Window Display Information
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Introduction
The word shibori comes from the Japanese word root shiboru (to wring, squeeze, press), emphasizing the action performed on the cloth before it is dyed. Shibori is a resist-dyeing process like tie-dye, but it offers a wider range of techniques. Cloth is shaped by folding, crumpling, stitching, or plucking and twisting and then is secured by binding and knotting. When the cloth is dyed, the reserved areas are retained as soft edged and textured patterns. Traditionally shibori is used to decorate the fabric surface, which is usually flat. The shibori technique appears on pre-Columbian alpaca textile found in Peru, as well as on contemporary textiles from western Africa, southern China, western India, and the Middle East.
Japanese shibori has long been associated with traditional clothing (kimono and haori) and other items such as quilted bedding (futon). Fine silk for the upper classes was dyed with colorful natural dyes, while the general populace wore white cotton or hemp shibori with blue patterns created by indigo dye. Adapting to the changing demand during the past ten years, shibori weavers and dyers are collaborating with international designers to create high fashion using unconventional methods or treatments on a wide range of fabrics. This exhibition demonstrates the explorations and innovations in shibori in Japan and in the United States.
The traditional shibori process is now being applied using a wide range of chemical processes that react in particular ways with specific fibers, including silk, cotton, linen, wool, polyester, and metallic yarns. For example, dyeing with red acid dye on silk fabric with woven linen stripes results in red silk with white stripes because the linen does not react to the acid dye.
A process called heat-transfer printing applies disperse dye to polyester at a high temperature, which also sets permanent pleats in the polyester fabric. This effect has been explored extensively by leading fashion designer Issey Miyake to create garments that become sculptural on the body.
Another such process is favored by renowned textile designer Jun-ichi Arai. Silvery polyester fabric is bound in patterns and put in an alkali solution that dissolves the metallic coating on the yarns, thus creating a fabric with shiny, crinkled patterns on a transparent ground.
Further explorations in the creation of unique and unusual shibori fabrics are carried out collaboratively by shibori dyers and weavers who access a more complex mix of different types of yarns and weave structures and achieve the metamorphosis of fabric through thoughtful and imaginative planning.
The combination of traditional handwork with modern developments in textile engineering has expanded the possible uses and applications of shibori, not only in Japan, but also in the West, creating a new paradigm for the twenty-first century.
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Cloth was held in a point with the aid of a hook and then bound tightly with thread. This was repeated horizontally with staggered rows to cover the entire cloth, which was then heated to set the three-dimensional shapes created by shibori. Since polyester retains the shape set by heat, the cloth becomes stretchy.
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Kikai gumo shibori (spider web pattern with tool)/pleated and bound resist 1988
polyester
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
PO57 L9913.01.026 or PO14C L9913.01.001 |
Window B
Tensha Printo/Heat-Transfer Printing
A wide range of synthetic fibers have been developed in the West
in the twentieth century for industries including automobile, medical, space-technology,
electronic, audio, and textile. Polyester is one of the most popular synthetic
fibers used in textiles. However, since its development in North America was
geared to low-cost mass production, it has not been considered suitable for
fine fashion. In Japan today, textile engineers and fashion designers have been
exploring aesthetic qualities as well as physical properties of synthetic fibers.
The latest fashion creations capitalize on the strength of polyester
by applying high temperature to shaped cloth, which permanently retains the
textures. The process of printing on polyester requires high temperatures and
disperse (insoluble) dyes. The dyes turn into gases and bind with the polyester
fiber. Unlike conventional dyeing processes, this process, which is called sublimation,
requires no water. It allows images and patterns drawn or printed on a sheet
of paper to be transferred to the polyester by laying them on the fabric surface
and applying heat in a vacuum. With new shibori, the cloth is crinkled/shaped,
then printed/dyed with a heat-transfer process, which allows the textures and
three-dimensional shapes in the cloth to be permanently set. This has opened
up a wide range of possibilities not only for clothing but also for artistic
exploration, such as the sculptural or tapestrylike hanging seen in #2.
