Shibori Techniques Lesson 5

Shibori Techniques on Silk
with Glennis Dolce (Shibori Girl Studios)

using Colorhue dyes
Lesson Five
We have made it to Lesson Five. Now that you have had a small taste of some stitched, arashi, and
itajime shibori , its now time to see what can be done with some inventive shibori (although there has
already been lots of inventing so far)! I can see by the blog that you are practicing and improving your
skills and ideas. Im pleased to see that you are all having lots of patience with yourselves as you work
towards creating shibori that is to your liking.
I am also sure that as you are working you are able to have a bigger appreciation for the traditional
shibori work that you see in books and museums. Just imagine the work that goes into producing a
whole bolt of shibori cloth! All those tiny kanoko knots, all the stitching- not to mention the dyeing!
These days, a trip to Arimatsu will reward you with the chance to visit shops with some very beautiful
shibori for sale. Unfortunately, much of the commercial shibori you see around Japan these days is
being tied and stitched in China due to cost. The bound up cloth is then returned to Japan for dyeing but
even that I suspect is on the wane. One man I spoke with whose family has been dyeing and tieing
kanoko shibori for 5 generations is finally closing down for good. He told me that even the dyeing work
that was previously sent to him was now being done over China. Thats not to say there isnt any being
done in Japan but it is definitely diminishing and has been for some time now. The makers are aging
and with the inability to continue making a living at it, what choice is there? This was not something
they did in their spare time or a hobby done for the pleasure of it. It was a way to earn a living and as
such they became very good at the process and also very inventive! If you havent already done so, take
a look at my Youtube channel at some of my favorite videos. There you will find many interesting
shibori and dyeing related videos.
I see most of you have had a chance to watch the video on the pole wrapping process from lesson 4.
Here is a photo of the finished scarf-I used very concentrated dye on the edges and center over a very
light base. This has been steamed and removed from the pole bone dry to retain the pleats. In this case,
since I used the Colorhue the steaming was only to set the pleats and not the dye.
1
2010 Glennis Dolce all rights reserved www.shiborigirlstudios.com
No part of this document may be reproduced or distributed in any format without permission of the author
Patterns and templates are provided for personal use only and are not to be sold or distributed in any way.

using Colorhue dyes
Lesson Five (cont)
This next project is what has come to be known as everything AND the kitchen sink. I came up with
this one day when I was doing some consulting for a friend who is a manufacturers rep in the
housewares business. He was showing me some the rep samples that had piled up in his garage and
wondering if there was anything I could use or that the kids and their friends could use to set up house as
they went off to college. I saw one of those sink mat things- the clear plastic ones that cushion the sink
from dishes. They have those neat holes in them and of course I thought-SHIBORI!
And so it came to be. Here I used some silk ribbon (since I have a lot of it around-and hadnt tried it
with ribbon before) but in the past generally I use a scarf or plain habotai or charmuese yardage.
Depending on the weight of the fabric you will double the fabric so as to get a medium tight resist where
the fabric is compressed through the holes. At this point, a picture will be worth a thousand words-
So here we have the sink mat through which I have pushed fabric into the holes until it is snug creating
little puffs on one side of the mat. I used an old blunt knitting needle to push the fabric through until I
could grab it with my fingers and pull the fabric as far as I wanted. The video shows me doing this.
Here, I have wetted out the silk in preparation for dyeing. Note that the mat, having fabric on both sides
can act as a barrier to the dye. See what I mean about inventive?
I will also mention to you that one of the things I love about shibori is how things look along the wayespecially bound shibori. No one but you gets to see the beauty of the whole process. They only see the
result. So much of the beauty occurs along the way. Its like that in life too. Pay attention to the
scenery. Its not always good to focus on the destination. You might miss some interesting glimpses of
that beauty!

2

using Colorhue dyes
Lesson Five (cont)
Here I have a shallow tub the
mat can fit into. Since these
mats are a soft plastic, you
can even cut them in half.
(This time I only used part of
the mat.) I mixed up a
medium dye solution and
placed it in the shallow tub.
Laying in the mat, only the
bottom side soaked up the
dye. I let it swish around until
most of the dye was taken up
by the fabric. Remove and
blot on a dry towel.
The back side that was just dyed.
I will build up color from this point on, using increasing strengths of dye solution to achieve more
interest and contrast.
3

using Colorhue dyes
Lesson Five (cont)
Here, a darker shade of purple

(with some black added) was
applied over the first color.
I repeated the process to the other

side using a brighter pink. Here
you can see both sides as I lift the
mat back and front are showing
now.
4

using Colorhue dyes
Lesson Five (cont)
Using some string, tie and secure

thread around the base of each
fabric puff sticking up through
the mat. Proceed to wrap thread
tightly around each kumo
(spiderweb shibori) up to the tip
and use a backward loop as you
did with the makiage to secure the
wraps. Cut thread and repeat
over entire piece. See the demo
of this on the video page.
After completing the wraps I flipped the mat into the tub which had some of the darker purple dye in it
wrapped kumo side down and additionally painted each wrap with a stripe or two of some straight
black dye from base to tip (not shown here).
5

