Shibori 9

Wrapping - Plastic bottle tops

Using soft synthetic net curtain fabric - voile... and steaming in pressure cooker for 30 mins... the shapes are fixed quite strongly.

Shibori 8

Hand Stitching

Shibori 7

Wrapping objects - Screws
The screws and wrapping threads have been removed, Here the head of the screw was away from the tip of the 'tentacles'.

Ironed flat

Shibori 6

Wrapping objects - beads/marbles



The marbles have been removed and the fabric is viewed from what I call the back- but could equally well be the front


When stretched out and ironed

Shibori 5

Hand stitching - 1

Slightly stretched out
Wonderful spirals are produced from the twisting of the fabric by the thread.

Shibori 4

Smocking Machine - one direction
And stretched out in some areas

Shibori 3

Smocking machine two directions at an angle

Slightly stretched out

Formed into a roll or tube

Shibori 2

Smocking machine - two directions at right angles

This shibori forms wonderfully crunchy texture suggestive of the thick scales of a dragon! or if you are less fantastically inclined - a durian.


And can be a free standing rectangular cylinder shape.

Shibori 1

Pole wrap - Arashi



I need to build a library of samples of shibori. Shibori is so versatile it can be used in its pure sculptural form with or without dye. It can be used in its sculptural form if slightly stretched out - with our without colour added and it can be a simple method of tie and dye. So to build a library would involve creating many many samples. Here I am going to use imagery to make use of one sample for many purposes.
This is Arashi shibori or pole wrapped shibori.
Shibori is famous for its natural patters and lines. This will become clear as we go on.
The colour here was Procion and is quite pale - I'd like stronger colours for my purposes.
Acid dyes can also be used for colour and fixing the shape.
When using Procion dyes - steaming is necessary to fix the colour and the shape, if the latter is required.
Shibori is often worked alongside Indigo dyeing and I hope to move to this later (winter in Calgary isn't quite right for working with Indigo and I like the idea of seasonality for dyeing).

Jelly fish sucks onto ceramic saucer

Look what happens when a jelly fish wraps its tentacles around a saucer.
The 'ink' of the 'jelly fish' leaves dendritic 'poison' marks in the glaze.
Rather like the bruising one gets when a jelly fish wraps its tentacles around a pregnant womans leg... but we wont go into that now.
And just because the colours look nice together here are some purple potatoes.

Creature 1

I had a spell of making creatures in 2006- they were my version of dolls... but deep sea dolls, strangely enough, because now I find myself researching if Paverpol would be any good at improving the rigidity of this creature so that it can stand up! And Paverpol is most frequently used to give durability and rigidity to outdoor doll-like sculptures.

I know this looks very similar to things I have done before... it is.. the difference is that it is about 600% bigger and now I want to make a scary well-stitched installation of these - a veritable forest of these... standing on their heads by the way - feet up... keep you posted.

Shibori mushrooms

This is the sample for a piece based on the mushrooms, I am sure there is lots more potential in this felting/shibori idea. I must buy some fabric to work with, I just used a piece I had. It was all a bit closed in with this sample and the funghi need lots more space around them.

Love the ink cap colours that just appeared. And the felted streamers of thread suggesting spores flying off from the toadstools.