speaking of wrapping 30000 yards..... how about UNwrapping?

and....

3" rayon grosgrain pole wrapping bomaki style but with a decidedly different wrap pattern....I made a deliciously exotic (large of course!) flower combining this with some silk satin shibori ribbon. No peeking until July 25-27 at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach (booth 1353)!!

Now, having tried several types of string before settling on the d-core, experimentation and trial and error allowed me to discover why this string became my favorite. It may not be yours. Different strings give different results. Try several and discover what result you like best.

Lately, I haven't had much time for blogging but have put up a few photos on flickr. Here's another view of one of those pieces:

I call this piece "embers".

Back to the 30,000 yards of wrapping. Even though this sounds like a lot I feel I have barely scratched the surface of this technique. Bruce over at narablog recently posted a shibori fabric that both inspired and humbled me. Apparently it's a combination of stitched and polewrapping that is VERY labor intensive. That's what I like about shibori. Endless possibilities.

On another note, it had been hellishly hot here for the past few days and finally cooled a bit today. At least we are near the coast. Inland was an absolute oven. Great for drying silk though! Giving myself a break now and then, I've been peddling my bike over to a friend's house to take care of the critters and the *pool* while they are out of town. Taking my macbook and working in between dips in the pool. Hard work....but someone's gotta do it!

-experimenting with the tulle I purchased a little while back. Now I have always loved tulle- it's the stuff dreams were made of
when we were young- dreams of princesses, ballerinas, witches, and so much more. I wanted to see how it took to dyeing and to shibori texturing. Dyeing solid shades is a breeze- it's the patterning which is tricky since the open mesh allows the dye to travel and isn't really resisted by the compression of the fabric. If you look closely you will see that the deeper shade is found where the string was wrapped around the pole(valley) and the lighter shade on the "hills" or tops of the pleats- completely opposite of the usual result since the dye flows through the netting and pools in the crevices. It does take texture though and would be great for costuming. It made me want to wrap it around my waist and do some flying leaps...
and then of course take some photos....

This piece reminds me of the koi in my pond.

this technique is a favorite of mine and I hadn't used it in a while- pieces done using this technique took a little longer to sell
but I suddenly realized they were all gone so I made a few more. Of course I had to add a new twist and do a little more experimentation. In addition to all the wiring I've been up to I've been stitching seams across pleats for even more textural effect which is a little hard to see on this piece. The real reason to show you this is to say that I also was trying to lay the orange color only on the very tops of the pleats and not have it bleed on down at all. The solution to achieving this was to use the Colorhue dyes mixed into shaving cream and spread onto the wrapped pole. The Colorhue dye attaches rapidly and the foam holds it in place just where I put it. Now I know that some dyers have their doubts about the Colorhue dyes but the more I experiment with them the more uses I am finding for them. I find that there just are certain things I can do with them that I can't do with other dyes (as easily or in some cases at all). As many of you know, as a result of my experimenting with these dyes I have been asked to teach for the Silk Experience classes in Houston (Nov. '08) and now in Chicago (April '09) where I will be featuring traditional and (my favorite) not-so-traditional shibori techniques and will have the dyes available in my booth for both the shows as well as the upcoming Long Beach Quilt Festival.

-a sea of green. More detail of some of the stitching going on around here-

-more of the silk organza- again with the Colorhue dyes

one could wonder what came first.....the blue, the pink, or the green....or did it all happen at the same time?
how do you keep the colors separate?

and finally the whole thing....learned a lot on this one

even tigga gave some advice during the photo shoot

tigga keeping an eye on the pole drying. she often remarks on her own tigery shibori patterns

So, that's about it for now.....
Have 200 yards of ribbon to wrap for an order as well as many many flowers to make for a Lebanese couture designer in Beiruit!
Gotta go!

Technorati Tags: colorhue, dyeing, quilt festival, shiborigirl

Working on photographing these pieces.....it's harder than it looks. They turn as I try to photograph them so even with good light large images get a little motion blur but also allow me to photograph them from many sides. Smaller file sizes like this don't show the blur too much. My goal these days if to use as little photoshop as possible- it's just a time thing. I'd rather take the best photo I can rather than spend time fixing up a so so image.

