Friday Inspirations - More Shibori!

Violet Plume

Yeah - I'm still going a little shibori crazy!  I'll show you what I've been doing on Monday.  Besides turning my hands blue, I've also been looking for shibori inspiration on the net and have found some interesting artwork.

UK artist Helen Bolland has some gorgeous pleated and brightly dyed shibori scarves on her website.  This one reminds me of a flower - there's one of hers that is reminiscent of dragons!

 
Michelle Griffith uses shibori in very interesting ways in her artwork - definitely worth a look.  Some like the piece to the left are tied but not dyed.  It looks so delicate.  There's lots more to see on her website.


The art quilts by Carol Anne Grotrian are amazing!  I can't even imagine the time it must take to tie all of those knots and do all of the stitching this would entail!  She dyes in indigo, as is traditional with shibori.  There are more on her website.

Wave:  Montana de Oro

 


Michael Smith does what he calls "non-traditional" shibori on silk.  It looks a little like arashi, but stepped up a few notches!  The colors made me drool!  Check out his website here.

I don't know though .... there's still something about the traditional shibori indigo kimonos that draw me in.  This one is a child's kimono from the beginning 20th century.  Beautiful! 

Happy Creating!  Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Pie Potholders

Mmmm .... I love pie!  My mom and I saw lattice top pie potholders in a fabric shop awhile ago - no patterns left, but I thought how hard could it be to come up with one?  And I always need pot holders.  I think my kitchen is potholder hell - they never last long.  I burn them, stain them, accidentally cut them, ... but mostly burn them!  

Materials for two potholders:
*fat quarter of fruit fabric
*about 1 yard of crust-colored fabric
*Insulbrite insulating fabric
*Steam-a-Seam Two




Use something with a diameter of about 9 inches as a pattern - cut out two backing circles from crust-colored fabric, two tops from the fruit fabric, and two circles from Insulbrite.

You'll need about 6 feet of bias tape - it's unlikely you'll find a color that works with ready made tape, so the yardage for the crust-colored fabric includes enough to make your own - see this past post.  Cut twelve 9 x 3/4 inch rectangles of Steam-a-Seam Two.  Peel off the top backing of each and lay on the wrong side of bias tape - iron to adhere.  It looks best if you don't have a seam in the middle of these pieces.

Peel the second backing piece off and arrange two pieces as below:

Add the next two pieces ....

And the last two pieces.  Trim the rectangles even with the edges of the circle and iron to fix on.

Layer an Insulbrite circle between the pie top and the crust bottom.

Pin bias tape to the pie top, right sides together.

Sew along the fold line closest to the circle edge.

Fold bias tape over edge and pin along the back of the potholder.

Hand sew into place.

And here it is ready to take its place by the stove ... I'm going to try to not ruin these!

But just in case, I'm making two more with the fig fabric ....

Happy Creating!  Deborah

Monday Project - Kumo Shibori

Kumo shibori takes a bit of time to do (and strong fingers!) but it looks spectacular.  It's often described as being spider webs - I think it also looks like jellyfish or galaxies.  There is a tool that is used in Japan for this tie that has a spike you hook the fabric over.  I don't have that tool and have actually never seen one for sale in this country!  However, it's not hard to get the same results without it.

I use artificial sinew for most shibori ties - see the materials section of this past post for information on it.

Take a chopstick and wrap your fabric around it - hard to see the chopstick, but it's there!

Pull the chopstick out and twist the fabric - how long of a twist you make will determine how large your motif will be.

With artificial sinew, begin wrapping at the base of your twist and continue wrapping to the top.  You'll probably have to keep retwisting as you wrap.

Wrap back down to where you began.  I like to make an X with the top wrap over the bottom wrap.

Cut off sinew, bring both ends to the front, and tie a double knot.  If you're making a lot of kumo motifs you can just move on to the next twist without tying (using one long, continuous strand of sinew).  It makes it easier to undo after dying, however, I like to tie each twist - I feel it keeps them tighter.

You can then dye your fabric any way you want - tub dying, squirting a bunch of colors onto it, indigo, ...

This visual from a class I taught shows the steps in drawings.  We were doing small sample pieces, so we used toothpicks instead of a chopstick.

If you're crazy, you can take a yard of cotton and tie a bajillion twists!

Here it is being dyed in indigo (more on indigo dying here).

And the finished fabric, which makes all those twists worth it!

Happy Creating!  Deborah

Friday Inspiration - Severija Incirauskaite-Kriauneviciene

Direction, 2009.  Metal shovel, cotton.

Detail of Direction.

I have to admit that I don't often think of cross-stitch embroidery as something that is used in fiber art.  Don't get me wrong - I enjoy working it, but ...   And then I found Lithuanian artist Severija Incirauskaite-Kriauneviciene's work!  She drills holes in very unusual backgrounds and then uses cotton embroidery floss to cross-stitch the usual floral, fruit, etc. designs.  It's extremely eye catching!

Way of Roses, 2008.  Honda Civic, cotton.

I love how it transforms these cold metal tools into something more cozy and feminine.

Good Morning Composition, 2005.  Metal pan, cotton.

Her website has a large number of pieces to look at and Don't Panic has a good interview.

Happy Creating!  Deborah