Completed Silk Shawl

What is Shibori?

Shibori is an ancient Japanese art form of transforming fabrics into wearable art. Shibori is often used to describe a variety of ways of embellishing textiles to create visually intriguing fabrics. The fabric is manipulated by folding, crumpling, stitching, plucking and twisting the cloth. Binding and knotting then securing it. The major groups of Shibori include: stitching, folding, pole wrapping, and binding. The main techniques that I use: Arashi Shibori or pole wrapping and itajime Shibori, which is a fold and clamp technique.

Shibori cannot be produced with machinery. It can only be created by hand utilizing numerous labor intensive processes. However - the results produce stunning designs and beautiful colors unobtainable with synthetic dyes! This is  more than just dying fabric. There is excitement and magic when a cloth is unraveled.