Japan Day 3:2 Arimatsu Tie Dying

….and so to Arimatsu and Mr. Hiroshi Murase’s Tie Dying workshop.

Sitting at our desks Mr Murase gave us a little talk about the history of Shibori, with Yuka translating for us. Shibori is a type of tie-dying that this area of Japan is particularly famous for.

Our little kits were laid out for us and we were shown how to fold the strip of cotton fabric

making a triangular concertina

before placing it between the two boards.

Mr. Murase checked each one to see it was accurately folded

before we added the elastic bands.

Then we walked a few doors down the street to his shop …

where the dye baths were set up in the doorway.

We were given a demonstration of how to dip the corners or edges of our triangle into the dye baths to create different patterns.

Blue on the left, red on the right.

There was a chart to show the different patterns possible.

We then rinsed the fabric twice in buckets of water before hanging the cotton out to dry.

Whilst they were drying we had a chance to wander round the village……….