Shibori is a heavily historical Japanese technique of dyeing fabric which relies on the tying, manipulation and folding of fabric that reveals surprising, aesthetic patterns. With dying the fabric, I wanted an element of experimentation and surprise in what pattern would come out when manipulated. Inspired by how ropes are knotted, I wanted to use my fabric to convey my research in rope knots. I looked into several different types of knots as well as their utility and I was drawn to a particular knot called the farmers loop. I liked the concise nature of the knot as well as how tightly woven it was. As displayed by this picture from Wikipedia, I knew the knot would leave an interesting pattern that would allow me to achieve the end result I wanted. While dying my fabric, I wanted to preserve the raw beige color of the muslin in order to give the fabric a raw, textured pattern while having highlights of the deep brown and yellow scattered throughout the fabric.
I opted to use turmeric mixed with soda ash because I fell in love with the intense, deep umber color that was produced when they mixed together. Simultaneously, I wanted the mustard yellow color of the pure turmeric to also be present, and so while mixing the Soda Ash, I left parts of the mixture unstirred and untouched by the soda ash to produce swirls of yellow. Due to the intensity of the color, I wanted to conserve most of the muslin color and only have splashes of the pure tumeric. The farmers knot aided me in achieving that because when tied, only the outsides of the fabrics were dying, keeping the inside its natural beige color.
During the process of dying the fabric in the dye bath, I found difficulties in achieving the color I wanted. In order to create an intense dark red-brown, I added a tablespoon of Soda Ash. Consequently, the color in the dye bath was very saturated, yet when it came into contact with the muslin, the color became muted and was not as pigmented. Consequently, I stored my fabric in the dye bath for 3 days, in order for the color to heavily seep into the fabric. After 3 days, I unknotted the fabric and it was revealed to have both the dark umber color from the soda ash as well as patches of the unmixed turmeric.
I was very pleased with the result as it was everything I envisioned. It was both intense yet natural and conveyed the earthy values I wanted in my fabric. Altogether, the Shibori dyeing experience has been extremely hands on and interactive. I have never experienced naturally hand dying fabric before so I hope to use this in my future fashion designs and incorporate into other creative projects.
Soda Ash Mixing
Final Result
