As you know from some previous posts, my friends and I did some indigo dyeing while up at my cottage. This photo is an indication of what the back yard looked like. We had plastic drop sheets everywhere so that we could lay out the fabric while it oxidized, before we rinsed it and hung it to dry. We all discovered that we aren't too keen on wearing rubber gloves, so after a while the gloves came off and we all ended up with blue under our nails (among other places LOL).
Indigo is a fun (but smelly) process. I wish I had more photos to show you the process, but I didn't want to risk the safely of my camera while I was working. Once dipped, the fabric is a bright lime green colour and it only begins to turn blue when it is exposed to the air and begins to oxidize. We all wished we could have somehow captured some of the wonderful patterns of blues and greens, but it was short lived.
FYI:
Shibori (絞り染め Shiborizome?) is a Japanese term for several methods of dyeing cloth with a pattern by binding, stitching, folding, twisting, compressing it, or capping. Some of these methods are known in the West as tie-dye. Want to know more...click here.
Here are the fabrics I ended up with, paired with the original photos I had posted of my prep: (captions provide a bit more detail on the prep used)
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| Wax resist using soy wax and a tjanting tool. |
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| Accordion folded fabric clamped with plastic buckles as a resist |
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| Rubber bands used as a resist |
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| Fabric crumpled into a ball and then secured with rubber bands. |
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| Floral glass 'half marbles' secured with thread |
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| Accordion folded fabric secured with clamps |
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| Accordion folded, straight and triangle fold, one clamped with round washers |
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| Accordion folded and secured with rubber bands and string |
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| Stamped with text using Stazon Ink |
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| Hand dyed fabric, soy wax resist using tjanting tool and then over dyed |
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Fabric wrapped around PVC pipe, secured with string and then scrunched together
(Sorry, I forgot to get a photo of the prep.) |
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| Machine stitched then dyed |
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| surface design on cotton velvet, over dyed |
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| Soy wax resist using tjanting tool |
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| Masking tape and soy wax resist using tjanting tool |
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| Soy wax resist using tjanting tool |
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| T-shirt, folded into thirds and secured with rubber bands |
As you know from some previous posts, my friends and I did some indigo dyeing while up at my cottage. This photo is an indication of what the back yard looked like. We had plastic drop sheets everywhere so that we could lay out the fabric while it oxidized, before we rinsed it and hung it to dry. We all discovered that we aren't too keen on wearing rubber gloves, so after a while the gloves came off and we all ended up with blue under our nails (among other places LOL).
Indigo is a fun (but smelly) process. I wish I had more photos to show you the process, but I didn't want to risk the safely of my camera while I was working. Once dipped, the fabric is a bright lime green colour and it only begins to turn blue when it is exposed to the air and begins to oxidize. We all wished we could have somehow captured some of the wonderful patterns of blues and greens, but it was short lived.
