. the larger piece in the middle was stitched. and then some of the smaller examples in the front still has the knots and marbles in place.

Shibori with Yoshiko Wada: II

After rinsing out, the cloth was pressed and the patterns revealed themselves.

miura - pressed out

spider - pressed out

It was a 2-day workshop. On the first day, we also tried out some folding and clamping techniques. I learnt to fold some interesting shapes.

On the second day, we learnt Arashi (pole wrapping) techniques. I used a gauze cotton, folded it in half and wrapped it around the PVC pipe. I tied it with a crochet cotton.

I love this pale indigo colour. There were a few of us wanting to dye on the last day and we only had one dye vat. As a result, I took mine home still on the pipe, thinking that I may dye it again at a later date. Curiousity took hold and I unwrapped it. I untied it carefully so that I kept the cotton in one continuous length as it absorbed some dye and resulted in something I can use, maybe in my weaving!It was so similar to the folded feint* ruled paper!

*feint 2
— n
printing the narrowest rule used in the production of ruled paper
[C19: variant of faint ]
from www.dictionary.com

Shibori with Yoshiko Wada: I

I should be stitching my homework for tomorrow's class but I am too excited and needed to share.

I am lucky enough to get a place at the Shibori workshop with Yoshiko Wada, organised by Leanne from Kimono House. There are 12 of us and today, we learnt to do fold & clamp and some of the stitching techniques.

Yoshiko and Leanne had prepared a synthetic indigo dye bath for this workshop and we all had a chance to dip our samples into that today.

What was so exciting for me was to learn how to do these tying and stitching properly and effectively.

miura (loop binding) - tied

miura - untied

Note: the top 2 rows are demonstrated by Yoshiko and the bottom 2 rows are mine. You can see how even hers are, all in a straight line where as mine are all different sizes and a bit random.

spiderweb - tied

spiderweb - untied

I would like to get a sample for ori-nui (fold & stitch) done tonight. Tomorrow, we will move on to do arashi-patterned cloth (pole-wrapped).