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Yoshiki Hishinuma
"Fish" evening dress 1999
polyester
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The fabric was printed with a heat-transfer process, which
sets crinkles in the fabric. The process was repeated with different colors.
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Jun-ichi Arai
"Sea Spray" 1991
polyester, aluminum
Collection of the artist
L9913.01.045
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The fabric was woven with warp yarns of 6-micron polyester film layered with silver coating in the middle and wefts of "super micro fiber" polyester filament. This makes the cloth exceptionally fine and delicate, giving the appearance of mica flakes after the cloth is crinkled and heat-set.
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Jun-ichi Arai
Mica 2000
"super micro fiber" polyester, silver
Collection of the artist |
Window C
Suji Shibori/Pleat Resist
Hand pleating vertically along the length of the narrow bolt of kimono cloth (14 inches wide by 12 yards long) developed into a popular shibori technique in Japan. A thread is wound around the hand-pleated fabric to maintain the pleat pattern. Before dyeing, the entire pleated length is bound very tightly with thread at quarter-inch intervals in order to expose only the peaks of each pleat to the dye, which results in vertically striped patterns. A wide variety of designs can be created by repeating the simple process of pleat and dye while changing the sizes of each pleat, the spacing of the binding intervals, or reversing the peaks and valleys of the folds. This traditional technique, called suji shibori, is relatively easy to master and inexpensive to produce. Consequently, suji shibori patterns were associated with popular culture and not explored outside the context of Japanese folk textiles.
Recently, however, artisans have successfully incorporated this process in the creation of fabrics suitable for international fashion. The impetus for this contemporary exploration has come mainly from new developments in fabrics, where the structure of the cloth and the reaction of its fibers to dye or heat-set processes combine to create surprising results (see #1).
A process called tatsumaki was used in combination with hand pleating of the cloth. This process was developed to improve the patterning of suji shibori by pleating over a ropelike flexible core for the entire length of the fabric; this enabled more precise and varied shaping of the folds on the cloth. The tatsumaki process was further expanded to include stitching patterns horizontally to narrow the fabric width, and placing it over the core for additional resist patterns (see #2 and #4). The wearable art by the American artist Carter Smith depicts the innovative approach of many non-Japanese artists who are working outside traditional boundaries.
Carter Smith
Dress 1998
silk (pleated, twisted, dyed and discharged)
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Midori shibori variation/reverse pleat resist 1998
rayon, polyester chamois tissue
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.006
After the fabric was pleated and dyed, the gray rayon side revealed a bold pattern in black with the suji shibori pattern imprinted on the surface. Heating the pleated fabric made the texture permanent.
2
Mokume tatsumaki shibori variation/woodgrain resist 1999
wool
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.015
Wool, placed over a flexible core, bound tightly, and dyed, reacts by becoming matted and shrunken. This process, called fulling, when combined with shibori, creates an unexpectedly textured fabric.
3
Yanagi shibori/willow resist 1999
silk, crepe de Chine
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.019
The silk fabric was pleated in a traditional yanagi shibori process; however the choice of color and the use of heat to set the pleats create a contemporary and elegant fabric suitable for a dress.
4
Yamamichi tatsumaki shibori/up and down pleat resist 1999
cotton
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.035
This variation of hand-pleating technique creates random zigzags and evokes images of mountain paths (yamamichi). It is dyed over a flexible core and discharged, which is a process of removing previously dyed color.
Window D
Boshi shibori/Stitched and Capped Resist
In shibori, soft-edged patterns, allover repeats, and mottled ground are common, while patterns with clear edges, bold shapes, and contrasts are unexpected. Nevertheless, artisans in Japan historically defied the predictable approach and created extensive pictorial images in silk kimono by the following method.
