Shibori

Have you ever seen shibori? It's a Japanese technique of tying and dyeing. There are different types of shibori. The silk scarves in the picture above were wrapped with string onto 6" diameter PVC drain pipe and then dyed. These were all done with natural dyes: red hibiscus flowers, black walnut hulls, black tea leaves, and brown onion skins. As you can see, natural dyes give more earth-toned colors. I prefer to use natural dyes, even though they're more work than synthetic dyes. I like that I get all of these colors from plants alone, without using anything toxic.

Today I did pomegranate peels, which give lovely golds and khaki greens.



The scarves stay on the poles until they are completely dry. That's how I get the pleats. I'm making these for holiday sales this year.

My favorite source for natural dyes is Prairie Fibers Company. They have a fantastic selection of dye materials, as well as books and other information on natural dyeing.