JULY ART CHALLENGE // indigo/shibori dye
Shibori dying is a method or process of dying fabrics using a natural indigo dye and a particular method of folding textiles. It’s grouped in more of a blanket term along with tie-dye methods, but is actually one of the oldest textile dying methods, originating in Japan.
For our July Art Challenge this month, we will be celebrating the ancient process if shibori, or indigo dying.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
For beginners, it’s best to buy a kit already put together for you. Although, you can create your own indigo dye batches. There’s a great book linked here if you want to explore that route.
We’ve got a few of our favorite kits below. If you’re local, we’ve got some at the coffee shop as well!
SO …HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL NEED
your dye kit
gloves (if your kit doesn’t come with a pair)
a white t-shirt, tea towels, tablecloth, whatever you want to dye (cottons and linens work great)!
a large bucket (we used a beach bucket)
PS:
THIS IS DEFINITELY AN OUTDOOR ACTIVITY …but so fun!!!
HERE ARE SOME OF THE KITS WE’VE USED
HERE’S OUR SUCCESS WITH IT + OUR FAVORITE EASY STICK-WRAP TECHNIQUE
STEP ONE
Take a dry shirt and lay it flat …or towel, linens, etc.
STEP THREE
The dowel needs to be shorter than the shirt so the edges hang over like this. Next, wet the shirt with the dowel inside and ring out.
STEP TWO
With a wooden dowel, loosely up your shirt from any corner…
STEP FOUR
Scrunch in the sides as of the damp shirt as tight as possible. If you’re able, pop a rubber band a the each end of the dowel to keep the shirt from slipping.
STEP FIVE:
Completely saturate the shirt. Now, different dye kits may have you leave the saturated shirt in for different times. We used the Natural Indigo Shibori Kit from Amazon. This formula is built different than others. So follow the dye bath steps of your individual kit. For this kit, we didn’t have to leave the shirt sitting overnight. We could immediately take it out and unwrap it.
We encourage you to snatch up a kit and take on the project! Every kit comes with multiple methods to dye your shirt and we can’t wait to see what magic you create! This is a great book too if you want to learn more about the history and different methods.