I am imagining...........many more of these......many colors .......many sizes....
I need a bigger space!

still have to sew beads on the tops tonight but these colors were needed to round out the color selection.

and a few more ribbon colors as well....

even had a little time to make some more silk shibori ribbon flowers and play with a piece of the silk organza i got the other day-

Technorati Tags: colorhue, pudgy beads, shiborigirl

result

made into lavender filled sachet

(back side)

I've really had a chance to explore San Jose- SJSU, Japantown, museums, a great diversity of ethnic restaurants, a shinkendo dojo, and some great victorian neighborhoods. I've also got to mention the hills along the 101 were carpeted with poppies and lupine - just beautiful!
A great time of the year to drive up the coast of California.

Back home tomorrow, gyotaku printing in the 4th grade classroom on Monday and the Los Angeles Cherry Blossom Festival next weekend! More on that later. Lots to do!

In the meantime.....

more indigo silk ribbon. this is 5 yards of 1" ribbon done in the arashi technique
and dipped about 10 times in the vat. I actually did steam it- not to set the dye but to set the pleats.
In the beginning of the year I wrote a post expressing that I really only loved textured shibori but I have
to eat my words now that I have been indigo dyeing. After setting the pleats I ironed them all out so I could appreciate
the lovely vaguarities of the indigo blues hiding in all those pleats.

Indigo shibori ribbon can now be ordered in 4" and 2" widths.

and just because I could, I dyed 10 yards of solid indigo 4" ribbon-

-perhaps to be used on my indigo shibori nine patch

Back to polewrapping and flowermaking....

Technorati Tags: gyotaku, shiborigirl

For those of you who just received your supply list for the Joggles online Shibori no Hana class, here's another photo of the silk ribbons that Barb recently restocked. I'm looking forward to meeting you all in the forums and creating shibori flowers together. Feel free to ask any shibori related questions as well and I'll do my best to answer them or at least lead you in the direction of an answer.

For anyone who may want to explore taking an online class at Joggles, you can still sign up as the class doesn't start for another week (Feb.21). Even then, you simply receive the lessons via email and do them at your leisure. Pop in and out of the forums as you choose and post your results, ask questions, or get clarifications regarding the instructions. What I really enjoy is that there are some really talented people taking classes who have their own expertise that they bring to the projects and we all benefit and learn together! The classes are quite reasonable ($10-$15 a lesson) and all the supplies are available right there on the website. For those who wish to remain anonymous, you can simply get the lessons & read the forums (some people don't have the desire or the time to join in the interactive fun!).

To see some of my shibori ribbon flower work you can visit my Flickr set of silk flowers.

For the next week I'll be busy writing and photographing for the class- this is a different set of flowers than the last class (which will be repeated next time if you missed it). Also in the background I will be filling ribbon orders, one of which is for F & S Fabrics in Los Angeles. I'm excited about this as I keep getting people asking me where to find my ribbons locally when I'm not at a show. If you live in So Cal and like fabric- you know F&S. If you visit here, it's worth a trip. They use to buy my buttons and have a fabulous button selection- not to mention a gal who can find you the perfect button for ANYTHING! Apparently a large selection of trims as well.

Inspired by both Jude and some recent questions posted on Dyerslist regarding dyeing brick red on silk I spent a day dyeing pinks and reds. Recent orders for ribbon requesting these colors also figured into the mix. While I had dyed red scarves I hadn't done much in these colorways so far with the ribbons and started off base dyeing a batch using a combo of the Sabraset colors deep red and magenta for the color on the left. The "brick" red in the center was achieved with the same combo plus the addition of a small amount of black- a nice red that will inspire the making of some lovely red roses. The pink on the right was done with the leftover bath quite exhausted and quickly. I pole wrapped some of each of these and discharged them without over-dyeing and they came out very nice! I'll add photos later when the poles are unwrapped.

these cyclamens shooting up through the fallen gingko leaves in my yard offer further color inspiration...

The Pasadena Bead and Design show- Thoroughly enjoyed the show. Some really fine artists at work. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to look around except in my immediate area and to and from the restrooms and coffee/water shop. I did find Donna Conklin on one trip down the hall on the way to my workshop and bought a most beautiful glass bead from her. Absolutely stunning series of glass lampworked beads. At first glance I thought they were ceramic- the way she uses color reminded me of beautiful porcelain glazes. I don't know much about this art form but I was really taken with Donna's sensibility toward the surface of the glass. I mounted the bead as shown below (on ribbon with silver, of course!):

Another find was Melanie Doerman's exquisite beadwork. Her kits and custom pieces are just wonderful. She also teaches beadwork at various locations including the San Gabriel Bead Company.

