Fun and Shibori Fabric on Whidbey Island

I spent a week on Whidbey Island with Elin Noble and 14 other artists learning the art of shibori while discharging and dyeing fabrics.  It was wonderful!   We tried clamping, stitching, arashi (pole-wrapping) and masking a raft of different fabrics:  silk dupion, cotton, rayon twill, etc.

Elin is very knowledgeable about the chemistry of the dyeing and discharging process.  Armed with that knowledge, you can analyze what happened on a piece of fabric, and predict what will happen on another.  How great is that!?

Here are a few of my favorite pieces from the week:

This intriguing piece was dyed, folded and stitched, discharged and over-dyed.  I will definitely play with this technique.
This intriguing piece was dyed, folded and stitched, discharged and over-dyed. I will definitely play with this technique.

 

This piece of silk dupion was discharged, overdyed with Procion dyes, discharged, wrapped around a rope and then dyed in purple acid dye.  Love the shimmery, water look to this....
This piece of silk dupion was discharged, over-dyed with Procion dyes, discharged, wrapped around a rope and then over-dyed in purple acid dye. Love the shimmery, watery look to this.
This shibori-clamped fabric was discharged three times and dyed three times.
This shibori-clamped fabric was discharged three times and dyed three times.

 

This piece started as orange hand-dyed rayon.  I then wrapped it on a pole (arashi shibori), discharged and over-dyed it.  Then I masked off the circles and dyed it again.  This has possibilities, too, don't you think?
This piece started as orange hand-dyed rayon. I then wrapped it on a pole (arashi shibori), discharged and over-dyed it. Then I masked off the circles and dyed it again. This has possibilities, too, don’t you think?

The setting was beautiful.  This is not a postcard–it is an actual picture I took from the deck of the Cottage on the Cove:

This was my view one sunny morning.  Coupeville on Penn Cove of Whidbey Island is a beautiful place.
This was my view one sunny morning. Coupeville on Penn Cove of Whidbey Island is a beautiful place.

Sometimes I think I am the luckiest person on Earth.

After a week on Whidbey Island, I spent a week in Seattle, and visited the Seattle Art Museum AND the La Conner Quilt Museum.  More on those wonderful outings later….

6 thoughts on “Fun and Shibori Fabric on Whidbey Island

  1. yes, you are the luckiest person. I lived in WA several years ago and found it to be the best in textile arts I have ever lived in.

  2. Mary, my lots of my family lives in Whitney Island and Seattle too…it really is nice and cool up there and green year round. Glad you ha fun.

    1. Enee, you are lucky to have family to visit there. It is so beautiful… I had never heard of the place until I signed up for the workshop…. The Pacific Northwest School of Art is a great place to take a class.

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