LEMONADE SHIBORI RESULTS

Here are the results of my first experiments with Shibori Painting using Dyna-flo paints and cotton and silk fabrics. Letting the fabrics dry out in the hot sun worked like a charm, even on the very heavily folded silk scarf.

  I love this first scarf. 
Of course, it took the most time and I think it shows.
I stitched meandering folds into both ends . Then, working toward the center, I tied in marbles using rubber bands. the final center was pleated and stitched closed.
The fabric is silk chiffon. I am going to try this on heavier silk and see what happens.

 This scarf was pleated, folded and rubberbanded. Apparently, I did too much folding. The fabric was too thick for the paint to penetrate all the way through. I still really like it and will probably do some further embellishing on the plainer areas.

 This is a 12" square of cotton. I just tied lots of marbles into it. I used 2 differnt colors of paint. One on top of the marbles and one brushed into the folds.
It's amazing how the colors changed.

 Another 12" square that I pleated, folded and added rubberbands. There's a lot of subtle shading going on with this one.  At first, it looks really linear but there's more to it.

 I love this one. I'm going to try to repeat this but have it more even.

 Again this piece was folded and then I used rubberbands to create sections that were individually dipped into the paint.

 I hand stitched folds into this one. I surprised by how subtle the design turned out. I'm trying this technique on another piece but making the lines more random.

Here are the above pieces, drying in the sun. Don't look kind of cute?












Last but not least, this is the cloth that I used to clean up the table after dyeing each piece.  I am really loving these Dyna-flo paints.




There's more to come. I have another tray of little pieces and another scarf drying right now.

Check back soon,

Oh, Be still my beating heart, the sky just clouded over! If it actually rains, you'll hear the screams of joy all over.

Karen

One last thing, there is a comment section, so, please, if you have anything to say, please leave a comment ;-)

MAKING LEMONADE SHIBORI

I've heard some say " When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". Well, of course, that will only work if life also  gives you the sugar.

Right now, life is giving me lemons in the form of this dreadful hot and dry weather. Since I have the sugar ( lots of fabric, studio space and paint), and, the shibori pieces need to dry completely before being unwrapped,  I've decided to take advantage of the hot, dry weather and experiment with some shibori painting and see how quickly I can get it to dry.

I used some cotton squares and silk chiffon for the experiment.

Here are some photos of the cotton and silk pieces with sewn areas, captured marbles and tied with rubber bands.

I don't know if these are conventional folds or not. I just figured it wouldn't hurt try several different ways and see what happens.

The Dyna-flo paints were mixed with water at a 50/50 ratio.  I then dipped some of the pieces into the paint. On some of the other pieces, I used a large brush to cover all the areas.  All of the pieces were dipped or brushed with at least 2 colors. Some of them more. 

Here's is the marble piece just after I've painted the marbles with the sulphur green. I did use a brush on this one since it would be too awkward to dip it. I then added the umber to the base fabric.

Here they are drying out in the sun, after having sat all night in the studio.

 Notice how the colors are changing as they dry.

This looks to me like it is going to be so much fun and I can hardly wait to see what they are going to look when they are unfolded and pressed.  I think the chiffon will be a fun summer scarf and I can hardly wait to use the other pieces in a quilt.

Check back here for pictures of the finished fabrics.

Surviving the heat so far and building up muscle hauling water,

Karen