Design motifs or selected areas of the ground can be completely resisted by covering those portions of the cloth with impermeable material (capping). Generally, stitching is used to create both resisted lines and forms against a dyed ground. Some kind of flexible material (sheaths from a bamboo shoot, or a plastic/vinyl sheet) is used to protect the stitched and gathered areas from dye. Additional protection from dye seepage is provided by inserting a hard, short dowel-like core and allowing the tying thread to tighten against it. This process is suitable for highly contrasted and dynamic patterns like those seen in #1. In earlier historical examples such as tsujigahana textiles of the sixteenth century (see wall panels), the dye was sometimes applied to stitched and gathered areas by dipping them or brushing the dye onto the tips of these puffed sections. This made it possible to apply various colors over another color groundóa task that was otherwise laborious and difficult to achieve.
Boshi shibori can be used effectively to coordinate simple colored areas with clothing shape and body, as seen in #2. Hideko Sugiís fashion makes radical use of the technique of capping design areas by reserving nearly half of the garment in a bold manner.
Hideko Sugi
Dress 1995
silk
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Shinire oboshi shibori/stitched and capped resist over a core 1998
satin
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.020
Stitching delineates the large white areas; capping reserves the stitched area against the black ground. In order to assure complete protection against the dye penetration, a disc-like core was inserted in the tied area, allowing the tying thread to tighten against it.
2
Genevieve Dion
Blue dress 1999
"White Shadow" silk crepe by Koshimitsu Textile Mill, Kiryu, Japan
Courtesy of Cicada, San Francisco
L9913.01.029
Stitching delineates the light blue areas; capping reserves the stitched area against the dark blue ground. The artist manipulated this extraordinary crepe utilizing the shibori process to create different densities in the crepe texture.
Window E
Nui Shibori/Stitch Resist Dyeing
Stitching as a way of resisting dye has been used to a greater extent in Japan and southwestern China than in other regions where shibori has been practiced, such as West Africa, the Indonesian archipelago, and pre-Columbian South America. Stitching affords the flexibility and control needed to create designs of great varietyódelicate or bold, simple or complex, pictorial or abstract. In fourteenth-century Japan, stitching was used to depict stylized motifs from nature, combining brush painting and gold leaf stenciling with delicate embroidery to create exciting fashions for noble ladies and warriors. In the past fifteen years, artisans and designers in Japan have been interpreting the patterns associated with this traditional process into modern fashion idiom, expanding the choice of materials, the size of design elements, and the finishing process from traditional dyeing process to modern chemical treatments.
For example, on the silk organza fabric in #1, which is popular for dressy Western clothing, fine stitches were applied diagonally on folded cloth to gather the fabric, and the shibori-shaped fabric was subsequently dyed in black, and then wrapped over a ropelike, flexible core and bound tightly before discharging the color. These examples (#2 and #3) express the stages of manipulation of the cloth, each of which can be expanded into its own complete piece, either as sculpture, an undyed textured surface, black and white dimensional fabric, or a combination of any of the above. The contemporary idea of capitalizing on and adding complexity to the intermediary stages of shibori fabric production is a significant departure from the traditional utilitarian indigo dye process.
Hiroko Koshino
Dress 1994
linen
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Nui shibori/stitched resist 1998
silk organza
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.004
After wrapping the shibori-shaped fabric over a rope-like flexible core and binding tightly, the black was discharge dyed to remove the color, creating a light mauve design with a black ground and fine black lines.
2
Orinui shibori (tatewaku pattern) diagonal stitch resist 1999
cotton, linen
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.030
The lengths of cloth in #2 and #3 were dyed and lye shrunk (cloqué) and then untied. The finished cloth shows each stage of shibori process from stitched cloth marked with a pattern and gathered.
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Makinui shibori/overcast stitch resist 1999
cotton, linen
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.031
The recent exploration of textured cloth surface includes the treatment of cellulose fiber (cotton and linen) with a mild lye solution, which shrinks the fiber.
