DIY: Shibori, Indigo Tie-Dye

Y'all don't even know how excited I am about my Shibori-dyed napkins. Dinner party, anyone?

True facts about me: I suffer from Public Creating Anxiety. When attending any workshop, craft activity or any adult-art-makerin' of any kind, my stomach muscles tense up, my mouth goes dry and I just can't create anything that doesn't make me wanna cry myself to sleep at night. That doesn't stop me from happily attending any crafty date I get invited to (so, call me, y'all!). I mean, I love learning something new and fun. It's just I'm totally stressed THE.ENTIRE.TIME. 

Case in point: the first time I learned Shibori...(back in the day when I made poor choices in footwear)

Me and my buddy Debbie!

Way back in 2007, I was super fortunate enough to travel to Japan as apart of the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program (I've been campaigning for them to shorten that name for years). If you aren't familiar, it is a program where 200 teachers from all over the U.S. are invited to stay in Japan for nearly 2 weeks. During that time, you are educated about the culture, taken into schools, toted around and even allowed to stay with a host family. I made so many wonderful friends and learned so much. It truly was an experience I wouldn't swap for all the dark chocolate in the world (which is really saying something). 

At one point during our adventuring, we were taken to Aomori, Japan and a Shibori dying facility. After the tour, we were told that we'd be able to try our hand at this beautiful dying process. Being the only art teacher in the group, all eyeballs were on me and my design. Needless to say, no one was really impressed with my lackluster performance (although, personally, I am more embarrassed by that ensemble. WHAT AM I EVEN WEARING?!)

Needless to say, after that flop nearly 10 years ago, I didn't attempt Shibori again...until a couple weekends ago when my friend Sara had some art teachers over for a Shibori party!

Where I made much better outfit choices but STILL sucked at dying. You can see my dud of a dye hanging on the far left. I was so sad at how my attempts at dying turned out. I mean, how can I stink at tie dye?! I love me some fiber arts, that's my jam. That afternoon, determined to better my dying skills, I ordered a dying kit and a couple books on Shibori. And last weekend, I went NUTS.

And, it's official: I'm in love with Shibori! 

If you wanna give Shibori dying a try, I recommend this kit and purchasing a bolt of muslin (so you can really go to town like I did) and bunches of rubber bands. Be sure to follow the dye mixing directions carefully for best results. If you'd like to learn the techniques I tried, I go thru each and every one of them in this video. 

Even if you follow my folding and banding techniques to a T, that doesn't mean they will turn out just like mine. The fun is not knowing what you are gonna get.

Baby Banding: I picked up some of those tiny rubber bands for fine hair at the Dollar Tree. For this look, mark your fabric with a disappearing ink pin where you want your designs to be. Then pinch the fabric just a little and place a rubber band around it, wrapping it several times. If you do that with one rubber band, it will create the circle you see. If you add more rubber bands, one below the other, it will create the larger circles. 

Over Dying: If you dye a piece of fabric and you are disappointed by the outcome, don't throw it away. Just try something new and toss it back into the dye bath. For this piece, I first just scrunched the fabric into a ball and banded it. Unfortunately, not enough dye was able to get into the bound areas which left big areas of white. To add more design and color, I placed wooden beads under the fabric and attached them to the fabric with rubber bands. I threw that back into the dye bath. Once the rubber bands and beads were removed, they left behind those beautiful floral designs.

Paperclip Dying: This one was super easy. Just accordion fold the fabric and bind it with paperclips. You can see the halos of the clips on the top and the bottom.

Wooden Block Dying: The kit I mentioned comes with directions and suggestions for dying. One was this method. To achieve this look, accordion fold the fabric. Then triangle fold the fabric (see video). Once complete, add a block of wood to either side of the triangle and bind with rubber bands. The dye only manages to seep into the outer edges of the fabric.

Diagonal Fold: Instead of starting your accordion fold at the bottom, try something different by starting at one of the orders of your fabric. Once finished, add rubber bands every 2" for this kind of look. 

Accordion Fold: Same method as above...but start the fold on the side instead of the corner.

Faded Look: This was one of my first pieces. I tried the wad-it-up-and-band-it method and it was a dud as it left me with large areas of white. So I just threw it in the dye bath for a moment and it added the really beautiful light blue color. Now it's one of my faves.

And then I completely lost my mind and started dying everything from wool yarn that I bound with rubber bands. 

 To wooden beads that I bound with the baby bands.

And wooden bangles that I wrapped in rubber bands (my new fave!).

And, um, my hands. You might have noticed that my finger nails, which I NEVER paint, are currently painted blue. That's to hide the fact that they are indeed blue.

So what does one do with a dozen pieces of Shibori dyed muslin? Make napkins, of course! I simply hemmed the edges and they were done. I scored those napkin rings on the cheap via Amazon.

 This calls for a dinner party! It's a shame that I don't cook. 

Perhaps I'll just host an "Admire my Shibori Napkins" Party. I wonder if anyone would show up. 

Regardless, I'm loving how the indigo blue goes with my dining room...and now I can say that I can Shibori dye! I can't wait until the weekend to do it some more, I'm totally addicted. 

P.S. I attended another craft night on Wednesday hosted by my good friend Tamara...and was again struck by Project Creating Anxiety. Tell me I'm not alone in this! Looks like I'll be working on that craft this weekend and attempting to perfect it as well.