Shibori scarves

I have been playing with woven shibori since reading a note about it in Bonnie Inouye's wonderful book Exploring Multishaft Design back in 2003. This year, in April, I was fortunate to travel to Ballarat in Victoria, Australia to attend a Textile Forum. I spent 5 days being tutored by Catherine Ellis, who wrote the book, Woven Shibori. An amazingly wonderful week which brought the information in the book to life.
I love the organic nature of this weave process. You can learn all the rules, control the weaving but once it comes out of the dye process and the resist threads are taken out you find blips in the lines, uneven dye distribution, etc. As my Mum used to say when she opened the pottery kiln, you have to learn to like what you get.

You will notice the diamond pattern on these scarves. In Maori this is called patiki or patikitiki
meaning flounder; the designs are based on the diamond shape of the flounder fish. This design acknowledges the fact that Maori women were always looking for ways to supplement their food supplies even in the dark when the flounder came, when their men were sound asleep.