Window F
Shibori Combined with Fulling/Felting
Wool material was an exotic and special item until Japan opened its doors to the West in the late nineteenth century, and a wide variety of goods were imported into the country. The majority of wool consumed in Japanóraw material to weave and knit clothing and to manufacture utilitarian items and other finished woolen productsóis still imported from Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and North America, to name a few. In the past one hundred years, Japanís textile industry has embraced the wool fiber creating myriad ways of spinning, twisting, mixing with other fibers, weaving (ranging from plain to complex weaves), knitting (ranging from hand to computer jacquard knits), blending with other yarns, and finishing the cloth by means of highly developed technology.
Wool is an amazing natural fiber with fine scales, which mats easily, like dreadlocks in hair. When this characteristic is controlled, a thick cloth such as a sheet of felt can be made from wool fleece without spinning and weaving. Felting is a tradition practiced in many cultures from ancient times. This same idea is applied to a loosely woven wool fabric to make a thick feltlike cloth. This type of fabric opens possibilities for shibori artisans to create interesting heavier materials for winter fashion. A similar effect to that achieved by the fulled shibori pieces in #2 and #3 is apparent in #1, a double woven cloth made of a complex blend of fibers. Three of its elements are cotton, linen, and rayon, which are cellulose fibers; the fourth is nylon, a synthetic. The nylon, which was blue to begin with and was naturally slightly sparkling, was unaffected by the lye solution, which shrank the cellulose fibers that had previously been dyed gray.
American artist Chad Alice Hagen utilized both felting and shibori processes in her body of tapestry work, including "Night Weave" where small felted rectangles were individually patterned by means of a shibori process. Dyeing the felt rectangles thickens the felt, providing tactile detail that adds dynamism to the entire piece.
Chad Alice Hagen
"Night Weave" tapestry 1998
felted wool
Collection of the artist
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Tsumami makiage shibori/plucked and bound resist 1999
cotton, linen, nylon, rayon
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.023
A group of gray cellulose fibers were lye shrunk (cloqué) after the cloth was plucked and bound, leaving the nylon layer of this double weave tightened to bring out the blue against the dark gray. This cloth simulates the effect of the fulled shibori woolen cloth.
2
Tsumami makiage and miura shibori/plucked and bound resist and looped binding 1999
wool, rayon, silk
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.038
The fabric was resisted by two types of simple binding processesóthe large elements by makiage shibori and the smaller ones by miura shibori. When fulled, the wool shrinks and tightens, leaving the rayon and silk layer of the cloth unaffected and puckered.
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Tsumami makiage and miura shibori/plucked and bound resist and looped binding 1999
wool, rayon, silk
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.0399
Smooth open-weave wool turns into a thick, wild looking, three-dimensional feltlike cloth with finer puckered areas reserved by shibori.
Window G
Arashi Shibori/Diagonal Pole Wrap
Arashi (storm) is the name of a unique Japanese process of wrapping cloth around a pole, compressing it into folds, and dyeing it. Indeed, many of the diagonal patterns suggest rain driven by a strong wind. The particular quality and subtlety of the patterns are fully revealed only in a length of cloth, or when cloth is made into a kimono. The arashi process was invented in the late nineteenth century for the production of shibori in larger quantities than had been possible with traditional hand processes. Taking advantage of the fact that a bolt of kimono cloth is narrow and long (14 inches by 12 yards), the artisan wraps the kimono cloth around a twelve-foot-long pole and winds a thread around the cloth on the pole pushing the cloth into small tight crinkles. Eventually, four to six bolts of kimono cloth may be scrunched up on the pole to be dyed all at once, as the whole pole is dipped into a dye vat. This process reflects the socio-economic developments of the late nineteenth century, when an influx of Western technology reached Japan and both citizens and government became aware of the need to catch up with the industrially advanced West. Not to be left out, traditional shibori artisans proceeded to invent tools and methods such as arashi that would modify production processes to accommodate a growing consumer market.
Fabric artists in the United States enjoy the broad gestures involved in this technique and appreciate being able to produce these fine patterns on larger quantities of fabric with less detailed work. In the past twenty-five years, Americans have successfully adapted the original process using a shorter length of plastic pipe and manually turning the pipe or winding the threads by hand. They have capitalized on the fine pleated textures inherent in arashi shibori, which become part of the finished surface and contribute to the sculptural qualities of many wearable art garments.
