Shibori is a Japanese term for several methods of dyeing cloth with a pattern by binding, stitching, folding, twisting, or compressing it. Some of these methods are known in the West as tie-dye.

In Japan, the earliest known example of cloth dyed with a shibori technique dates from the eighth century; it is among the goods donated by the Emperor Shōmu to the Todaiji temple in Nara.

Until the twentieth century, not many fabrics and dyes were in widespread use in Japan. The main fabrics were silk and hemp, and later cotton. The main dye was indigo and, to a lesser extent, madder and purple root . Shibori and other textile arts, such as tsutsugaki, were applied to all of these fabrics and dyes.

References

• Yoshiko Wada, Mary Kellogg Rice, and Jane Barton. Shibori: the inventive art of Japanese shaped resist dyeing. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1983.

External links

• World Shibori Network