The Shibori series is a project that visualizes the pollution level of different samples of water in New York. Water samples from the Gowanus Canal, Prospect park, pier 4 beach and bottled water in New York were used to create natural dyes for the shibori fabric. The natural dye is made using Cabbage as the source of color. The mordant was alum and the assistant was iron, each measured according to the percentage in the natural dye recipe.
From the experiment, the difference in color can really be seen when the dye was heated in the pot. The dye that used the Gowanus canal water sample was dark blue, pier 4 beach and prospect park dark purple, and bottled water dark blue. However, when the colors were applied to the fabric, the end result was that the fabric did not show a big difference in color. The color of the water samples that were purple before turned out to be bluish when it is on the fabric, this is probably because of the cotton used or the mordant used that affects the way the fabric absorbs the color which is why in the fabric the difference in color cannot be seen clearly.
Even though the color of the 4 fabrics was similar, there was a slight difference in color between the fabric dyed with the Gowanus canal sample water and the fabric dyed with bottled water. The Gowanus canal’s fabric color is black, while the color of the fabric dyed with bottled water is the bluest. Pier 4 beach and prospect park were in the middle with its greyish color. From the ph. measurements, the Gowanus canal showed 9, prospect park and pier 4 beach showed 8 and bottled water showed 7.
Connecting the ph. level to the color of the fabric, the higher the ph level, the darker the color of the dye. This means that the darker the color of the fabric, the more polluted the water used to create the dye is. In this case, Gowanus canal has the highest ph. level and has the darkest color. In contrast, bottled water with the lowest ph. level is the lightest in color (bluest). In conclusion, the Gowanus canal water is the most polluted since it has the highest concentration of alkaline in the water from industrial wastes that contain chemicals. Pier 4 beach and prospect park contains some alkaline which comes from sewage wastes from people and neighborhoods around it. Lastly, bottled water is the least polluted because the ph level is neutral since it is not contaminated with chemicals and other toxins that affect the ph of the water.
Overall, the shibori fabrics communicate the level of pollution of the 4 samples of water by showing different colors and tones. Therefore, people will get to see the pollution level of the water and therefore be enlightened to want to improve the conditions of the polluted water samples.
Experiment Pictures
Worksheets
