Repurposing and Reusing

When I was Shibori Girl (for real, that is), I had piles and piles of beautiful, streaky-patterned hand-dyed fabrics to transform into wearable art. Some were cotton, most were silk. The cottons were great fun because they could take some abuse in the dye process. I would dye them, color, over color, over color, until I went just a tad too far and they came out muddy. Then I'd pop them into the discharge dye bath to remove some of that color I worked so hard to put in. Here's a good example of that process:

my very favorite jacket modeled by my trainer, Maria

Absolute magic would occur. I had a basic idea, but didn't know exactly what the final result would be. I was always excited when I pulled a piece out of the pot.

I used a batch of my favorites, gold-and-purple-over-maroon cotton, to make some kimono-styled vests in a variety of sizes. I made three vests and, though they received positive reviews from customers in my booth, none sold. So they hang in the closet.

Fast-forward to today and my conundrum... My favorite handbag has no pockets. Silly, really, for someone who likes to be organized. Everything needs to be in its place. I dislike being one of those people who digs around in the bottom of their bag for a wallet, phone, or whatever, while impatient people wait in line behind them.

Today I took one of those pretty gold-purple-maroon vests and whacked it up to make myself a purse organizer. Kinda like the night before my wedding when I took scissors to the neckline of my dress because I didn't like it - but that's another story... My sewing skills are rusty, having lain dormant for years. After some false starts, I got a rhythm going, and now I have an organizer loaded with pockets.

I won't be keeping anyone waiting, foot a-tapping, while I reach for a wallet which is where it's supposed to be. The added bonus: I'll have the pleasure of seeing that wonderful shibori fabric every day.

copyright 2011 Shibori Girl

New Polymer Clay Pieces Coming Together

The focus this past week was to finish some new polymer clay jewelry. I thoroughly enjoy making the canes, and if I had my way, that's all I'd do, day in and day out. My new plan is to only make canes one day a week, leaving the rest of the week to do the finishing work.

I made another green pendant and listed it in my Etsy shop again.

My favorite cane of the week was a pink, green, purple, and tan floral number. It reminds me of a vintage stained glass window.

It made a lovely pendant.

In my box of shibori ribbons, I found this purple and fuchsia piece that really packs a punch. Perfect!

While I was putting together the pink and green pendant, I started playing with more pieces from that cane with thoughts of making a larger pendant from them.

The finished piece is huge, about 4 inches across, and has many flaws, so I don't feel comfortable trying to sell it. I'm going to hang it on my wall for inspiration, as well as a reminder to be super careful when putting something like this together. It's loaded with fingerprints, little nicks from my nails, and also has some air bubbles that showed up during baking.

Even so, it's a pretty thing, and I'll enjoy looking at it.

I've got some new beads sanded, buffed, and acrylic-coated to be turned into bracelets and earrings this week. I love my job!


copyright 2009 Shibori Girl

The Beauty Of Polymer Clay

I've had tons of fun exploring the possibilities of polymer clay for the past couple of weeks. My ultimate goal has been to learn to make elements which will enhance the kind of jewelry work I've been doing already. What I didn't want to do was veer off in another direction altogether, which was a very tempting possibility.

After my recent post, I sat down to sand, buff, and acrylic coat everything that's been baked so far. Three different grades of sandpaper yielded a silky smooth surface. The acrylic coating protects the finished clay pieces from skin contact and provides a nice glossy shine.

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I've listed three new pieces in my Etsy shop which feature clay components:

The green pendant looks wonderful on Glennis Dolce's shibori silk ribbon. And as a final touch, I had a sterling silver box clasp in a drawer with the very colors found in the pendant! It's as if they were made for each other. *wink*

(Sorry folks, this one sold already.)

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I had some leftover trimmings from a bead making experiment which I sent through the pasta machine a couple of times. What came out was a sheet of clay with a beautiful watercolor effect.

I made two focal elements from that and did some beadweaving around them to enhance them. This was the type of thing I was hoping would happen when I added the clay work to my studio time.

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Finally, I'd made a complex bullseye clay cane last weekend and sliced some of it up into tiles to make a bracelet... add some made-to-match spacers, and you've got a fun and quirky bangle.

Lots more to come in the near future...


copyright 2009 Shibori Girl

Dusting Off My Sewing Skills

Ever since my hand injury four years ago, I put my sewing machine away. It physically hurt to go through the various stages of garment construction, between the scissors hitting my damaged thumb joint, and the tennis elbow that still plagues me today. Then there was the mental hurt that I was no longer able to do something I've enjoyed since I was 12 years old.

Luckily, I found something else I'm good at - and enjoy immensely. I've been narrowly focused on beadwork, and after my last project, my brain is tired! My last sewing project was a handbag I made from a Sweetbriar Studio pattern. After so many years of service, the bag is pretty sad looking now. Time to make another!

I already had this pattern on my shelf, and my studio closet is full of cotton fabrics in a variety of colors and shibori patterns. Sounds like a project-in-the-making, right? Yes indeedy. I took my time making the bag, which was a novelty for me. I used to sew under deadlines: rush, rush rush...

I love the way the bag turned out. The pattern called for a single patch pocket inside, which was to be divided into two tall and skinny pockets. But I have obsessive tendencies - I need MORE POCKETS! I added three more, and now everything is in it's own place. Perfect!

