#11 SHIBORI The great wave off Kanagawa

In the previous blog #10, the dyed fabric was untied, some points that are not usually noticed in the shibori process are explained.

In #11 this time, the fabric is tied again to dye the sky part, and will be dyed in light pink and gray with the gradation dyeing technique.

There are so many parts that have to be dyed in different colors, and in this work process, which requires more than 8 dyeing times, the fabric is repeatedly 'tied' 'dyed' and 'untied'.

In The great wave off kanagawa＃２, 'Making paper cores' / 'Boushi shibori' / 'Saka-boushi shibori'

In The great wave off Kanagawa＃５, 'Taiko-boushi shibori'

In The great wave off Kanagawa＃８, 'Tako-boushi shibori' / 'Maki-shin' / 'Ito toushi'

So far, various shibori techniques have been explained with valuable videos.

This is a 10 minute video of Tokudai boushi shibori using the largest core (14 cm in diameter) in the production of this work.

Enjoy the video that gives you the feeling of being there and listen to the 'sound' especially when tightening the linen thread. You can see how much force is pulling the linen thread.

In case of Tokudai boushi shibori, the tightness of the linen thread (binding thread) loosens because of using a large core, so 'Komi' (paper is squeezed around the core) is performed. by doing 'komi', the linen thread (binding thread) becomes tighter and the risk of leaking dye resistance is reduced.

When the fabric is tied up, we carefully check the color and parts where will be dyed with the dyeing craftsman, and then proceed to the dyeing process.

The upper part of the sky is dyed in light pink and the lower part is dye in gray by 'gradation dyeing'.

The red thread shows a gradation line, and the fabric is gradually dyed from bottom to top according to this line.

Each of the three fabrics has a different gradation line, so the fabric has be dyed separately. Color matching is more difficult than regular dyeing because the fabrics cannot be dyed at the same time. What is more, it is very difficult to match the colors of pale colors such as the sky color this time, so the dyeing craftsman will concentrate on dyeing the fabric more than usual.

Without many years of experience and skill, it is not possible to even dye the fabric properly, let alone match the colors.

Before and during dyeing, the craftsman muttered many times, 'oh, this is really hard, it's hard, how can I do this' , but it is true, With professional skill, he dyed the fabric perfectly.

fabric after dyed

After the dyeing process, the plastic sheet that wrapped the fabric is unraveled. A video of the resist-dyed fabric part coming out from the plastic sheet.

In the next #12, the last dyeing part of this work, the load part on the ship (blue) will be dyed.