Hiroko Koshino with Kaei Hayakawa
Jacket 1993
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Ana Lisa Hedstrom
Arashi shibori 2000
silk crepe by Koshimitsu Textile Mill, Kiryu, Japan
Collection of the artist
L9913.01.046
Untreated silks developed with the Gunma Prefecture Society for Sericulture Industry Promotion (GPSSIP) are available to artists who can explore the changing characteristics of crepe fabric at each stage of the finishing process. One such successful attempt was made by Ana Lisa Hedstrom from Emeryville, California, who has mastered and incorporated arashi shibori into her own style.
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Ana Lisa Hedstrom
Arashi shibori 2000
silk crepe by Koshimitsu Textile Mill, Kiryu, Japan
Collection of the artist
L9913.01.047
The artist successfully applied arashi shibori process and her masterful dyeing technique to untreated silk crepe exploring the changing characteristics of the crepe fabric at each stage of the finishing process.
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Ana Lisa Hedstrom
Arashi shibori 2000
silk crepe by Koshimitsu Textile Mill, Kiryu, Japan
Collection of the artist
L9913.01.048
Further exploration of the changing characteristics of silk crepe fabric, areas of which have been degummed, reveals a subtle array of shades and colors produced by a single dye. Subtle white stripes result from the fact that the linen yarn woven into the silk is hardly affected by the dye.
Window H
Kikai Gumo Shibori (Spider Web Pattern with Tool)/Pleated and Bound
Kikai gumo shibori is both a process and a pattern. It translates literally as "tool-aided (kikai) spider web (kumo) resist dyeing." As explained in the arashi shibori section, this type of shibori has been practiced for more than a thousand years in Japan. However, the virtuosity in creating extra fine kumo shibori displayed by the shibori artisans in the NarumiñArimatsu area (Nagoya) up to the preñWorld War II period is rarely found today. Streamlining the laborious traditional approach, modern artisans and shibori dealers in Nagoya developed a simple tool that creates a point on the cloth, and pulls it into a cone which is mechanically wound with a thread. The cloth must be held and hooked on the tool by hand, but the mechanized winding goes quickly and evenly, making it possible to create a small spider pattern over all the cloth economically.
In recent years, kikai gumo shibori has frequently been used in fabrics for Western fashions because of the competitive price and the precise, consistent effect. Since the patterns tend to be so predictable and regular, the designer and artisans must be creative and experimental in their choice of fabrics and finishing processes. Tightly bound units are ideal for permanent texture imparting a three-dimensional effect to the fabric and are used frequently for tops and scarves. This spiny, stretchy effect can also be achieved by experienced hand tying of silk cloth, which is well demonstrated in the work of DíArcie Beytebiere. Since heat-treated silk retains dimensional shapes semipermanently, the artist included the sculptural shapes, but some shibori units are bead embroidered to keep the texture more permanent.
DíArcie Beytebiere
Shawl 1995
silk
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Kikai gumo (spider web pattern with tool)/pleated and bound resist 1999
wool
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.009
After this wool cloth was resisted in kikai gumo shibori pattern, arranged in diagonal rows spaced with wide solid bands, and fulled, the diagonal stripes of the pattern against the fulled ground produce a subtle and unusual fabric.
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Kikai gumo shibori(spider web pattern with tool)/plucked and bound resist 1999
wool
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.034
After this cloth was laid down in diagonal grids and fulled, the open-weave pattern produces a subtle and unusual fabric reminiscent of pre-Columbian shibori (amarras).
