Shibori

I've been playing around with lots of dyeing methods lately.  Ultimately this dye project will become more diaper tabs.  So I have sacrificed two birdseye flats as the next dye victims.

Shibori around xeriscaping.

We have a lot of rocks around here, so I figured it would be cool to try a couple of different methods of shibori.  One is called kanoko shibori (at least I think that's what I did, though honestly the name's not so important), which is basically the same as tie-dye you think of with all the colors.  I chose to put rubberbands around the rock pouches to create a pebbly effect.  Then I ran out of rubberbands and just decided to tie with string in small tufts.  This sounds tedious, but is actually somewhat relaxing.

Shibori around olive oil bottle.

For this iteration, I have done the tieing in the arashi shibori method.  Arashi means "storm" and by wrapping the cloth around something on the diagonal, it creates the effect of a driving rain.  I wrapped rubber bands around the top and bottom to keep the fabric from slipping right off the ends, and the string for the real resist ties.

Rub-a-dub-dub.

Here they are in the dyebath.  Traditionally, I believe this is done in indigo, and maybe one day I'll do indigo dyeing, but right now, just plain ole' Procion Mx dyes are the ones for me.  I''m using Dharma's Royal Blue.

 

Here is the rock part un-banded, with the string ties still tied.  
 

 

The rock and string fabric, untied and rinsed of excess dye and soda ash.  I like the way it came out.

Here is the arashi, untied and rinsed.  It came out a little wonky, not so much like rain as like a waterfall.  Next time, a taller thing to wrap around would probably be better.  

So I guess they came out well for a first try, we'll see once they are fully washed in hot water.  I guess they probably won't look as cool once they're cut into strips, but you better believe they'll still be the coolest diapers around.

Update: a lot of the dye came out in the hot wash, so the blue is less vivid, now.