PhotoHunt - "Hands"

These are the hands of women in Japan, sitting on their bent legs, tying fabric for dyeing.

Kumo shibori
Kumo shibori is a pleated and bound resist. This technique involves pleating sections of the cloth very finely and evenly. Then the cloth is bound in very close sections. The result is a very specific spider-like design. This technique is very precise in order to produce this specific design.

This silk fabric is pulled up tightly on thread. The dots on the fabric to the right show where the stitches should go. The fabric on the left side has already been tied. The completed width of the tied fabric will be 4-6" until after it is dyed and released.

Muira Shibori
Muira Shibori is also known as looped binding. It involves taking a hooked needle and plucking sections of the cloth. Then a thread is looped around each section twice. The thread is not knotted; tension is the only thing that holds the sections in place. The resulting dyed cloth is a water-like design. Because no knot is used, muirea shibori is very easy to bind and unbind. Therefore, this technique is very often used.

This woman's fingers were flying so fast, it was hard to catch her action. She wrapped the moistened thread around the silk fabric and pulled it tight. It will tighten even more as it dries. She is in her 80's and has been doing this work since she was 7 years old.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jig

It was a great trip!

Shibori, Sashiko, Chiku Chiku, more beautiful quilts than there are butterflies, good company, quaint sights, and interesting food became the focus of my world for 2 wonderful weeks. Susan's Japanuary #18 , to quote her, "is not your typical see-the-countryside-from-the-window-of-a-bus tour." We walked, shared taxis, rode buses, the subway, and the bullet train. All the while, Susan was explaining, in depth, the world around us. Her friends pulled aside the fabric curtains and welcomed us inside their worlds of textiles and we all soaked it up like indigo dye on natural fiber. We stenciled our own cloths, tried our hands at Chiku Chiku, and some even dipped tied fabrics into the indigo vats.

I will be covering some of our free-time and other activities. Please see Susan's site for tour information.

Some things I will miss about Japan:

• Everything was sooooo clean!
• Heated toilet seats - everywhere
• Strangers coming to our aid immediately when there was a language barrier
• A nod of the head or a bow - even between businessmen on the street
• Civility, patience, and a sense of privacy even when you are elbow to elbow in people.
• The sense of pride everyone has in his/her job - no matter how large or small
• Cutting-edge technology everywhere
• How much can be tucked into any corner without the feeling of crowding
• The beauty of the gardens