Great Shibori Class

I attended a fun class in San Antonio with internationally known shibori artist Doshi and the San Antonio Fiber Arts group. (www.doshifiberart.com) If you haven't encountered her work or shibori in general, it is so amazing. Basically the fabric is tied or clamped to create ornate patterns then bound using fairly fine string, and dyed. The string or clamps and the folds of the fabric form resists and pattern the fabric. The origins of Shibori come from century old textile traditions from Japan and Africa.

Here is one new shibori technique I learned: pleat a light weight piece of silk up around a rope -- the rope should be about 1" in diameter. Wrap a piece of string or thread around the silk to bind it to the rope (you end up with sort of a tube around the rope). Die with either MX dyes or acid dyes.

Here is a picture of a piece of fabric created with this technique:

Can you see the pleat lines?

Also, a great book on the subject is "Shibori" by Karen Britto.