Arashi Shibori with StencilGirl® Stencils!

Arashi -嵐

(Storm)

Hi, everyone! Cindy Lohbeck here! Excited to be sharing one of my favorite processes!

Arashi Shibori, or pole wrapped shibori, is a Japanese fabric dyeing method that leaves you with beautiful organic images like water, trees and lightning. Arashi literally translates to “Storm”.  I teach a class called “Pole Dancing” and had quite a stash of indigo patterns I wanted to make a quilt out of.

Lovely by themselves, but I wanted to play off of the water imagery, and knew just the StencilGirl® stencils I needed! These beautiful mermaid stencils look like they could swim through any of life’s storms!

Mermaid Stencil and Masks by Jessica Sporn

Mermaidia stencil by June Pfaff Daley

Dextrin is a starchy byproduct of the process that extracts gluten proteins from products like wheat, corn, and for our project, potatoes! Potato Dextrin makes a fine crackled finish when used as a resist, and is the perfect consistency for screen printing. Mixed with a little hot water, this creamy paste dries and crackles to add just the right amount of interest for my simple indigo and white mermaids. Any leftover paste can be evenly spread across plain fabric to create a crackle companion to our Arashi and our prints.

Painting over the stenciled, dried and cracked potato dextrin with a thickened dye paint allows just the right amount of seepage between the resist and the dye to create wonderfully wabi sabi Mermaids to swim in my indigo ocean! You can thicken fiber reactive dye with sodium alginate, or begin with prink paste flakes.  The best part is that it all washes out with a little Dawn detergent!

As Arashi is dyed on poles, it tends to come in long thin strips, making it perfect for sashing. I love the motion and direction the Arashi creates when I surround my Mermaids with big wide bands. It creates pop and contrast, and makes our simple girls a little more interesting. A thin border of solid indigo really sets the patterns apart, and shows the versatility of Arashi Shibori.

Even though our Mermaid Babes have been a little Blue, I think they are enjoying splashing around in the storm! Every girl needs to make waves now and then!

If the world has seemed a little stormy lately, and you, too have been feeling blue, join Cindy in a 2 day live online workshop, where we will be exploring Pole Dancing and Potato Prints! September 18^th & 19^th, with lots of ongoing support on a private class Facebook page. Find out details on www.handsonhanddyes.com Follow Cindy at Hands On Hand Dyes on Facebook, or @DyehardinAZ on Instagram.

So many stencils to play with! So many creative possibilities! I think I will add some seashells in the next quilt!

Seashell Stencil Designed by June Pfaff Daley

Sand Dollar Stencil by June Pfaff Daley

Shibori, Stencils and Frisket, Yes Please!

Hi everyone! Happy to be joining you on the StencilGirl Talk blog today.  I’m Debi Adams and I thought I would share one of my favorite art forms, Shibori, albeit a slightly different technique/application and, use of stencils, of course.  My approach to both stencils and Shibori is to go modern and trendy. Although stencils are used for lots of layering and are very beautiful, they can also be used in their basic form without much application and be very clean. Since I am redoing the spare room in my house to reflect shibori and a bit of boho, I thought I would make some art to go on the walls.   

I love watercolors a lot and decided to create the shibori-look using watercolors on watercolor paper, and the non-dyed portion, using frisket.  Frisket is a liquid that when applied, blocks out watercolor from seeping through paper and retains the underlying color of paper, in this case, white. It is a lot of fun. (For a layered look, you can add a color to the base or ephemera paper to the substrate before applying the frisket).  For my substrate, I chose Arches Watercolor paper.  It’s my favorite and by far the most successful look when watercoloring but you can use other watercolor papers as well.  

I laid my stencil down on top of the watercolor paper. You can tape it down if you like, or not.  (The stencils and all supplies are at the bottom of this post.) I picked these (mostly) repeating, patterned stencils because I felt that they closely resembled the shibori-tied or folded-look, however, you can use almost any stencil.  Use a foam brush and apply the frisket.  Frisket dries quickly so it’s important to get a good coat on the first time around and move quickly to cover the entire stencil. When done, remove stencil and wash off the frisket from the stencil immediately.  I toss the brushes because they are harder to clean and for the most part, are inexpensive. 

When completely dry, 5 minutes or so, it is safe to watercolor.  I like Winsor Newton brand and since Shibori is generally a blue dye, I used a deep blue color.  I misted my substrate first then began applying paint. I added more blue coverage here and there so it gave the appearance of inconsistent dying.   Once my substrate was covered, I let it dry. It can take a while if you used a lot of water, which I generally do.  

After the paper is dry, use a frisket eraser to remove all the frisket and reveal the white paper that has been left behind. 

That’s it!  Easy.  And what did I make with all the patterns? Take a peek… 

I love the simplicity of these wood frames. It's organic and draws attention to the art.  Perfect for my room!

And consider making it even more modern and classy just by using gold frames. 

And then you can always mesh all of these ATC pieces together...

And a trio always looks nice and impactful, I mean, once you're on a roll, why not? 

Maybe even a foursome?

Don't forget about other possibilities of using your art in your home. Think of  greeting cards, place cards, invitations, etc.  Oh you so got this! Thanks for popping in. 

XO,

Debi Adams

Website: www.debi-adams.com

Insta:debi_adams

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If card making interests you, check out my StencilGirl® online course here!  It's available to play whenever/where ever you are!

Supplies:

StencilGirl® Stencils:

L655 ATC Mix Up by Andrew Borloz

SC-02-2018-Grandmother's Kitchen by Kristie Taylor

S431-Barbed Wire by Mary Beth Shaw

M190 3-Ring-Seth Apter

Other:

Arches 140 lb. Cold Press Watercolor Paper

Windsor & Newton  Watercolour, Indanthrene Blue-Series 3 A

Foam Brush

Frisket & Frisket Eraser

Watercolor Brush of your Choice

Water Mister