Shibori Techniques on Silk

with Glennis Dolce (Shibori Girl Studios)

using Colorhue dyes
Lesson one
Lets get started! Gather together your materials, clear a workspace and dress for some shibori
dyeing fun (work clothes, hair up, and some thin latex gloves if desired). If you are choosing to work
with other fabrics and dyesets that you are already familiar with (ie procion dyes and cottons) you
will have to adjust these instructions to suit.
First, you will begin by preparing your fabrics for dyeing by washing them in warm/hot water and a
mild detergent. You can use synthrapol, Dharmas textile detergent, Woolite or even a mild
shampoo. This serves to remove oils, silkworm gum, and other things used in textile processing that
can cause the dye not to adhere well to the silk. Dry fabric and iron on a silk setting.
In this lesson you will get the hang of using the Colorhue dyes and explore some itajime (fold and
clamp) shibori techniques. As we go through these lessons, I will call out for certain fabrics from
your supply list- but feel free to change up the suggested fabrics. Please note that results will vary
depending on the fabrics used. Part of what I want you to experience are the variations that occur
when applying these shibori techniques to various silk fabrics. One of the qualities I love about
shibori is that results are usually quite unique and often difficult to reproduce. That said, practice is
king and mastery is possible!
Lets begin by base dyeing some swatches of the habotai. Cut 4 squares -approximately 12.
Pro tip: in all cases unless otherwise noted, fabric should be wet out prior to dyeing.
Completely wetting the fabric before dyeing will produce a more even dye job.

1. Prepare a container with 2 cups of water.

2. Using a pipette, add 5 drops of Canary Yl Colorhue dye. Stir
3. Add one sq. of silk and swish around until water is near to clear. Rinse in a second container
of clear water. Squeeze out water, hang or lay flat to dry. It really is just that simple.
4. Using the same container, add 15 drops of the same Yl dye.
5. Repeat step 3.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 except substitute Magenta for the Canary Yl.

2010 Glennis Dolce all rights reserved www.shiborigirlstudios.com

No part of this document may be reproduced or distributed in any format without permission of the author
Patterns and templates are provided for personal use only and are not to be sold or distributed in any way.

Shibori Techniques on Silk

with Glennis Dolce (Shibori Girl Studios)
using Colorhue dyes
Lesson one
Pro tip: Find a small container in which to set all your dye bottles. This will help avoid
accidentally knocking them over!

Well, its just that simple! Now you have 4 12 squares of 2 colors of silk dyed in two shades of each
color. Let these dry , then iron them on a silk setting. Set aside.
Please read the brochure that came with your Colorhue dye sampler. You will find it a helpful guide
in handling these easy to use non-toxic dyes designed especially for silk.
Now, cut or tear a couple of 3 wide strips from your silk noil yardage. Silk noil is made with the
short waste fibers that result from the processing of high grade silk textiles. On my visit to Japan last
year, we visited several silk production facilities. Here is a photo showing a silk reeling factory and
another showing some of the waste silk that will be used for noil and other lesser silk products.
You will notice the noil can absorb more dye due to the fact it is a heavier fabric. I have found that
noil takes a longer soak to wet out prior to dyeing.

2010 Glennis Dolce all rights reserved www.shiborigirlstudios.com

No part of this document may be reproduced or distributed in any format without permission of the author
Patterns and templates are provided for personal use only and are not to be sold or distributed in any way.

Shibori Techniques on Silk

with Glennis Dolce (Shibori Girl Studios)
using Colorhue dyes
Lesson one
Dye one silk noil strip a light turquoise (10 drops dye) or a shade of your choice. Dye the other
another light shade. ( generally speaking, always start by dyeing light shades first )
For my second piece I used 5 drops of scarlet, 2 yl, and 2 electric blue. Here are the two colors I
ended up with-

I semi-dried and damp ironed each strip, accordion folding and pressing each into a 3x3 packet.
Soak the folded packets in a container of shallow water to thoroughly wet out each piece.

Choose a resist shape from your arsenal (here I

chose a hexagonal ceramic tile) and clamp as
shown letting the shape hang over the edge of the
packet. Use some wet scrap fabric folded to the
same thickness to block dye from affecting the
edge of the packet. Tighten clamps evenly taking care to keep clamps out of the way of the side
you wish to dye. Dye packet in color of your choice making sure to get dye in between layers by
opening up folds. Use a syringe if necessary to get dye up next to edge of clamped resist.
3

2010 Glennis Dolce all rights reserved www.shiborigirlstudios.com

No part of this document may be reproduced or distributed in any format without permission of the author
Patterns and templates are provided for personal use only and are not to be sold or distributed in any way.

Shibori Techniques on Silk

with Glennis Dolce (Shibori Girl Studios)
using Colorhue dyes
Lesson one

Left photo shows packet dyed with a brown. Often I will use leftover dye baths mixed together and
add dye as needed to achieve desired color as I did here. The right photo shows the clamps and resist
removed. Notice how the blue scrap fabric blocked the dye from the edge. Next, choose a new shape
(I chose a small circle that would fit inside the hex shape) and clamp as before using the scrap fabric
to again block dye from the edge.

