I recently had the pleasure of taking a class with Kim Eichler-Messmer, author of Modern Color, on indigo shibori fabric dyeing. It was just a delight. Kim, a professor at the Kansas City Art Institute, also teaches private classes at KC Textile Studio. If you have the opportunity to take a class, do it!
We learned to make two different types of indigo dye vats,
as well as the shirbori technique, including itajime, arashi, and machine sewn. This
traditional Japanese dyeing method, which uses uses clamps, string, and stitching to create
resist patterns, creates truly endless design possibilities. I tried a bit of everything, which is the fun
of this sort of class.
itajime
arashi
machine sewn
machine sewn
itajime
Indigo dyeing is certainly simple enough to do at home, albeit a bit messy. I hope an outdoor indigo party with crafty friends is in my future.
1 comment:
I love your results! I've tried some dyeing in the past--you know, the Rit kind--but never something more artistic than tie dyeing. Shibori looks like such fun--but pretty messy, I suspect :)
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