More Arashi Shibori

After experimenting with arashi shibori on cotton, (see the previous post) we graduated to using silk. I painted bright splotches of color on the silk scarf with Procion MX fiber reactive dye. I washed it out well to remove any residual dye and the alkaline soda ash. Then we gathered the fabric on a PVC pipe by wrapping it with a thin rope and scrunching it up. The Procion MX dye doesn't always work the same on silk as it does on cotton. The blue pigment washes out if it's in a blend or added afterwards. So, when I wanted purple, I painted red dye over the blue. When I wanted green, I painted yellow dye over the blue dye.

Since the black Procion MX dye becomes red on silk after the blue washes out, I  used acid dye for the black, which I painted on the parts of the fabric which were showing between the scrunched up rope. I placed the fabric-wrapped pipe in a plastic bag to protect it from condensation. Then I steamed it in the turkey roaster for 45 minutes, making sure the silk stayed well below 185 degrees so it wouldn't be damaged.

I immediately rinsed out the excess black dye. Then I ironed it to remove the pleats made by the rope.  It looks shiny and iridescent, like soap bubbles. We have a few more scarves ready to do arashi shibori on tomorrow.

Shibori Dyeing

Larry accordian-folded an eight-sided triangle and created a resist with two c-clamps, which is his version of Itajime Shibori. 

After removing the c-clamps from the itajime shibori, a beautiful kaleidescope pattern is revealed. 

Our favorite type of shibori is called arashi shibori. We wrapped a length of green cotton around a pole, holding the fabric in place by wrapping a crochet thread around and around the pole at 1/2 inch spacing, pushing up the fabric to create folds. We painted the exposed fabric with bleach to discharge the green dye. After rinsing out the bleach, we painted on splotches of Procion MX fiber reactive dye in gold, violet, navy blue and maroon.

My favorite part of arashi shibori is revealing the pattern after letting the dyes set. 

I love the tiger stripes created by arashi shibori. This was our experimental model. Next time we will try it on silk, possibly using Washfast acid dyes, at least for the black stripes.

Ice Dye Nebula

It all started with a plain white sheet.

It became a whole galaxy, filled with beautiful nebulas.

Do you see a face gazing down from the heavens?

Ice dyeing produces such beautiful patterns, I couldn't stop photographing them.

This was my first attempt at ice dyeing on cotton. All of the images in this post are on one cotton sheet.

My intention for this session of ice dyeing was to use blue, green and purple dye, but I had to  add yellow to turn the blue into green, and I had to add fuchsia to turn the blue into purple. That meant I would have to use all of the primary colors and a little black for accents. I was really afraid all of the colors would blend and become a muddy brown mess.

When I rinsed the excess dye out of the fabric, it looked like a rainbow explosion.

Ice dyeing produces a kaleidescope of colors.

Some sections of the cloth resemble moss agate.

I see quite a few people in this section.

I have my next batch of ice dyeing in the kitchen right now. I have to wait until tomorrow to see how it turned out. 

I sprinkled even more different colors of dye on the ice this time.

I used Procion MX dyes. Since I only bought primary colors, I mixed some together to create more complex colors.

Sayonara Rain

“Sayonara Rain” by Cheryl Stokes

A needle-felted sculpture depicting a temple in Sendai, Japan during a brief interlude without rain.

Winter weather in Sendai, Japan is very rainy. Although cherry blossom season in April comes during one of the least rainy periods, they still get an average of 17 days of rain that month. Immediately following cherry blossom time, the long rainy season begins and continues through August. September marks the beginning of the typhoon season.

I made this needle felted sculpture for a challenge from my fiber arts group, Fyber Cafe in Roseburg Oregon. The assigned topic was Weather Report. The finished pieces will be on display at the Umpqua Valley Quilt Show in Roseburg, Oregon.

More Marvelous Maui

We couldn't resist a visit to an octagonal church we discovered in Upcountry, Maui. It's positioned on a ridge, overlooking the coast of South Maui. The view from up here is wonderful. The Holy Ghost Roman Catholic Church in Kula was built in 1894 by Portugese sugar cane workers.

 The Holy Ghost Church still operates as a Catholic church. We wanted to go to their Easter Service, but we ran out of time.

 The ornate altar was carved by the famous Austrian woodcarver, Ferdinand Stuflesser. It was shipped in pieces around the Cape of Good Hope.

 The story of Jesus' life is told in 3-D woodcarvings mounted all around the octagonal walls of the church.

