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Arashi Shibori


Arashi (storm) is the name given by the Japanese to resist-dye patterns created using an ingenious process of wrapping cloth around a pole, compressing it into folds, and dyeing it. Many of the resulting diagonal patterns suggest rain driven by a strong wind. The particular subtle quality of the patterns is fully revealed only in a length of cloth.
This process was first invented in the late nineteenth century for production of shibori in much greater quantities than was 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, winds a thread around the cloth on the pole, and pushes the cloth into tight small crinkles. Eventually, four to six bolts of kimono cloth may be scrunched up on the pole to be dyed all at once, when the entire pole is dipped into a dye vat.
Contemporary textile artists 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. Many 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 which become part of the finished surface and contribute to the sculptural qualities of many wearable art garments.




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Shibori handwork

In traditional shibori crafts, artisans have long been known to devise ways in which the handwork finds the most efficient route to achieve its production goal. They attend to the smallest detail, such as the choice of a tying thread. For miura shibori they use a loosely twisted medium-fine cotton thread wound on its own ball; for boshi shiborithey use a tightly twisted medium cotton thread wound on a wooden dowel; and for kumo shibori a medium-heavy linen thread wound on a wooden dowel and soaked in water  (see details below). Sometimes, the thread is deliberately changed to a different size in order to create a specific design effect. In traditional arashi shibori, a slightly tapered, 12-ft long, polished wooden pole is used to wind a narrow, long kimono cloth (14 inches by 12 yards) diagonally upon itself. The cloth on the pole is then wound with a tying thread that contributes to making small, puckered creases where the cloth is pushed and scrunched on the pole. Dyeing of t
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