Shibori Techniques on Silk

with Glennis Dolce (Shibori Girl Studios)

using Colorhue dyes
Lesson Three
Welcome back! In the lesson we will further explore some other stitched shibori techniques and introduce
a little shibori fusion-mixing some techniques and adapting others to create some new ideas that will help
you go off and create on your own later on.
We have been having some fun on the blog and I want to thank those who have been introducing
themselves and interacting there. We can all learn from each other and as some of you in this class know
from your own teaching adventures, teachers learn from their students as well.
Im glad to hear that the videos are helping some of you and while pretty basic, sometimes pictures (or
even a poor video!) can convey things more easily than mere words can.
I have a couple of videos to offer here. One is of a workshop at the JANM (Japanese American National
Museum), the other linked later on in the lesson here. In case you missed it, I posted a couple of vids of the
recent indigo workshop at the JANM on my blog here.
There are SO many variations on stitched shibori and we have only begun to scratch the surface! For more
on stitched shibori (and shibori in general) these two books are excellent-

Shibori by Yoshiko Wada and Arimatsu Shibori by Bonnie F. Abiko

Next week we devote the whole lesson and the week to polewrapping so empty those wine bottles, get out
the PVC and get ready to wrap and roll. The last lesson we will focus on shibori fusion and use everything
And the kitchen sink!
So until then, enjoy some more stitched shibori.
Shibori onglennis

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 Three (cont.)
I thought I would start out by sharing a little piece of makiage inspiration I found on my last trip to Japan.
June Colburn (teacher, lecturer, & designer) and I were poking around some used kimono shops in
Kamakura and I couldnt resist this bargain (silk makiage obi).

Here you can see an overall geometric design using two basic motifs stitched and dyed in the makiage
technique. This bold pattern on an obi is quite unique and from sometime in the 1940s or 50s I believe
-a really effective use of makiage. Does this give you any ideas for an overall 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 Three (cont.)
This time we are going to expand on some of what we learned in lesson two. Mokume as we learned, is
defined by parallel rows of stitching. But imagine how this idea can be altered.
In the last lesson, I did not specify how to line up the stitches in relation to each other or in relation to the
stitches in the other rows. I wonder how you did yours? Did you try more than one?
Here are three variations on mokume:

What other variations can you come up with? As you further explore mokume shibori on different fabrics
and with different dyesets, you will come to understand that even using the same stitch pattern but
changing the weight or type of fabric will result in different outcomes. Only with repetitive practice and
studying your results will you discover how to get consistent results with most any type of shibori. This is
part of the beauty of shibori- no two pieces are every completely alike. Similar, yes. Identical, no. The
makers hand is always present.
So go ahead, try out a variation or two on the mokume and see what results. Using either some habotai ,
broadcloth or charmuese try at least two different stitch patterns and notice the difference on the resulting
designs. Do they resemble anything to you?
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 Three (cont.)
Makiage is one of my favorite types of stitched shibori. What if we combined makiage and mokume?
Try this:
Choose a motif and stitch it onto your choice of fabric (use white of your choice of a base dyed color).
Make this one a little larger, say minimally 4 wide. Inside the motif, stitch rows of your choice of
mokume. Overdye or overpaint (or any combination thereof) the Colorhue dye.
If you are able to take a photo and load it up in the blog wed love to see your results! If you are still unsure
of posting to the blog you can email me your post and image and I can post it for you.
Here is what I did.

Stitched heart motif filled with offset mokume.

Above-heart with threads pulled up. Fortunately,
I didnt break any heartstrings!

This was done on some of the silk noil. After gathering, I soaked the fabric giving it a good
wetting out.

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 Three (cont.)
Dyeing! Of course any of these can be simply dyed in a single
color. Here I have examples some various dyeing techniques.

For the heart I mixed some scarlet with black and painted on a fairly concentrated solution of dye
Going over the area several times. The last time I diluted the last of the dye and went around the base of the
heart (around the stitched area) letting the dye wick outward a bit. Next, I mixed up some scarlet and
turquoise to make a medium purple and dyed the outside, free portion of the fabric. I decided to add a little
more dye to the bath and dip in a couple more times just dipping the edges this time to get a darker edge.
In the end, I decided that noil is not my favorite for stitching mokume. Here I wasnt able to get good
definition on the interior of the heart. Maybe you will do better. I will have another try later with indigo.

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 Three (cont.)
Heres a little video to demonstrate the orinui technique you tried on weeks sampler. I did a crosshatch
pattern and started out by marking the fabric by creasing it with my iron. You can also use a chalk pencil
or something similar.

On the folded lines marked with a crease I stitched 4 rows one way and 5 the other using orinui .
Here is how it looked all drawn up-I kept all the puffs of fabric to the back side.

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 Three (cont.)
Here is a photo sequence of the dyeing process-

First I made a strong concentration of the fuschia/purple color and painted that on in the center of the
gathered section letting it wick down. I also turned over the piece and using a pipette I inserted dye in
between the puffs taking care not to get any on the outer sections. Next, I made a weak solution of a
greenish yellow and dipped the edges and the back puffy side into the dye. (I did not submerge it.)

I decided I wanted to paint on a little blue green on the front where there was still some white and to also
touch the tips of the puffs with a little concentrated black.
7

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 Three (cont.)

At this point I rinsed the piece and could have started to clip
my threads. Instead though I decided to preserve the texture
on this one and steamed the piece. To steam, soak the silk
for 20-30 minutes in a weak acid solution (white vinegar or
a 4% acetic acid solution). You can then lay the piece inside
a colander (to keep the piece above the water) in a pot of
water and stem for 20 minutes.( Always use dedicated pans
and containers for dyeing- even though the Colorhue are
non toxic it is just good studio rules to never mix food prep
equipment with dye equipment.)
Let the piece dry COMPLETELY before removing
stitching.

Here are the results after picking out all the stitching- by the way, this was done on 8mm habotai

-showing both sides of the textured shibori

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 Three (cont.)

detail of stretched open silk design

On the blog I showed you a quick slideshow of this piece (left side) being made. A little departure from
silk, but I know that some of you are working with other fabrics and dyesets. This orinui piece was done
on linen with indigo. Stitching over a fold in various ways results in some very fine shibori. The piece on
the right was a test done on silk with colorhue after I had seen some of the pieces at the Kubota museum. I
have not devoted much more time to this technique but be assured, it would take a lot of time to really get
this one under control. I just had to try my version of it. Some day, I will get back to this.

Enjoy another week of stitching and thinking and lets see what can be discovered this week~ mata ne!
9

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.