SIMPLE ARASHI SHIBORI Scarves - Part Two
Now we're going to complete our project by taking the fabric that we dyed yesterday and turning it into an Arashi Shibori scarf.
We will be following a certain sequence of of actions in today's process.
1. We will apply a resist to the fabric by a fan folding it, wrapping it diagonally around a pole, binding with with string and sliding it up the pole to compress it.
2. We will discharge this resisted fabric, by immersing it in a pot of 180°F water containing Thiox and Soda Ash. After discharge the fabric on its pole is placed into a bath of dilute acetic acid (vinegar water) to neutralize it.
3. We will apply a slightly thickened dye solution containing mixed alkali (soda ash and sodium bicarbonates mixed) as a fixative.
4. The dyed fabric on its pole will be will be bagged to keep it damp, and laid out in the sun to batch.
5. After batching, the fabric still on its pole is rinsed in cold water to remove most of the surface dye.
6. After a good rinsing, the fabric still on its pole will be placed into a pot with a small amount of water to steam for 20 minutes. After steaming it is rolled with pressure between towels to compress the pleats. We will set it aside until it is bone dry.
7. When it is bone dry, the string is carefully removed and the scarf removed from the pipe.
Wrapping the Pole.
Shibori is a Japanese dyeing technique in which certain areas of the cloth are prevented from receiving dye by applying external pressure either by clamping, stitching or in this case wrapping with string around a pole.
Arashi Shibori is named because of the pattern it makes on the silk. In Japanese arashi means rain or storm, and the diagonal lines formed by this technique is reminiscent of rain.
For this part of the process you will need a piece of plastic pipe on which to wrap your fabric. Polypropylene pipe is preferable because it can withstand the heat which is part of the dying process. Unfortunately it is quite expensive and hard to find. PVC pipe which can be bought at any Lowe's Home Depot etc., can be used but after two or three dying sessions will begin to deform and have to be replaced.
We will also need string to wrap around the pole. We use a 4/8 cotton rug warp which can be found by googling it. Any other string which is strong and long could be used.
We will be using a 4 inch diameter polypropylene pipe. Make sure that your pipe is smooth and that there are no snags on the ends. Sanding with a fine sandpaper is a good idea. The surface of the pipe should be treated by applying a light coating of wax, (floor or turtle wax) or a light coating of silicone spray. Wipe off any excess.
Start to wrap your fabric around the pole at a 45° angle so that it spirals around the pole without overlapping use masking tape to secure the fabric to the top. I would suggest starting an inch or two from the end since when we get to the steaming phase we don't want it to come in direct contact with the water. After you have gotten the fabric laid around the pipe a couple of times you start wrapping the the string around the pole starting from the top end either tying a knot to secure it or by wrapping around three or four times overlapping the string to secure it at the top. Begin wrapping the string around the post and over the fabric every half to three quarters of the bench apart until you've made eight or 10 wraps around the post, then slide the fabric which is wrapped a string up towards the top compressing it into
folds. Try to keep the tension uniform throughout the wrapping process but it is not important to pull it really tight. Most people think that it is the tightness of the string which provides the resist in shibori, this is not true. The resist in shibori comes from the compression of the fabric as it is slid up the pipe.
After every eight or 10 wraps with string you want to slide the fabric up towards the top. Care should be taken not to push the fabric off the end or even close to the end of the pole. Continue wrapping your fabric, wrapping with string, and sliding it up to compress it until all of the fabric has
been compressed into a fairly narrow band at the top of the pole. Secure the string at the bottom and by tying a knot.
Next we soak the fabric on the pole in water, and after wet we will compress once more by pushing the fabric towards the top.
Discharge
Silk should never be discharged using chlorine bleach (Clorox) because the fabric will be destroyed. Thiox is gentle on silk but has to be applied hot. The hotter it is the better it works but silk is damaged at temperatures over 180°. To heat our discharge pot and our steamer we purchased an inexpensive propane turkey fryer. Into a stainless steel or
undamaged enamel pot (do not use aluminum or any other type of pot) we put enough water to cover the fabric when the pole is inserted and turn on the burner watching the temperature with a long stemmed thermometer (which came with the turkey fryer.)
Remember in part one when I suggested using a respirator because you were going to need it later anyway? Well now it's later. Even though Thiox is easy on silk, it's not easy on lungs. Put on your respirator and safety glasses. I did. We will keep our glasses and our respirators on throughout the rest of the discharge period.
When the temperature in the pot reaches about 175°F add 1 teaspoon of Thiox and 1 teaspoon of soda
ash per gallon of water. Stir until completely dissolved. Squeeze most of the water out of the fabric that's wrapped on the pole and when the temperature in the pot reaches 180°F, insert the fabric into the discharge agent. Now dying is an art not a science. There is no way of calculating out how long you must leave the fabric in the discharge to get a precise shade. Each dye discharges differently, some do not discharge at all, some discharge fast, some discharge slowly, the only way to get what you want is to look frequently to see the progress of the discharge. If you need to add more Thiox, remove the pipe
and place it in a bucket of cold water, then add another teaspoon of Thiox, if you feel the discharge is going too slowly. Once it is completely dissolved reinsert the cloth into the pot. Do not allow the temperature in the pot to exceed 180°. When you have achieved the discharge color that you want, put the fabric on the pole into a bucket of cold water
.
