This August, together with my friend Miki I visited the small town of Arimatsu near Nagoya-city to attend a small workshop on shibori (Japanese batik technique).
Using vegetable dyes, especially indigo, the people in Arimatsu started tie-dyeing cotton and other fabrics about 400 years ago. They soon developed over a hundred different ways of creating distinctive textile patterns with knots and laces. Travelers passing the Tokaido (the main trade route of the Edo era, connecting Kyoto to Edo) bought goods like yukata (summer kimono) and tenugui hand towels to mop up sweat. In this way, Arimatsu-Shibori became known throughout Japan. Demand has continued to the present day, and local dyers who have inherited the techniques continue to make Japanese clothing and other traditional items in Arimatsu.
Before dyeing, the textile is processed, covering various parts of the fabric in order to create a pattern. For example, if you place the fabric around a small ball and knot it together with a string, after dyeing, at the point where the fabric was tied together, you will see a white ring. Wood stencils that are pressed onto the fabric with screw clamps can also be used to reproduce many other shapes (as you can see on Miki’s cloth).
I chose “Hebi” (Japanese for snake), with the fabric folded into narrow strips and then tied together. The result was a bamboo pattern, to which I have added foliage by simply tieing the upper part of the cloth wildly and only dyeing this part. That’s how a whole bamboo forest came to be.
Tieing knots in the cloth. Tieing balls in the fabric for ring shapes. Here wood forms are pressed onto the fabric. Tied wildly to create a leafy texture. Clingfilm protects the area which shouldn’t be dyed. Washig the dyed cloth. Unravelling the knots. My cloth is drying. My friend Miki with her finished cloth. The bamboo forest is finished.
Have you (maybe as a child) ever tried batik techniques or have you even perhaps been to Arimatsu?
Hi Lena!
I am curious, cause I’m going to Japan soon to attend at some natural dyeing workshops, and wonder where did this workshop take place?
It looks amazing!:)
Kindly, Anna
Hello Anna,
thanks for your comment! The workshop took place in Arimatsu near Nagoya.
The address is:
〒458-0924 名古屋市緑区有松3501番地
TEL 052-622-5881 / FAX 052-621-8806
(http://arimatsu-narumishibori.com/meibo-ari.html?fbclid=IwAR3okBFMAUuqhvg1gh9nc_uumw83rkHl7qRyj9fo0zViBHh3406L2fx58gc)
Also have a look here: https://www.jalan.net/kankou/spt_guide000000182690/?fbclid=IwAR0SHUvUYKxvGNzuiJYOI8kjFdWmKuepemh4tUf_qCqrHC8To3uKuKIOC6U