drawing | japan ~ shibori




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oh, i had plans. 
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this is the story of an old t-shirt called tee and a vintage limb. 
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i was given the limb, the hand. 
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in a thrift shop. 
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i thought i would tear away the faded cotton from its palm. 
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but then i decided to lend the hand a main part in this DC. 
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would i be able to dye the tiny rag, while still on the palm? 
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would i be able to create what i'd had in mind all along? 
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well, no. 
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it did not turn out how i'd planned, including an emergency rescue from the drain. 
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so. onwards and forwards with my intial scheme. 
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when visiting the musée guimet in paris last summer, japanese dyeing techniques caught my attention. 






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i have not been dyeing anything since my teens, so perhaps i got intrigued for sentiment's sake. 
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{i used to tie-dye a lot of clothes!}
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moving on.
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i thought it'd be nice for this weekend to try out the japanese dyeing technique of shibori.
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moreover, and not in possession of natural blue indigo, how would i go about it? 
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would i try to reverse dye? 
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yes. 
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one can reverse dye by using bleach. 
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the tee i used had kept its black colour over five years of washing, so i could have been prewarned of a strong initial dye. 
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the bleach is working though!
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after spilling a quart of the liquid over my paint trousers, i ended straight up in orange!
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no harm done,
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a little wiser. 
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i left the tee in for just under five minutes {which is loooong!},
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gently rocking the lot to and fro. 
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i became a little reckless at some point, and poured more bleach in, straight from the bottle. 
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{that's how my brother always used to bleach his jeans in the early seventies}.
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as the bleach water turned the lightest tone of sepia from the tee, 
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i decided to heave the tee out 
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and soak it in clear water for a while. 
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i waited impatiently. 
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took off the gloves and 
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waited some more. 
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sat down and remembered my morning walk 
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where i happened upon an appropriate cameo image 
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for this weekend's theme.
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does it remind you a bit of an ° japanese image? 
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it did me.
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ha. 
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finally got the tee out of the water to examine its shibori streaks. 
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well. 
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my guess is i'll need a whole lot of practising! 
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patriceveronicajoannestefaniebarbaratanïasusannearianesabinekristenrobertoericleenatammiesus, tomoko, manoyoko, j-girl☺, ... all bring their own take on japan to the screen this weekend. tomoko was brave enough to endure kyoto's heat as she will guide us round the city. her touring trip is up! yoko's whole blog's about japan, go and check out her sweet efforts. jgy has been relishing japan life for quite a while. she decided not to let this moment pass. that would be japan from the front seat, everyone! just a hint.
♥ also, feel free to be our next challenge host! it·is·exciting, as·you·may·well·know. ♥




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thanks for playing though! 
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enjoy saturday and sunday. 
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i have a week of {late} houses to draw. 
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been there, done that :
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update
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tara
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24 comments :

  1. ;^)))
    huge smile
    because i can almost hear you speak while working on this T
    such a fine, fine story, wishing i was there with you ;^))
    i LOVE that first image, so seren
    and your t-shirt became a nice one!!

    happy weekend sweet Nadine
    and thank you!
    xxx

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  2. I love how your shirt came out too! And am so impressed that you learned the Japanese technique. I have dyed things, shirts and the like, in Japan but still use the technique from my nostalgic days called the- tyedye, tying the parts with rubber bands!!
    Its great to see your story and how you bring Japan to your creative work!! and make it truly `U`!
    Thanks for the chance to join in and meet in the creative clouds with you all this week.
    ♥♥♡

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  3. That is a wonderful and so true story of a process, thank you! That is how it goes, so seldon how planned beforehand! xoLeena

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  4. That looks great Nadine. :D I was just telling Chloe to investigate some indigo dying like Japanese shibori. I love that look.

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  5. Hi,Nadine.
    I am really impressed that you have leaned Japanese style indigo dying! Wow ! It looks like a lot of process is needed to complete.It is always admirable to see your creativity. The photo of your morning walk is just beautiful with the round bridge, the shining water and the purple flowers blooming.

    Thank you again for inviting me to drawing challenge and great theme "Japan",Nadine.
    Have a good weekend!