Turn off the burner. If you will be working away from the still hot discharge pot, you can remove your respirator and safety glasses.
Neutralizing
In order to neutralize the residual discharge agent on the cloth, we will insert it into a bucket
containing enough cold water to cover the fabric with 11 tablespoons distilled vinegar per gallon of water. Swish it around for about 15 minutes.
Preparing the Dye Paint
Today we will want a slightly thickened dye containing Mixed Alkali as the fixative. Mixed Alkali is a 4 to 1 mixture of sodium bicarbonates and soda ash. For a small batch of mixed alkali we mixed 1 tablespoon of Soda Ash with 4 tablespoons of Sodium Bicarbonates and mixed until well blended. This powder can be kept for up to six months and should be discarded at that time.
In addition to the mixed alkali we need thin print paste, which we will make by adding 2 to 3 teaspoons of Pro Chem's - Pro Thick to 1 cup of water, whisking until smooth.
We are going to mix up one fourth of a cup each of the dyes we will use today. In a plastic cup put a couple of ounces of warm water, to this add 1/2 teaspoon of the powdered dye (
you are wearing your respirator aren't you.)
Add 1/4 cup of the thin print paste to the dye. Stir until completely mixed.
Do this for each of the colors you want to add to your fabric. In our case we wanted blue, two shades of green, and orange. While you can purchase your dyes in the colors that you want, we prefer to mix our own from primary colors. We stock a warm and a cool version of red, blue and yellow as well as a couple of blacks and a chocolate brown. When mixing greens and oranges, start with the yellow. Since the yellow is much weaker than either red or blue, add them in very small amounts, until you reach the color you like.
When ready to paint, add 1/4 teaspoon of Mixed Alkali to each dye, and stir until completely mixed. Once the mixed alkali has been added to the dye the dye is usable for 3 to 4 hours and then should be discarded.
Dying The Fabric
Remove the fabric on the pole from the water. Squeeze as much of the water out as possible with a
towel. Holding the pole horizontally over a pan or other surface (to catch stray drips) apply the thickened dye paint to the fabric using a foam brush. Experience will show you which patterns will work best, for today we are basically painting in stripes around the pole it is not critical that your lines be straight.
Batching
When the paint has been applied, wrap the fabric (still on the pole) in plastic to prevent it from drying
out. With this size of pole we will just bag both ends of the pole and secure it with tape. Plastic wrap will work as will Walmart bags. Place them in the sun and allow them to batch for up to 24 hours.
Rinse out
After batching remove the plastic and rinse the fabric (still on the pole) in cold water. Discard the water refill with cold water and a couple of drops of synthropol (a little goes a long way) and rinse again. Discard the water refill - repeat.
Set the Pleats
Since we want our finished piece to be pleated, we must now steam the pole for 20 minutes.
Our steamer consists of the aluminum pot which came with our turkey fryer. Inside of this we place a trivet which is held up and supported by three balls of aluminum foil about 2 to 3 inches in diameter. Pour in an inch and a half of water and place the pot on the burner.
When the water has come to a boil, the pole (fabric end down) is inserted into the pot. The top of the pole and the pot is covered with a towel to contain the steam, take care that the towel does not hang where it can catch fire. Time for at least 20 minutes and remove the pole from the pot.
It will be hot. Lay thick towels on a flat surface, and lay the pole on it. Using pressure roll the fabric on the pole in the towel for 15 minutes pressing the fabric tightly against the pole. Set to dry in a warm place.
Show and Tell
When the fabric is bone dry, you may remove the string and take the fabric from the pole. The pleats
in the fabric will remain as long as the fabric does not get wet.
On the evening of day one, two black and one white T-shirts were scoured (thoroughly washed with a little synthropol and soda ash) to remove any oils or sizing left on the shirts from the manufacturing process. Then they were folded and bound with rug warp to create the resist for the shibori dying process.
On day two, at about noon, we heated a gallon of water to boiling and added a teaspoon of Thiox and a teaspoon of soda ash. Into this went the black shirts to discharge. When the discharge was complete (these blacks discharged to a light tan). The process was stopped by transferring the shirts to a bucket of cold water. When cool, they were transferred to a bucket containing 1 gallon of water and 11 tablespoons of white household vinegar to neutralize the fabric. Next we soaked the white T-shirt in water. After wringing out all three shirts. They were over dyed with mixing blue and orange for the black shirts, and two shades of orange for the white shirt. We placed them in individual bags with about 3/4 cups each of soda ash solution and sealed them to batch overnight.
On the morning of day three the shirts were removed from the bags, as much of the remaining dye and water were squeezed out and the bindings removed. After thoroughly rinsing the shirts in water with synthropol until very little color was coming out of the fabric, they were machine washed and dried.