 The Hawaiian version of St Francis of Assisi. He is wearing a lei and has a cute pig at his feet.

 The wood carving of The Last Supper is in the center front of the altar.

 I enjoyed the ocean view at Ho'okipa Beach while visiting with my son, Jonny. He was more interested in showing Dad his new laptop.

 Ho'okipa is popular with the surfers in the morning.

 I made them take a break from the computer just long enough for me to take their picture...proof that they were actually in Hawaii, or as a reminder later, in case they don't remember.

 Ho'okipa is known as the windsurfing capitol of the world.

 There were probably about 50 windsurfers out there on the day we came to watch.

 On our second visit to Ho'okipa, I made Jonny leave his computer in the car.

 It's extremely difficult to find a parking place up there on the bluff which provides a great view of the windsurfers.

 It was fun watching these little girls playing in a natural wading pool close to the covered pavilion.

 Almost every morning, we ate breakfast at Mai Poin'a 'oe Ia'u Beach Park in North Kihei. It's just south of Ohukai Road.

 Mai Poin'a is a Maui County park with a nice strip of grass, a bathroom, outdoor showers and several picnic tables.

 You can walk barefoot for miles along the white sandy beach.

 Since we usually went in the morning, the bay was always calm, perfect for paddle-boarding.

 The beaches in North Kihei are never crowded.

 Every morning, several canoe clubs launch their boats and paddle up and down the coast of South Maui.

 It looks like this man is just kicking back and enjoying the ride, as the ladies do all of the work. He actually was the one who pushed the canoe past the breakers and he has just climbed into the canoe.

 This double outrigger is being paddled backwards, to bring it into shore at the end of their ride.

 Everyone helps to push the canoe back onto the beach.

 Their were some interesting tide pools on the shore of North Kihei. We saw brittle starfish, colorful sea slugs and a strange worm that was buried up to its mouth, through which it was spewing an alarming amount of water.

 The patterns in the sand were formed by the waves as they receded back into the ocean.

 We walked on many different beaches around Maui, but we only saw the sand patterns on the beaches of North Kihei.

 We enjoyed strolling through The Tropical Gardens of Maui which is on the road to Iao Valley. This flower looks like a giant centipede.

 We spent an afternoon at Napili Bay, where Larry went swimming with a credit card in his pocket. Hmmmm.... It might still be there, or maybe it made a sea voyage to Japan. Luckily, it was on the last day of our trip, so we didn't really miss it.

 Our wonderful host, Deborah, led us along the Dragon's Teeth Access Trail at DT Flemming Beach Park. The wind coming up from the ocean caused the hot lava on this point to harden in sharp jagged points that look like teeth.

 After climbing over the Dragon's Teeth, we arrived at The Dragon's Teeth Labyrinth.

 Deborah, Art and Larry joined the group who were walking the labyrinth.

 Keawala'i Congregational Church in Makena was built of burnt coral rock in 1855. The previous building was made of pili grass.

 The walls are three feet thick. I like the palm leaf fans in the backs of the pews.

 The church is still being used each Sunday.

 A fresh lei adorns this gravestone in the cemetery next to the Keawala'i Congregational Church in Makena.

 There is a kukui nut lei on top of this headstone.

 This is a nice picture of the father with his guitar.

 This stone has a color portrait and the pearly gates are open.

 You can see the ocean just beyond the cemetery at the Keawala'i Congregational Church in Makena.

 If you park in the lot across from the Keawala'i Congregational Church, you can walk just a little further and end up at Maluaka Beach, which soon became our favorite beach.

We spent a lot of time sitting on the shady grass lawn and snorkeling at the south end of Maluaka Beach. This is where I saw a bright red octopus being chased by a large fish.

 There is also snorkeling here, at the north end of Maluaka Beach.

 We went on a second whale watching trip with Deborah. I actually consider it more of a fun boat ride than a whale watch because the boat never got very close to the whales. That white splash in the distance is a whale and one of the smaller boats which the whales like to swim close to.

 This is how far away the whales were from our large boat.

 By blowing up the picture, you can see how closely the whales approach the smaller raft boats.  You can go my post from April 9th to see pictures of our first trip which was with the Ultimate Whale Watch Company.

 Deborah is scanning the horizon in search of more whales.

 The host of our boat excursion liked to share quite a few corny jokes.

 The clear water was an amazing shade of blue.

 We are now approaching Lahaina and the West Maui Mountains.

This is an enlargement of the only good photo I got of a whale on this trip.