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Finished Design Sample

sample cap, bound.jpg

This is the sample from yesterday opened. The gray lavender ground is fairly uniform even between the motifs-- yeah! You can see the difference between the capped and bound motifs. Here is more detail:

capped motif 2.jpg

This one is capped.

P1012992.jpg

This one is bound, you can see the gray lavender spot in the center and the bits that radiate out.

There is something else going on here, we can see more than the starting mottled color and the ground color. The complex and detailed areas are caused by the discharge. The discharging reagent is actually sulfur dioxide, a gas, which you produce in the dye bath by decomposition. Gases can penetrate farther into the goods than liquids, such as the dye-bath, can. This means that with the same resist you will not be able to cover all the area discharged by over-dyeing. These little near-white areas between the mottled color and the ground color are the discharge halos. They sure add a degree of complexity to this design.

Posted by Karren on February 6, 2007 10:56 AM |


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Comments

Hi,Karren, I would like to read more specifics about your discharge process. Care to elaborate?

Posted by: Cathy A. | February 6, 2007 11:25 PM

There is extensive info on discharge in earlier entries in this blog. You can find this two ways;both accessible in the right column of the main page this blog. You can click on the the catagory DISCHARGE or you can do a search on discharge. There is also a chapter in my book on discharge. This was a quick discharge in a hot bath with thiourea dioxide and soda ash.

Posted by: Karren | February 6, 2007 11:47 PM

Thanks for the search tips. I am familiar with your book and discharge techniques in general, but was wondering specifically what you'd used in this sample. I couldn't quite tell from the photos if this is still the silk noil and Lanaset you'd been testing recently or if it's cotton and mx. Not trying to mimic, simply curious about the process.

Posted by: Cathy A. | February 7, 2007 08:53 AM

Hi I found your blog from whipup. Wow your designs are great. I am writing an article that is shibori related. From my research, Shibori is from Japan? Yes? no? But When I was traveling in Southwest China, Yunnan Province, I found the locals are making their versions of shibori. They say they have been doing it for hundreds of years. So who started Shibori first? Chinese or Japanese? Here is a link of products that are made by the shop owner I met. http://www.galleriapangea.com/artist_details.asp?id=38#products

Posted by: Jason Y. | February 9, 2007 04:30 AM

These are spectacular pieces! Are they cotton with the natural indigo? The words of the artist, Duan Shukun, ring true to us too. Shibori is a Japanese word for what in English is called tie dye or resist dyeing. In the early 80's Wada published a book called Shibori that popularized the word and introduced a level of sofistication into our tie dye world. This type of resist dyeing exists in many cultures, the oldest that I have seen is from South America, in the ancient Andean cultures and referred to as Amarras. I don't know much about the history of China/Japan but many textile traditions moved from China (the older civilization) to Japan.

Posted by: Karren | February 9, 2007 10:11 AM

Thanks Karren for the clarification of "shibori". I was quite amazed when I saw the pieces of tie dye. I never thought the patterns could be that complicated.

Posted by: Jason Y. | February 9, 2007 10:39 AM

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