Window I
Kumo shibori(spider web pattern)/pleated and bound resist
Kumo shibori has been produced for a long time in Japan. The simple hemp garment in the fan-shaped painting from the twelfth century displays a pattern that resembles this type of shibori. (For a more detailed explanation of this painting, see wall panels.) During the Edo period (1603ñ1868) the pattern appears frequently in the ukiyo-e (wood-block prints) that depict the lives of people from all walks of society. In the nineteenth century, an unusually fine type of pleated-and-bound kumo shiboriódyed in indigo on fine cottonóbecame very fashionable. Since the individual resisted elements were set very close together and finely and evenly pleated and precisely bound to create an unusually delicate spider web pattern, the pattern often appeared to exist on an undyed ground.
Temawashi gumo shibori, the simplest version of hand-made kumo shibori, appears in #3. The fact that it was used unexpectedly on a dyed polyester fabric and only the texture was imprinted by the heat-set process imparts a more fantastic and unexpected look to an otherwise common shibori-patterned cloth. Even without the aid of the kikai gumo shibori tool, large binding is possible by a hand-tying process.
By using a chemical process that alters the density of the open-weave (gauze) fabric, along with tool-aided semi-mechanical improvements to the production process, one of the most ubiquitous shibori patterns has been translated into contemporary fashion fabric design. In #1, cotton gauze crepe was plucked and bound by the kikai gumo shibori tool method and then dyed and treated in a mild lye solution (cloqué). The cloqué process shrinks the exposed ground, which becomes denser and more opaque than the reserved bound areas, which are left untouched by the lye and are more transparent.
Yohji Yamamoto
Dress 1995
silk (tegumo shibori)
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Kikai gumo shibori (spider web pattern with tool)/pleated and bound resist 1998
cotton gauze, crepe (dyed and cloqué)
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.002
The meticulously bound shibori design covers the entire fabric, creating light and dark colors, dense and open textures, evoking scaled fish skin or dried snakeskin.
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Kikai gumo shibori (spider web pattern with tool)/pleated and bound resist 1998
silk organza
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.003
The kumo shibori pattern appears refreshingly modern on transparent organza, due to the fact that the fabric was ironed flat leaving no trace of the shaping process it went through and appears to be floating like ethereal bubbles in water.
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Temawashi gumo shibori (handmade spider web pattern) 1999
polyester organdy (heat-set)
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.025
The pattern that emerged from the process of heat- setting these large, hornlike bound units evokes the feeling of life under the sea, an effect that is amplified by the stretchable and flexible surface of the fabric.
Window J
Hinode Tatsumaki Shibori/Stitched, Gathered, and Bound on a Flexible Core (Sunrise Design)
Here the tatsumaki process was used in combination with suji shiborióhand-pleating and binding of the cloth. The tatsumaki process was developed to improve the patterning of suji shibori by laying pleated cloth over a ropelike, flexible core for the entire length of the fabric. Binding the fabric tightly to the core insures that its inside areas will be protected from the dye. The tatsumaki process is now combined with other shibori techniques in addition to pleating, such as stitching horizontal lines at intervals and then gathering the whole cloth and placing it over a shin or core (see #1).
In hinode tatsumaki shibori, a row of half circles, which becomes full circles when the fabric is opened, were stitched on a fold along the width of the cloth, gathered, and placed over a core. The resulting pattern is rows of little circles, with radiating lines, each resembling a tiny sunrise (hinode) against a white or reserved background. This simple variation in the design and the larger scale of the pattern result in a very contemporary design.
In #3, this seemingly complex process is seen in various stages of manipulation on one length of fabric. Contemporary explorations in the creation of textured cloth surfaces have been inspired by the technique of treating cellulose fibers, like cotton and linen, with a mild lye solution as seen here.
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Yokodan tatsumaki shibori/pleat resist variation 1999
satin
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.018
After the stitched and gathered cloth is placed over a core, every other band is covered and bound tightly to resist dye penetration. After the cloth is untied, bold horizontal bands appear.
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Hishi hinode-nui tatsumaki shibori/pleat resist with sunrise pattern 1999
cotton
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.032
A variation of the traditional hinode (sunrise) pattern is created by stitching large triangular shapes on a fold along the width of cloth. After dyeing and untying, diamond shapes with radiating lines appear across the fabric.
