Winds they are a blowing

Spring has come to my neck of the woods with trees flowering and a strong gusty wind today. Makes me think of sweeping out the cobwebs lurking in the corners of my mind.  

Sweeping thoughts of new projects, new fabrics, new methods to use in my art. I am always looking for ways to express my art to others. Maybe the explorer in my soul, thanks dad. Yet I also wonder if always looking for something new is good. I want someone to look at my art and recognize it as mine.  However there is an excitement of trying something new that can recharge my creativity.  Even if I don’t use that new technique it recharges me, blows out the cobwebs and gets me going again. 

I joined some friends a couple of weeks ago to learn how to do Shibori dying of silk. This is a Japanese manual resist dyeing method that produces patterns on fabric usually by folding the fabric like an accordian. We tied the fabric to a tube, wrapped it with string, pushed it up the tube to make the folds, continuing until it was all wrapped. 

My silk was already dyed so I dipped my tube in a bleach like solution then went to town with a range of dyes on the now white areas. This was then sprayed with vinegar, heated in the microwave to set the colors and allowed to drip dry. Lastly it was pressed flat on a very high setting, pressing out all the pleats. Here is the finished project.   

I enjoyed learning this method but totally appreciate those that do this full time.