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.

Exciting things ahead

I have rather been keeping a lid on this news, but in two weeks time today I shall be flying off to Japan for another two week trip with Stitchtopia! People I tell say they are very envious, and I think I feel rather envious of myself, truth be told. I have wanted to go there for such a long time, for so many reasons, and never thought this would be possible. I am both very excited, and a trifle terrified!

We will be seeing so many interesting things; several temples/shrines, gardens, Tokyo and Kyoto, a museum of quilt art, a weaver's studio, a papermaking workshop, a traditional Japanese dance and a visit to Arimatsu, the home of excellence in Shibori, which was established over 400 years ago. I am so thrilled to be visiting this particular place, as I have tried my hand at shibori from time to time, and will be deeply interested to see how it is done by the absolute experts.

We have been told in advance that gift giving is a long established tradition in Japan, and have been advised we should bring a small gift for our local guide and several good folk who will be hosting us or gifting us their expertise in workshops. Three of these are men, and I am packing gift sets of English tea for them. But for the women I have some small hand crafted items which I hope will bring pleasure.

For our local guide I am bringing a silk scarf which I died using the shibori technique. And for our other three hosts I have made little folded origami pouches with multiple pockets, secured with ribbon loops and some vintage buttons from Mum's button box.

We have also been advised that the wrapping is as important as the gift, and I was so pleased to find matching wrapping paper and tissue paper (in different shops) with butterflies fluttering amongst flowers. Each gift will be wrapped in tissue, popped into a little gold box and further wrapped, with some organza ribbon to secure it all. I do hope they bring pleasure. I also hope I'm not making the mistake of "carrying coals to Newcastle", since both origami and shibori are Japanese techniques. Included in each gift will be a very local fridge magnet with an image of Hastings, Bexhill, Beachy Head or the De La Warr Pavilion, to ensure they have something properly English in their little package.

Time permitting, I shall post a few pictures and commentary during the trip so you can share in some of my joys.

Project completed

Over the past year, there has been a slow moving project happening in stops and starts in my workshop space, in between other things. 

In August last year, my clever son in law built a box window seat in the bay window of their flat. Foam seating blocks were measured, cut and delivered to me with a request for covers. I suggested it might be nice to use the same design that I had used on the ring pillow for their wedding, the Triskele symbol, here on silk velvet.

Approval for this granted, there followed a period of testing and trialing colours and techniques. I used plain calico and wanted to achieve a mottled effect, and for there to be none of the undyed fabric visible. Their sitting room is green, so I had to get the green right, hence many pieces of fabric with many different layers of colour.

Once colour and technique were approved, my first task was to use long stitches to mark out the shape of the cushions, so I knew where my parameters lay. Then I stitched the spiral patterns which would be drawn up shibori style to create a resist once the dye was applied. To ensure there was no ground colour remaining I washed in colour to the areas where the spirals would sit, having soda soaked the fabric first, as this fixes the Procion dyes. Stage one complete.

Stage two was to pull up the shibori stitching, then crumple the fabric into a shallow tray and dribble in the first layer of colour, predominately a variety of soft greens. There was also some magenta, but this became rather pale once the fabric was washed out and the stitching removed. You can see below the piece which would become two side cushions. I didn't want the magenta as strong as in the trial pieces, but here it has turned into a tentative hint which would be swamped by the next layer

Next the stitching was reapplied in the same place and more magenta painted in as they both rather liked the contrast this produced. I did this on wet soda soaked fabric so the colour ran in patterns across the cloth.

Once again the stitching was pulled up as tight as possible (you need good strong thread). 

The fabric was carefully crumpled into shallow trays for the next layer of dye, a strong petrol green which, as before, would pool in the hollows, creating a variety of intensity in the final layer of colour.

I was very happy with the way the magenta highlighted the shibori circles, not too glaring, but enough to delight. You can see here the deeper colours which result from the crumpled fabric. Much more interesting than a plain overall green and the colours applied in previous stages, I hope, give life and variety to it all.