Sales-wise the show was quite good! A little surprising for a first time show. I know not everyone was happy with it but I think those who were selling supplies and very unique high quality, fairly priced items did better. There were definitely some areas for improvement- especially in the organization / marketing of the workshops. From what I could tell, workshop attendance was very low with many being cancelled due to lack of students. Pre-signups were extremely low and many attendees were only there for the day and didn't want to spend all their time in a class. Have to re-think that for next time! My class wasn't cancelled and was rewarded with some nice ribbon sales afterward but definitely could have had more students! I took to demonstrating in my booth in between customers. Attendees commented over and over that they were impressed with the quality of the show and hadn't budgeted nearly enough money to spend at the show. I trust Anna who manages the show will make the necessary adjustments for next year. She offered me a last minute booth at the Tucson show next week and I considered going but reconciled to the fact that I simply couldn't rebuild my inventory quickly enough in addition to my pending wholesale orders and had to decline her generous offer in the better interests of not driving everyone around me crazy and meeting existing commitments (sales tax returns due today for 2 states, online class lessons to write and photograph,orders etc., etc....).
Which brings me to another thought....
The laws of attraction- Often times I think we self-employed "arTiists/ makers" sometimes live in fear of where our next orders will come from. I had to get use to this feeling 30 years ago and still I find myself struggling with it from time to time. The truth is we DON'T know where our next orders may come from. We don't work 9-5 and have our paycheck direct deposited. It's easy to find yourself signing up for shows worried that if you don't do it that you won't have enough work- that somehow the opportunity will pass you by. I have vowed to myself not to do any shows this year coming from that place: to specifically define my reasons and goals for each individual show and be well prepared for those I do choose. This helped me decide not to do the Tucson show. And wouldn't you know, within 24 hours I had several new orders fall into my lap!
I also updated my profile on ZAPPlication and applied to a couple of shows. One was the Santa Monica Arts Festival which offered me a booth at the upcoming February show. I decided to decline as it falls on my birthday and I've decided to party instead of work. You only turn 50 once! The other show is the Chicago One of a Kind Show in December which I was turned down for last year. I think this show could work for me but I understand it is very hard to get into so we'll just have to see.

200 yards of base dyed ribbons prepared for wrapping....these have all been discharged, overdyed ,and steamset. they now await my unwrapping and preparation for shipping.

I swear the indigo vat is lurking.....I just need a good block of time to commit to it.

10 yard roll of color #6- Purple Passion Borealis

Credit for this colorway inspiration goes to Karren Brito as Purple Passion was the first color I dyed using the recipe from her book. Beyond that, it was pole wrapped, discharged and overdyed using a variety of colors.
I have several colorways tagged "borealis" -dyed over various base colors- some discharged (as in midnight/black) or not as in ecru borealis. The borealis colorways are probably the most popular colors as they offer such a variety in a single length of ribbon and turn even a simple flower into something very intriguing.

example of flower in process using ecru borealis- note each petal worked out to be a different color!
-an unintended happy result! side note- this piece of ribbon was ironed to remove the pleats as it was the center for a larger flower that had the pleating preserved. I often like to contrast the two results.

Now having grown up in Japan, I saw everything carried about in furoshiki and have long admired the fabrics and the origami-like folds one could produce with these beautiful cloths.

Recently, I have created some beautiful shibori furoshiki for special customers and seasonal gift wrapping. From very tiny, to moderately sized, shibori furoshiki can envelope a special gift and become part of the gift itself, to be used over and over again.

Itajime designed furoshiki is a favorite of mine, second however to any textural form of shibori so this piece combines a little of both- accordion folded and pole wrapped on 3mm silk gauze.

You can see more here.

I ordered up some indigo and need to find a local source for some lye. If I order it from Pro-chem, it costs an additional $20 to ship as a hazardous material. I remember someone on a local guild forum listing a local source for it- have to look for that again. I want to do some indigo dyed shibori ribbon.

I snapped a quick photo of the latest batch of ribbon which is being shipped to a new customer in Japan and to Joggles.com. The ribbon is done in 10 yard cuts for wholesale and wound with a ball winder so yardage can be cut from the center pull.