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Hinode-nui tatsumaki shibori/pleat resist with sunrise pattern 1999
cotton, linen (dyed and cloqué)
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.033
This dyed and cloqué (lye shrunk) and finally untied cloth shows each stage of shibori process from stitching of the cloth marked with patterns to dyeing in black.
Window K
Miura Shibori/Looped Binding
Drawing up portions of cloth can be accomplished by fingertips or fingernails as is done in kanoko shibori (see wall panels). It can also be achieved by using a small hook specially designed to pluck and then hold the portion of cloth while it is being bound by thread, as is done in kumo shibori and miura shibori. Miura shibori is called looped binding because after the cloth is plucked with a hook and a thread is looped around the portion twice, no knotting is done. The tension of the tying thread secures the bound portions of the cloth.
The simplicity and efficiency of this technique make the process easier and faster to execute. Untying the resist thread is also much easier to carry out. Since the thread is looped only twice and is not as tight as the knotted binding, a soft watermarklike design created by the resisted pattern is characteristic of miura shibori. The technique, with its simplicity and limitation of design variation, has been associated with the production of clothing for the general populace since the Edo period.
The expedience of this technique has also contributed to the recent popularity of miura shibori in Western fashion, where Japanese designers are taking advantage of the less costly hand process, as well as exploring unusual combinations of fibers and finishing processes. Exhibit #1, for example, results in a bolder dimensional fabric with a reflective velvet surface that heightens the unique appearance of shibori texture. The soft bubblelike textures that miura shibori creates can be permanently imprinted in polyester and successfully integrated into fashion as shown in the white dress designed by Yohji Yamamoto.
Yohji Yamamoto
Dress 1995
polyester (miura shibori)
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Yatara miura tatsumaki shibori/random looped binding 1999
rayon, polyester velvet (heat-set)
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.010
Horizontal bands of miura shibori bunched up the cloth into a narrower width, which enabled the entire length of cloth to be placed over a ropelike flexible core. The vertical gathers interspersed with tightly textured miura shibori were heat-set.
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Yatara miura shibori/random looped binding 1999
wool (fulled/felted)
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913l01.013
A field of yatara (random tying) miura shibori is interspersed with plain ground on loosely woven woolen cloth that was fulled to create a denser, thicker, feltlike cloth in which the resisted portion remains soft and open.
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Yatara miura shibori/random looped binding 1999
polyester (heat-set)
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.027
Yatara miura shibori was applied on polyester fabric and heat-set to retain the texture. Black pigment was sprayed on the tied surface before untying to add another dimension to the design.
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Yatara miura shibori/random looped binding 1999
cotton (cloqué)
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
L9913.01.037
Blue fabric was tied and lye shrunk (cloqué), then dyed in black. The larger scale, the heavy texture, and the color combination reflect a departure from traditional miura shibori.
Window L
Miura Shibori/Looped Binding
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Yatara miura shibori/random looped binding 1999
polyester
Manufacturer: Suzusan Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
PO15 L9913.01.016 or PO62 L9913.01.040
Cloth was plucked with the aid of a hook and held while thread was looped around twice and cinched. This process was repeated horizontally to cover the entire cloth, then heated to set the shibori puckers. Polyester retains the shape set by heat, and thus the cloth becomes stretchy.
2
pockeTeeÔ dress (untied)
Miura shibori/looped binding
polyester (heat-set)
Manufacturer: K. Takeda and Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
no #
An ingenious application of heat-setting creates a miura shibori texture in the fabric of this soft stretchy elegant dress. (Registration of the pockeTee trademark is in process.)
3
pockeTeeÔ dress (still bound)
Miura shibori/looped binding
polyester (heat-set)
Manufacturer: K. Takeda and Company, Nagoya, Japan
Collection of Yoshiko I. Wada
no #
This miniature doll-like form represents a stage in the production of pockeTeeÔ , a playful yet practical approach to fashion. This shows the dress in #2 before the tying thread is unraveled to reveal the life-size garment. (Registration of the pockeTee trademark is in process.)