"Shibori" means "binding material to produce patterns."
Shibori tie-dye involves immersing cloth into a dye liquor to color it. Shibori’s delicate patterns are expressed by leaving certain areas in the original color, often referred to as “white,” un-dyed, or resist dyed. In other words, the beauty of a competed shibori pattern will be decided by how to keep some parts “white.”
During its long history, experienced and knowledgeable artisans contrived various ways of making patterns. The most typical way to make the design leave “white” is to bind the cloth with thread so that the dye liquor doesn’t reach certain parts. However, this simple method alone is insufficient for creating elaborate shibori patterns.
There is a certain beauty only shibori tie-dye can depict that other fabric decoration methods such as painting and tracing cannot. Elaborate and honed shibori techniques have been devised over generations and passed down today.
The photos are from around 1925 and show scenes from the dyeing production. Labors such as undercoating, transfer of design, binding, bleaching, dyeing, unbinding, and steaming, are divided, and it is still the same.
Preliminary drawing transferred on to the fabric. This becomes the outline of the design.
Threading is stitched along the outline of the preliminary drawing, with the spacing aligned.
The shibori process of squeezing the yarn-filled cloth into a cylindrical shape and winding the thread from the base to the tip.
This is an important process that determines the expression of the pattern.
The fabric is dipped fully into dye liquor. Great care has to be taken to ensure the dye does not soak through undesired parts.
After dyeing, the binding threads are cut and removed. The un-dyed parts are left as white.
Bai is a type of shellfish and this shibori is so named as its form looks like the shellfish. There are two different methods to make Bai Shibori: One is with an Ito-ire process (sewing) before binding with thread and the other is without Ito-ire.
With this technique, only the bottom of the gathered cloth is bound by a thread, creating a rugged texture, like the fawn's back pattern.
"Itajime" means "bound with the board." With this technique, you fold a piece of fabric and then clamp it between wood blocks. he area that’s covered will remain un-dyed. The un-dyed spots create a series of triangular and square patterns, patterns of hemp leaves, and floral patterns called Sekka Shibori.
"Manmaru" means "perfectly round." With this shibori technique, the fabric is rolled up, and threads are applied randomly in the vertical and horizontal directions. The charm of Manmaru Shibori is the unpredictable patterns that are never the same.
"Sekka" means "snow flower". To create this effect, the fabric is folded lengthwise into a square or triangle shape, sandwiched between two boards that are one size smaller than the other, and tightened tightly with string.
When dyed, streaks and hexagon patterns appear.
No sketch is used for this pattern; it relies instead on the craftsperson’s sense of how the finished cloth will appear. Only an experienced artisan can achieve this technique, which requires folding the fabric to create elegant and unexpected striped patterns.
As the texture looks like wood grain, which is called "Mokume" in Japanese, this pattern is named so.
The pattern of this shibori technique is used to make the Kanoko Shibori or Fawn Pattern as it looks like the back of a fawn. Of all shibori techniques, Hitta Shibori has been claimed to be the most elegant and gorgeous since the Edo period (1603-1868). Since then, Hitta Shibori produced in Kyoto was honorary known as "Kyo Kanoko Shibori" and highly respected as the very best.
This technique is characterized by the radial dotted pattern of the dyed result, which looks like a pattern of staggered footprints. It reflects how the craftsperson treated the cloth in the binding process; thus, no individual pattern is the same.