using Colorhue dyes
Lesson Five (cont)
Once the dyeing was complete, I soaked the piece-mat and all- in the mild citric acid bath. Since I
wanted to retain the shape on this one I wrapped it in a damp towel and carefully steamed it. I didnt let
the steam get too hot or go on too long as I wasnt sure how much heat the plastic mat could take.
After drying completely, I removed the resists.
I really like the texture on this one. Its hard to appreciate in the photo but I really like the way this
came out- I can see something really stunning made from this. I also ironed out a section so you could
see- ultimately I ironed the texture out of the in between areas and left the texture in the kumos.
This is another consideration I often contemplate- removing texture from some of the areas and leaving
it in others.
6

using Colorhue dyes
Lesson Five (cont)
This created a very random effect in the short run but a rather predictable randomness throughout- I
prefer the textured portion.
Part of the point in this lesson is to look around at your surroundings. What do you have at hand that
can be used in a shiboriesque way? Always ask, what if.
I imagine that past shibori craftspeople were continually asking themselves that question how else
would they have come up with so very many variations on a theme?
Onto one more here and then well continue with some other variations through the forum this week.
Get out some pony beads (any large holed beads will do) and something like a toothpick or a blunt
needle like those used to weave in yarn ends when knitting or weaving. For this next piece, I used plain
habotai dyed a light base turquoise blue.
7

using Colorhue dyes
Lesson Five (cont)
Using the toothpick, needle or whatever tool you came up with, carefully push one layer of silk fabric up
through and into the bead just far enough that you can grab it with your fingers. This is very much like
what I did with the sink mat. Pull the fabric up into the bead until it cant go further and is quite tight.
Continue this across the entire piece of fabric. Next, go back and wrap the bits from the bead to the tip
ending in the backwards loop and tugging it tight. You can either start by over wrapping several times
in the same spot to secure each wrap or use the tie and knot technique from the previous piece.
Personally, I like the over wrap method because I can often unwrap without having to use my seam
ripper.
Wrapping a large piece can take a while but is

worth the effort in the long run. Next, I
overdyed with an icky yellow (over the
turquoise) to get this lovely green.
In the end, I used straight black again

on the wraps for a nice sharp contrast.
Rinse the piece, soak in the citric acid
solution, wrap in a damp towel and
carefully steam for 15-20 minutes. Dry
completely before removing resists.
You can just let the piece air dry in the
hot sun. You will get good texture but
it will be a little less permanent.
8

using Colorhue dyes
Lesson Five (cont)
Here are the results-
You can open up the texture if you like by shooting a little steam from your iron at the silk or use a
professional steamer if you have one. ( I do- got it at the Goodwill for $5!!- works perfectly!) When you
pull these out flat you will see the spider web design- hence the name for this type of shibori-kumo or
spiderweb shibori.
Let your imagination take hold now and think of all the ways and combinations you can create using
these simple few shibori techniques. I often combine itajime with arashi and itajime with various kumo
type techniques that contribute a texture to the clamed design work.
9

using Colorhue dyes
Lesson Five (cont)
This concludes this 5 week introduction to shibori techniques. I hope you enjoyed the class and will
stop by my blog for a visit and leave a comment to let me know you passed through. Check into the
blog this week - I will be posting more examples of my work and some short videos as well and
answering questions on any of the five lessons. See what other work is being created by your fellow
shiborimates. Dont forget to visit the video page for this lesson linked here:
Lesson 5 video
If you are interested in Skyping with me on your computer let me know via email and we can arrange a
time. If you are not familiar with skype, you can check it out here. If you decide to make a Skype
appointment, please have already familiarized yourself with the Skype requirements and computer
connection speed issues. I dont think it works well with dial up.
I will be leaving the blog open for another few weeks. I think I will close it down around May 5th. That
should leave enough time for everyone to post and share some more work from the class. After that, I
will be away until early June in Japan-studying silk, indigo and shibori. I hope to take a lot of video for
future editing (it takes me a lot of time!) and put it into a video subscription on my bigcartel site. Well
see how it goes.
I have been preparing for an online indigo workshop likely to begin sometime in late August/Sept that
will be done in conjunction with a small (3-4) person indigo workshop here at my studio. Look for
details on the blog and in an email for that coming up- if you are interested let me know.
Cant remember if I posted this on the blog or not- a link to a flickr set of pieces done with the Colorhue.
Its been a pleasure and dont forget- you can continue to Skype with me throughout the next couple of
weeks- I skype at glennisd and Id love to meet you! (note- I will be away April 28-May2- my son is
performing his Junior recital-will check into the blog but wont be skyping during that time)
Shibori on!
Mata ne~
Glennis
10

Shibori Techniques Lesson 5

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Shibori Techniques on Silk

with Glennis Dolce (Shibori Girl Studios)

Shibori Techniques on Silk

Shibori Techniques on Silk

with Glennis Dolce (Shibori Girl Studios)

The back side that was just dyed.

Shibori Techniques on Silk

Here, a darker shade of purple

I repeated the process to the other

Shibori Techniques on Silk

Using some string, tie and secure

Shibori Techniques on Silk

Shibori Techniques on Silk

Shibori Techniques on Silk

Wrapping a large piece can take a while but is

In the end, I used straight black again

Shibori Techniques on Silk

Shibori Techniques on Silk

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