Shibori Scarves

Shibori is the Japanese word for a variety of ways of embellishing textiles by shaping cloth and securing it before dyeing. The special characteristic of Shibori resist is a soft or blurry-edged pattern. The effect is quite different from the sharp-edged resist obtained with stencil, paste and wax. With Shibori the artist works in concert with the materials, not in an effort to overcome their limitations but to allow them full expression and an element of unexpected is always present.

All the variables attendant on shaping the cloth and all the influences that control the events in dye vat or pot conspire to remove some of the Shibori process from human control. An analogy is that of a potter firing a wood-burning kiln. All the technical conditions have been met, but what happens in the kiln may be a miracle or a disaster. Chance and accident also give life to the Shibori process, and this is it's special magic and strongest appeal.