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  6. It looks great Nadine! I loved your story and images, and tried to be patient to see how it turned out. : ) Thanks for the invitation to the challenge this week - sorry I couldn't join in. I dreamt about all the Japanese themed items I would like to make - but did not have the time to create. Thanks again!

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  7. ha ha, nadine - this is so great!!! the same with me: the last time dyeing t-shirts, pillows, fabrics and so on was in the eighties!
    I love your shirt and the story and the pictures!
    greetings from denmark,
    mano

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  8. What a wonderful story. The bridge reminds me of the japanese bridge of Monet. Well chosen.

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  9. Ha. I remember the dyeing trend from my teens days, too! But I never did it. I was more with your brother and bleached my jeans by the help of Domestos cleaner, creating those "cool and stylish" blotchy psychobilly-punkrock trousers...but my way was much less the japanese one, it was more rude and direct, similar to what happened to your paint trouser: I just poured the bleach onto the jeans and waited for the effects. ;-) I like your result, to be honest, i love the colour combination, which is not quite typical for those dyed clothes. If you go on practising, the patterns might develop. No problem with the help of the little hand, I bet! ;-)
    Thank you for letting me know of these techniques and for hosting this weekend's theme!
    happy sunday!

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  10. cool!
    How I love the little hand.
    Your pictures are a pleasure the same the story you´re telling.
    The bridge reminds me of Monet, too.
    Very nice post, my dear, thank you for hosting, so good to play the d.c. again, right?
    x Stefanie

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  11. Wow, really wonderful. I like the colours - autumn ...
    Happy weekend!
    Christiane

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  12. Hi Nadine,
    I like your lesson dye !!
    I like the little hand (I took it as if the hand recounts the process)
    When I was a teenager, I did something similar, I think it was the same for all adolescents, discovered dyeing, batik, etc.
    Thank you for this DC !! Have a good week!
    Surprisingly, my DC is Mr.Monet's bridge, and I see here a picture of a similar bridge !!! :)

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  13. woooow nadine, what a power shirt :)

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  14. Nadine your shirt looks great...perfect autumn colours. Guess I will try shibori with my daughter.
    Thank you for the Japan inspiration.
    Greetings
    Sabine

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  15. What a nice story and photo's. I've enjoyed it a lot!
    That's a long time ago I have dye some shirt, did it once and never again....I rather do some painting!!
    The dyeing technique of shibori looks interesting to do and your sure is a shibori dyeing!
    But you sure are ready for the autumn with those lovely colors!
    Veel liefs
    -x-

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  16. love how your tee came out
    the subtle colors are wonderful
    i also did tye dye as a teen ager, fun fun
    all of your photos are a joy to see as well
    thank you for being our host

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  17. I LOVE your creation! But I must say that lil arm had me going and following :)

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  18. Dear Nadine – Your did it, a wonderful tie-dyed shirt! It really goes well the black T shirt. I read your narrative as if hearing you in person. Your morning walk is worth remembering with such fantastic scene with a round bride (which reminds me of Japan), green reflections on the shimmering water and the lovely flowers. Thank you for including my blog though I didn’t anything special to this project. Have a nice September.

    Yoko

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  19. Hey that came out great!! makes me want to try now- I love the reverse effect and am thinking of my own explorations with tie dye when I was younger and showing it to my kids more recently- of course I didn't make anything for myself- perhaps that should be remedied :)
    thanks for getting us back on the drawing track as it where with this theme- it was a lot of fun :)!

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  20. Hi Nadine, I so very much enjoyed your reverse dyeing journay on which you took as along incl. accident of your pants and the cool result of your tee which reminds me on a rorschachtest as well as on the seventies where nearly everyone explored and experimented with batic and wore something self dyed. Cool post.
    Hugs to you!
    barbara bee

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  21. Dear Nadine,
    You are so wonderful, never letting me know where I make a terrible mistake!
    Your dyeing was a success!
    And I remember being like your brother and splash dyeing my jeans in the bath with bleach - very Punk Rock :))
    xx

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  22. good to see you again you crazy woman :D

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  23. fantastic photos of the process, and great results. what is the single hand for?

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