Stitch a Day 2017, Day 36

This piece of cotton was one of my first attempts at pole wrapping, known in Japanese as Arashi Shibori. I love the process and have amassed quite a collection of poles of different diameters and lengths to accommodate different widths of fabrics. The Japanese, who have made this process into a very precise art form, typically use narrow fabrics that are pieced together to form traditional kimonos. I am not terribly precise, for now at least, and love the random nature and surprise at the moment I pull the fabric off the pole. I've gotten more disciplined with my oxidizing and rinsing, so I'm now able to get much crisper lines and whiter whites than this piece has. I'm using it here to cover a pocket.

Stitch a Day 2017, Day 28

I got back to my favorite corner again today. Whenever I'm not sure what to do I find myself back here. The back is almost finished, with only one little patch I can't quite figure out. I've set myself a deadline of the end of the month to finish the back. 

Arashi Shibori Fat Quarter

As requested, I've come up with some fat quarters for my quilting friends. One of the challenges has been finding a pole that will yield a piece that's the traditional fat quarter size of 18" x 22". For this piece, I lashed two poles together which created some vertical interest as the dye penetrated the spaces between the poles differently than it did when the fabric was directly on the pole. I can manipulate where the verticals appear by changing how I place the piece on the poles. I was trying to do an off-center version here with enough variation that it would give a quilter interesting options when cutting and piecing. Even as I write this and the picture is in front of me I'm getting new ideas. Stay tuned, I've got another dye session at the end of the week.

Arashi Shibori Dyed with Indigo

One of the easier pole wrapping practices is to loosely wrap a piece of cloth that's about the same size as the circumference of the pole. 

Arashi Shibori, on the pole, by Carlyn Clark

On this one, I kept the wraps very loose and manipulated them to move in different directions, varying the spaces between the ties.

Arashi Shibori, after 8 dips in an indigo vat, by Carlyn Clark

It took eight dips in the indigo vat to get this color.

Arashi shibori pole in the indigo vat

ready to go into the indigo vat

After unwrapping the arashi shibori pole, the panel is clamped between wood boards and dipped again in the indigo vat.

Arashi Shibori Panel by Carlyn Clark

The clamped piece has been dipped 10 more times in the indigo vat. The original arashi marks are still slightly visible in the background.