Indigo Dyeing

I spent most of today with my good friend, Susan, and her sister, Kathy, who is visiting from Japan.  We dyed a variety of things using an indigo dye kit.  It was a perfect day to be outside in Susan's beautiful back yard.  I took several pictures of things as they came out of the dye pot; here is a silk scarf with marbles tied in:

 

This is an experiment in Arashi shibori, also known as pole-wrapped shibori.  The fabric (in this case, a silk scarf) is wrapped around a length of pvc pipe, secured with cotton yarn, and then immersed in the dye bath.

 

 

Susan set up a system of drying racks, here draped with skeins of yarn, silk scarves, Susan's tennies, etc.

Below is a close-up of Susan's Indigo Converse All-stars! 

 
The scarf on the left was folded, clamped, and overdyed.  The one on the right is the final result of pole-wrapping.

  
More scarves, various resist techniques:

 Some of our results after removing wrappings, bindings, clips, etc:

 

What a great day!  Fun to be with friends and experience something new!  Plus, we took a break and had a delicious lunch at Zena's in Orange, an excellent Lebanese restaurant.  

After coming home I rinsed my scarves and yarn and hung them to dry.  Can't wait until tomorrow to see the final results!