Here I dyed the packet with a solution of medium orange (pumpkin). Make sure to open up and get
the dye deep down against the edge of resist. Pour over multiple times, use syringe when necessary.
Rinse and remove clamps. Open up to reveal your pattern!

2010 Glennis Dolce all rights reserved www.shiborigirlstudios.com

No part of this document may be reproduced or distributed in any format without permission of the author
Patterns and templates are provided for personal use only and are not to be sold or distributed in any way.

Shibori Techniques on Silk

with Glennis Dolce (Shibori Girl Studios)
using Colorhue dyes
Lesson one
Giveaway!!
Send me a self-addressed stamped envelope and I will mail you a set of 4 of the small black plastic
circle resists used here and pictured below! If you ordered a workshop materials kit I included
these in your packet. Send to: 3713 Walnut Ave., Long Beach, CA 90807
(while supplies last-US residents only)
( You can purchase the clear plexi resists used here at http://www.etsy.com/shop/r0ssie)

Dye your remaining strip with another itajime design. Consider using different shapes in creative
ways -moving the resist shape and reclamping to get interesting patterns. Feel free to try this on
some of the other silks. These border designs are great for using in quilting or as trim on a
garment.
Here is what I did with my second piece. Can you figure out the order of the clamping and dyeing?
Part of understanding this technique is designing with intention and having an idea ahead of how it
will turn out. Practice with this and enjoy the process.

2010 Glennis Dolce all rights reserved www.shiborigirlstudios.com

No part of this document may be reproduced or distributed in any format without permission of the author
Patterns and templates are provided for personal use only and are not to be sold or distributed in any way.

Shibori Techniques on Silk

with Glennis Dolce (Shibori Girl Studios)
using Colorhue dyes
Lesson one
Lets take one of your base dyed squares and using an iron to press all folds, fold in half and half
again (you will have a square). Now fold the square into a triangle-then fold each side once again into
a smaller triangle until you have something that looks like this:

Here I used my darker yellow square and a square resist. I like using these clear resists for the photos
so you can better see the process. I dipped the resisted yellow silk into a pink dyebath making the
orange. Moving the square resist, I dyed the tip and tail in turquoise resulting in the green and
brown, respectively. You can mix your Colorhue dyes as you would watercolors. Use more dye for
stronger colors as desired. When you are satisfied with the design (or cant wait any longer to open it
up!) rinse the silk, remove resists and open.

So you see you can create all sorts of interesting geometric starburst like shapes using this itajime
process. Think origami. Experiment with your remaining base dyed squares. Enjoy!

2010 Glennis Dolce all rights reserved www.shiborigirlstudios.com

No part of this document may be reproduced or distributed in any format without permission of the author
Patterns and templates are provided for personal use only and are not to be sold or distributed in any way.

Shibori Techniques on Silk

with Glennis Dolce (Shibori Girl Studios)
using Colorhue dyes
Lesson one
Lastly, I will use some of the silk organza (optional) and show you what can be done with this
amazing fabric. I love the transparent quality of organza. I find that hand dyed organza layered over
other interesting fabrics can create wonderful effects. Here is a photo tutorial of itajime on organza-I
used about 1/8 yard for each piece. Starting with white organza and a pair of triangles, I moved the
resists as I dyed and clamped- considering the colors that would result as I overdyed and blocked off
different areas of color.

2010 Glennis Dolce all rights reserved www.shiborigirlstudios.com

No part of this document may be reproduced or distributed in any format without permission of the author
Patterns and templates are provided for personal use only and are not to be sold or distributed in any way.

Shibori Techniques on Silk

with Glennis Dolce (Shibori Girl Studios)
using Colorhue dyes
Lesson one
I think this gives you a good amount of ideas from which to further explore itajime on silk using
Colorhue dyes. Ill bet you didnt realize how easy it was going to be to use Colorhue dyes on silknow Ill bet your bigger problem is going to be finding more time to spend dyeing and thinking up all
the things you can do and make with your fabrics. If you have some extra silk- by all means-practice
and invent to your hearts content. Share your results on the blog by uploading an image of your
results and seeing what others are doing as well. I am busy today adding you all onto the blog as
contributors so you can each create posts there. Just a reminder, please title each post beginning with
your name so we know who we are hearing from. You will be receiving an invite to join the blog as
an author-you will need to sign up for a free wordpress blog if you dont have one but you will not
need to maintain it-it just allows you to have a dashboard from which you can contribute to the online
class blog. As soon as I get everyone up and running on the blog I will send another email detailing
the process of posting there. Bear with me!
Until then-enjoy the video associated with this weeks lesson:
Itajime video lesson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuIIXSEFC5E
Mata-ne!
Glennis

2010 Glennis Dolce all rights reserved www.shiborigirlstudios.com

No part of this document may be reproduced or distributed in any format without permission of the author
Patterns and templates are provided for personal use only and are not to be sold or distributed in any way.