Nice to know I still have some skills, though they are a bit rusty.

New Work, Surprises, And An Introduction

For a while now, I've been meaning to write a post to introduce the OTHER Shiborigirl, and this seems like a great time to do it. A few times in the past people have emailed me about comments left under the name shibori girl on my blog posts, thinking it was me who wrote them. But not so...

Glennis Dolce is the owner of Shibori Girl Studios in Long Beach, CA. Apparently we have parallel blogs: I'm on Blogspot and she's at Wordpress. I introduced myself to Glennis during the One World One Heart event last winter, and I was a little nervous, afraid that she'd think I was stomping on her patch. Luckily, she thought it was funny that we had the same internet name and we seem to get along great. We've had some time to get to know each other a little on Facebook, and I'm a true fan of her work. Take a stroll through her shop when you've got some time, or check out her blog.

As well, she's got some videos on youtube where she demonstrates her dye process at a show, and her flickr account shows her beautiful shibori ribbon flowers.

Last month, I posted pictures on Facebook of my new woven beaded beads, and Glennis wrote that she thought I should string them onto some of her silk shibori ribbons. She sent me two yards of ribbons, one yard each of two different colorways, and I am in love!

Gorgeous, shimmery, saturated colors and crisp, tight pleats.

Oh boy, I'm gonna enjoy incorporating this into future pieces. And when I put my newest beaded bead onto the pink and purple piece:

Hazzah... perfection! I still have to work out how to finish off the ends and put a clasp on and then we'll be golden.

Thank you so much, Glennis.

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Now, I think I heard you ask, "How did Kate make that beautiful bead?" OK, I'll show you...

First, I made a tubular base structure using the right-angle weave method. The barrel shape of the bead is achieved by using three different bead sizes ranging smallest-to-largest-to-smallest.

Then, I embellished this tubular base with several rows of decorative beads, interlocking the rows for strength and beauty.

As a last touch on this particular bead, I added some chartreuse green seed beads for a surprise hint of color. Start to finish, one of these beauties takes at least two hours to complete - some as long as three hours!

Sorry folks, this bead has already sold, but stay tuned to my Etsy shop for new additions coming soon...

There's something so cool about making things I love (beads) from the things I love (BEADS!).

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Update 9/6/09

I read Glennis' comment on this post this morning and got to work finishing that shibori ribbon necklace shown above.

I stitched the ribbon into a tube, turned it inside out, and finished the ends with silver caps.

I added a chain for adjustable length, and "voila!"...

... a beautiful, lightweight necklace. Thanks again, Glennis!

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I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. What's Cooking Sunday posts will resume next weekend... still dealing with "vacation brain" here!

She's BAAaack!

I have been dyeing for two days now, and it feels GREAT! Yesterday I boiled up one big pot of water outside, about enough to get six buckets going. I thought that would be a good way to start up: six buckets and I'd be done. 'Cause then I had to get all the fabric off the poles, squeeze it all out, wash and dry it, as well as hosing out the buckets and poles for the next session (pant, pant). So, six sounded like a good beginning amount - I didn't want to wear myself out. ('Though I was mighty tired anyway!) It felt sooooo goood to get back to work.

Yesterday's session was actually to prep for today. My girlfriend wanted to dye some fabrics of her own for a quilt, so I needed to make sure I had enough propane, that the burners were in proper working order, yada, yada, yada... Today, with Fran's help, we had about 25 colors going!!! I couldn't have done it without her, since she did a lot of hard stuff. She schlepped buckets across the yard, hosed stuff out, stirred; she was a dyeing machine. What a good day. Now my stuff is in the washer churning away and I'm looking forward to seeing them dried and ironed (that's the fun part).

Now that I have had a chance to take a breath, grab some lunch, and cool off, I realize just how tired I really am: I could use a nap! :) So, the rest of the day I'll plan what to do during the next session. I think it is reasonable to try to do the heavy dye work maybe 3 days a week for now, and see how my hand and elbow feel. I might just have to scale it back to once a week in the beginning so I don't relapse my tennis elbow. For now, it is marvelous to be back to doing what I love to do.

Your dye-covered fabric queen

What is this Shibori stuff anyway?

Shibori is an ancient Japanese resist dye method which involves folding, binding, tying, wrapping, clamping, or stitching fabric into a 3-dimensional shape prior to immersion in the dye bath. These techniques result in a beautifully fluid and random pattern which can be repeated several times with different colors for a complex design. For the kind of pieces I do, preparation times are between 15 minutes to 2 hours. The dye times are about an hour or two. Unwrapping and washing, then rewrapping for the next dye bath. Whew! In Japan, a single kimono used to take 6 months to a year to stitch before the fabric ever saw a dye bath.

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My favorites are karamatsu (sitched circles)

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arashi (wrapped on a pole)

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and mokume (stitched into a tube and fed onto a pole, then "scrunched").

Whether worked on silk, or cotton, these patterns are exquisitely organic and delicate.

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Currently I am working on a set of silk scarves with pieced panels in coordinating patterns and colors. I then bead the corners to add weight. Each one is a one-of-a-kind work of art.

I will be sending them off to a show in a few days. Hopefully they will sell out for the holidays!