More Shibori

Wednesday I spent a couple more hours with Sandy dying silk. She soaks the fabric in water with White Vinegar. Roughly 1 cup of Vinegar in a big bucket of water. She lets the fabric soak for a minimum of 15 minutes, then rings it out, & scrunches it on a plate. She drips the dyes on. The dyes are Jaquard Acid dyes, just the powder mixed in a little water until dissolved. These can be kept forever, & used until they are gone. They don't bind in the water & lose the ability to dye the fabric the way other dyes do.

After Sandy's, I went to the local art store & bought some dyes, & set up on my hutch. I used straws to mix & transfer the dyes to the fabric, just dipping & holding my finger on the end of the straw, then dropping the dyes where ever I pleased.

After dripping dyes on to scrunched fabric, it's covered in plastic wrap & microwaved for a couple of minutes. Sandy did 3 minutes in her microwave, but mine is a little more powerful. The microwave causes the dyes to steam under the plastic wrap, & therefore sets the dyes.

After taking it out of the microwave, let it set for a few minutes more under the plastic to continue steaming, & to cool down a bit. The next step is to rinse the fabric well under running water, then let it dry.

Wrapped on a piece of PVC drain pipe (this has to be smooth, not bumpy). Using plain string wrapped tightly around the fabric, & rocks added as you go. The pole with fabric was soaked again in the vinegar water bucket, then more dye was added after wrapping.  Next was the hard part....waiting for it to dry...

This was how it looked when finished.

Tonight I did 3 more pieces. This first one, I used beads instead of stones.

Broc modeled one of the finished pieces. It has potential for a Halloween costume..Broccosaurus?