Shibori Indigo Dyeing

I have had a wonderful weekend in Sydney catching up with ATASDA textile buddies and participating in a shibori indigo dyeing workshop with the fabulously relaxed and knowledgeable Cathy Moon.

Cathy set up 4 different indigo vats and over the weekend taught us multiple processes. My aim for the weekend was to soak up all that info and try the techniques on a variety of different fabrics to compare the results. Some shibori processes work better on different types of fabric so there wasn’t a common fabric that was best for all. Some of the results are below, if you get a chance do go to a workshop with Cathy. I will be trying to attend one of her longer workshops in the near future to do more complex pieces with multiple techniques on the same piece.

Shibori Indigo dyeing 1

Top picture: Crochet and embroidered doilies (all cotton)-dipped in fructose vat, one stitched and some cotton string used for tying.

Bottom: Pole dyeing techniques on different fabrics: bamboo, fine silk, dupion silk and silk broadcloth

Clamping and scrunching

Top picture: clamping with a variety of perspex shapes-cotton and hemp

Bottom: An interesting and quick scrunching technique

Stitched shibori

Top picture: a variety of stitch techniques-left fine silk pre-dyed, right cotton sheeting

Bottom: Stitching- started on the weekend and now finished at home ready for dyeing

I have several other fine silk, linen and cotton wraps which I also used a variety of techniques on. Now just waiting for a free weekend to fire up my indigo vat and some cauldrons of natural dyes!