There followed, of course, all sorts of YouTube investigations on how to sew a box cushion, and how to mange zipper strips and the zipper pulls to achieve the long opening at the back: this was my first attempt at upholstery. I was helped greatly by two YouTube feeds, one from The Funky Little Chair, a wonderfully useful set of how to videos if you ever want to try your own upholstery. The other was an invaluable tutorial from Sew Sweetness addressing the thorny question of how you get the zipper tab onto that long strip of zipper tape - you simply need a fork! 

So, many lessons learnt, Dacron and stockinette applied to the foam blocks (absolutely vital) and covers completed, the final stage was to see if they fit. I think you'll agree they came out rather well, though I say so myself. I was thrilled to discover I seemed to have got it all right, and one of their three cats gave it all the seal of approval.

He, the cat, asked me to tell you that it made for a very comfortable resting place for the entire following day, and also to note that he doesn't usually look this disheveled. This is his summer clipped look, rather than his princely winter Maine Coon coat. 

The humans were pretty pleased too.

Secret Garden

Once upon a time there was this

Polyester voile with paper lamination 2015

and this

New cotton/silk mix. Mandala sample 2017

and this

Vintage cotton sheeting. Pole wrapped shibori 2017

Brought together, would they draw you across a room?

And when you got closer, would you want to see more?

Might they tell you a story?

Or should they be left to go their separate ways, being too much of a muddle all together?

The only stitched element so far is the butterfly, an earlier idea that was rejected. I have not the faintest notion of how I might combine these varied objects with stitch. It is for now, just a muse .....

Corona creativity

Because we are unable to gather at Studio 11 for our monthly creative delights with Christine, she has, in her usual undefeatable resilience, put together an online course for those of us who want to continue exploring cloth and stitch. Her suggestion was that we work on the theme uppermost in our minds at the moment which is, of course Covid-19.

What an unprecedented experience for all of us, both close and far - something which will probably redefine "normal" for most of us once we have got beyond this stage of lockdown For us, me and my dear man, life is in many ways unchanged, we are both retired, but the loss of weekly markers, Bridge for him, various things for me, lends a sense of timelessness to days, a stasis which is quite hard to rise above.

The garden has provided a retreat and sanctuary space for both of us, and as I have sat out there I have been much more mindful of my surroundings. The extra level of hush brings birdsong to the fore; an aircraft passing above is something to remark on, rather than ignore; the textures of things around me, visual textures and sounds, are things to focus on and enjoy. So, I spent some time taking rubbings of things, first on paper with a simple wax crayon - some came I was very happy with,

So focusing on those I liked, I took some cotton out into the garden to collect again, this time with candle wax. The marks are there, but could be more definite, what you can't see here are the lovely contact marks the dye made on the back of the cloth. I will add more marks, and more colour, and see where we get. Had I thought, I could have left the first layer of wax on, taken a second layer of marks and then added colour, but I was too hasty with wanting to see what it looked like so it has all been washed away. I will do my best to overlap the rubbings so I retain some of those white marks

The other thing we did was to look at the imagery attached to the virus, drawing it in various different ways. I played with stitching and clamping, linen and ramie, to see what shibori methods could do to evoke that spiky ball - lots to think about here, and to play with some more

Dye and stitch and sometimes both

So a little free time focus and some fun with the dyepot. These below a set of fabrics variously manipulated in shibori fashion, stitched, pleated, folded, bound, crumpled.

Dyed with synthetic indigo, flushed through with a wash of petrol green towards the end - I enjoy playing with the parameters of what and when. The colours not quite right here, but you get the idea.

Then in a plastic tray, this scrumptious srcumpledness. Again, shibori stitched, dyed bright yellow a few days ago, then extra colour flooded in as a second process

And here it is unwrapped and blended together with three other bits of cloth from those long ago sheets. Some of my experiments in my first year or two with Christine top and third, second and fourth dyed very recently to complement. I intend spreading them out a bit onto a backcloth so each can have its own voice, but still be part of a whole

And the cities begin to grow in Mesopotamia - 

Assur, capital of the Assyrian Empire the latest to manifest as we flow down the Tigris, Dur Sharrukin, Nineveh and Nimrud nestled in the confluence of the Greater Zab and the Tigris