When I visit Bryan Whitehead’s amazing silk farmhouse in Fujino, Japan each year I love to learn new Shibori techniques and dye my work in Bryan’s rich dark, dark blue indigo vats.

I’ve done Arashi shibori lots of times. It involves wrapping the fabric around a pole (a length of drainpipe works well!) and then binding the fabric with strong thread and pushing it down the pole to create multiple pleats.

This is a variation using evenly spaced acrylic rods glued to the pole. I also chose to use a heavier cotton fabric and this had the joyous effect of creating a lighter pattern on the back of the fabric, effectively giving the wearer two scarves for the price of one!

This piece had 12 dips in Bryan’s Japanese indigo and was then taken down to the river to bash off the loose indigo and bring out the white of the fabric for contrast.

It’s one of the best things I’ve made this year…