Today I attended the WAC meeting in Pasadena. Dayle Doroshow gave a talk on her polymer clay work. It made me want to play with some. For as many years as I spent with clay, I never played with polymer clay. She is teaching 2 days of workshops and I'm sure I'll regret not taking at least one. Just too many other things going on this weekend. Also today's WAC meeting was highlighted by the "fashion show" featuring the vests members made for the vest challenge. Many creative pieces were shown on the "runway" and members voted on their favorite pieces. I did a little something with some arashi shibori and learned a few lessons as well. Nice afternoon.

As for the other things going on around here.......it will be an early Thanksgiving dinner here tomorrow for the members of Chase Long Beach who leave for their 3 week tour of the UK on Wednesday and will be missing Thursday's celebrations. Now here's a shameless plug and a plea for mercy and support from any readers from the UK. I know there are quite a few out there from my site reader stats as well as a couple taking the joggles online class all the way in England! My son, known as "baby T" plays trumpet for the band. They are going over on a shoestring budget and the wing of a prayer so if you see a bunch of cold, hungry looking kids from So Cal willing to play music for their supper, offer them a hot bowl of soup. Better yet, if you have or know of kids over there who enjoy ska send them out to see the band perform. They are a good bunch of kids who can get a room full of kids dancing and having fun. A full list of their 15 shows appears on their Myspace page. So the above photo is about the thankfulness and abundance we will celebrate tomorrow and throughout this week.
(recipe-baked slices of acorn squash brushed with olive oil,salt,garlic, & fresh thyme garnished with toasted squash seeds from same)

ready for discharge

discharged-poles kept in the same order

overdyed poles- you can see swatches at the top of the photo of the colors I am producing- when I am doing a lot of poles at once, I need a reference to make sure I'm making what is needed. as you can see there are dramatic differences from start to finish.

I enjoyed teaching the silk flower making (using my unique silk satin shibori ribbon) both in the booth and at the "make & take" area in the exhibit hall. I snapped a quick photo of some of the finished flowers and will get that added to the post just as soon as I can (I'm still on the road as I write this). Don't forget the Joggles.com class starting on the 14th where you will learn to make 3 different flowers in two sessions. I'll be setting up a flickr group for us if you would like to post your flowers as you make them.

For those of you who ordered the new Shibori DVD, the release date is Nov.26 so expect it to ship shortly thereafter. And those of you who wanted Karren Brito's book, go to her site, Entwinements and order it directly from her.

Walking the Houston Quilt Festival is not for the faint of heart as there are so many things to see-both in the booths and the ever amazing quilt exhibit. Not much shibori in the exhibited quilts though...made me want to make something to enter! I saw an entry from Tricia McKellar (note99) as well as so many beautiful quilts with intriguing techniques and designs. Very inspiring! I didn't take many photos which surprised even me- just wasn't time for it and my camera was under the table most of the time. The ones I did take were pretty crummy to boot. I really was focusing on being in the moment and photos were just not "in the picture". But here's something that caught my eye-apologies to Cynthia for the poor photo-but you get the idea.....

Some things I saw and really liked: Laurastar Ironing system! OMG- has anyone tried this thing? VERY expensive but an absolute dream to work with. Now to figure out how to justify the cost! PhotoEZ emulsion sheets. The kids have already have used some of them for their band tshirts and they worked great! Perfect for small runs at home-just what they needed! The Silk Experience! I will be teaching here next year and the Maggie from Silk Things was ever so kind. My friends Dawn and Jennifer whose ribbons and trims (Dawn has the deals and Jennifer has the most beautiful and unique trims you can find) were right across from me. You can only find their treasures once a year at Houston!

So much more to tell but it will have to wait......'til I get back, unpacked, and caught up!
Mata-ne!

maki means "to wind" and age means "upward" in Japanese. To make these motifs, I stitched circles through four layers of 3mm silk gauze and pulled them up tight. Then I wound thread upward from the gathered stitching to the tip, finishing with a backwards halfhitch- kind of like you would when casting on in knitting. I've submitted details to Karren's Makiage Challenge group over at Flickr. These are my ghostly spiders which I will wear with an orange/black 3mm arashi piece over a black dress for Halloween Preview Night in Houston.

just a little something to wonder about.......

There have been some wonderful postings to the All Things Shibori pool over on Flickr if you haven't visited recently. Some good discussions on technique in an effort to puzzle out (Karren's word) how one of narablog's vintage shibori pieces was done. I've done a little experimenting as well and will post my findings soon-got some photos of them taken today.

Feeling fewer words lately- pictures will have to do some of the talking for now. Questions and comments always helpful and welcomed.

-helps me remember what I did so I can do it again!

-four colorways