Ditchling Shibori

I had the most delightful time, last weekend, at Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft taking a course in shibori and indigo with Rob Jones of Romor Designs. 

It was a beautiful day, cloudy and cool first thing so Ditchling felt slightly mysterious, textures almost more apparent because of the lack of shadows.

Nestled in the South Downs, I have been meaning to visit the Museum for years, but never managed it. You go swooping carefully from the top of the Downs, down and further down through green fields, hedgerows, trees and a scattering of slightly alarming bends in the road. Textures of flint and blowing grass; stone and time; taste of blackberry.

The day spent with Rob and my fellow classmates, stitching, binding, dipping and timing was quite delightful. We used strong thread as we tied objects into the fabric, or pulled up points to wrap, then bound tightly; we stitched careful rows, and drew up the thread; fabric was creased or folded. All this activity provided seven little bundles, the pressure from the bindings acting as a resist to the dye. These we dipped in the indigo vats Rob had prepared. He managed the sequence of the day so that we had stitching sessions, followed by dipping in the morning and afternoon. My gloves came home the most wonderful colour, I can't bear to wash it off! 

There was a definite process for dipping our bundles; in for four minutes, rest for ten, but timings became a little haphazard, laughter was heard. I think some of mine might have had four or possibly five dips in the vat, but I really did lose count. Rob sometimes dips up to twelve times to achieve a deep rich dark indigo. All sorts of things are possible, and regular readers will know I've enjoyed adventures with shibori in the past. However combining the lovely focus of binding and stitching, with the fun of multiple hands waving their bound bundles under the surface of the indigo vat made for a highly enjoyable day. 

Seven little bits of fabric to play with.

The following day I sat in my sunny garden to unwrap my bundles and see what magic had happened. The fun of rinsing and unpicking, careful snippings of taut thread. The initial depth of shade can be misleading; loose dye will wash out, dry fabric is always lighter in shade than wet.

Sometimes you can just pop the binding off the very end off with a bit of a gentle tug

The fun of unfolding floppy wet fabric once the stitching has come out! 

After washing and drying, you'll see here that the blue is much paler. This does allow for the subtleties of the dye absorption to show themselves a bit more.

I so enjoy the whole process of shibori, there is a meditativeness about the stitching and, with indigo, the repeated dipping. In contrast to Procion dyeing, those multiple timed dips in the vat add a further level of process and of control which appeals to me. I am very happy with what I achieved there, happy with the extra things I learned, ideas I explored, and very happy too, to re engage with my textile mojo. 

But behind the joy, in counterpoint, comes sadness that Christine is no longer here to share the adventure. I am so glad I can still hear her delighted voice when something appealed to her (as it often did) tucked away in my memories.