Winner #1 and Shibori
The winner of the birthday giveaway #1 for The Complete Photo Guide to Felting is Sally Gulbrandsen. Congratulations and thanks to everyone who responded. It was good to hear from all of you.
Last week, my local group met and we tried some shibori techniques. Bunny, who hosted our shibori party, has lots of examples and samples of shibori that are gorgeous. So she showed us her samples to start.
Lots of them still have the folded textures and the amount of work they took is amazing. I always forget how much work shibori is until I start doing it and then I suddenly remember why I don’t do it very often. Then Bunny instructed us on doing arashi shibori which means ‘storm’ in Japanese. It is a technique where you wrap the cloth around a pole and wind tightly with thread or string. This technique gives a diagonal line reminiscent of rain. Several of us had also done a bit of stitching in advance. I stitched one of my pieces in the mokume (wood grain) pattern. Paula stitched a piece of felt with some half circles and a few straight mokume lines. After wrapping our poles, we put some in acid dye pots and the others we used Color Hue dyes that require no setting or heating for protein fiber. The Color Hue dyes are quick and easy so if you haven’t done any dyeing before, it might be an easy start for you to try. Bunny ordered them from Dharma Trading.
I think we got some really great results. We had a fun afternoon but we all decided that shibori gives you quite a workout! If you’ve done any shibori, we’d love to see what you have done. Come on over to the forum and post about it!
27 thoughts on “Winner #1 and Shibori”
I just love shibori. Such a wide range of patterns and textures. I do a lot of simple shibori stitch work but nothing as detailed as these. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Belle – I like the results of shibori but somehow I’m too lazy to do it very often. Too many other things on my list 🙂
Always something new to try and I have never tried this – thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome Sally.
I meant to add a very big thank you (publicly) for the Birthday give-away book. I am thrilled. Best wishes, Sally
Congratulations on your win!
I loved looking at the photos – thanks for posting them.
You’re welcome Lyn!
You got great results with your polls Ruth. When I have done it, it always surprises me how much time it takes to unwrap them.
Congratulations Sally.
Thanks Ann – yes, the entire process takes a while 🙂
The shibori techniques and effects are amazing! Did you use mostly silk and cotton? When I did shibori, I used stitching and corks, and I remember how sore my fingers were after unwrapping many, many rubber bands. But the results are always so stunning! In my view, definitely worth the trouble.
Thanks Cathy – I think that we all used silk except for Paula’s one piece of felt.
Congratulations! I’m sure you’re going to have fun. 🙂
Thanks Judith – she seems excited to have won 🙂
Congratulations, Sally! 🙂
Shibori does indeed seem to be a lot of work, but what pretty results one gets. It’s very Japanese, that willingness to do things slowly and methodically, to reach perfection in the end. I love it. I hope you had fun, Ruth 😀
Thanks Leonor – the Japanese are much more perfect about it than I am. But I actually like the varying results you get if you don’t wrap it exactly. I had a good time as always with my group.
Congratulations Sally – You are in for a felting treat! :
The shibori results are absolutely gorgeous Ruth, I know what you mean about it taking so long but the results are totally worth it. The results on felt are interesting too, I have only used prefelt so far but am tempted to try some shibori on a finished piece too…. maybe a project to save for the Christmas break 🙂
Thanks Teri! I have done several arashi shibori on finished pieces and they turned out great. It works best with thinner felt so the dye can penetrate. Wish I had a Christmas break 🙂
Congratulations, sally 🙂
These all look great, Ruth! I wish I had the patience fir it, it always looks so good. Maybe if I get one of those big magnifiers it’d be easier 🙂
Thanks Zed – the results are always great but it does take some patience for sure.
Congratulations Sally!
Ruth, I love all the shibori techniques. It adds a feeling of texture.
Yes, I love the results too.
Looks like you had a great time and got some great results! I love arashi – just need to make sure your pipe is wide enough and that your vat is deep enough! 🙂
Thanks Kim – we did have a good time. I usually have problems with the deepness of the vat 🙂
Hello Ruth,
Just wanted to say a very big thank you for the beautiful Felting Book which arrived today. What a generous gift. I am so appreciative and the book is wonderful. I can’t wait to get stuck into reading it. If anyone wants a great gift for Christmas for a felting fan, then I can’t recommend this one enough.
Thank you so much,
Sally
Sally – so glad you received the book – have fun!
Thank you again Ruth – I think this was incredibly generous gift (and beautiful) – especially in view of the expense which you incurred by having to send it all the way to me in UK.
Sally