Nagoya Arimatsu Shibori: The Final Viewing

I had a lot of fun tying and sewing the handkerchief. If I could have I would have liked to have tried dying the fabric as well! I highly recommend going to Arimatsu in Nagoya and trying your hand at tying and sewing a handkerchief. You can see some old style houses and there are lots of options for souvenirs. You can buy kimono products in this city as well, but the really nice ones are a bit expensive.

Again, if you are interested in visiting the Arimatsu Shibori Kaikan then click here and make a reservation! They have an English page as well so no worries if you can't read Japanese!

Japanese Shibori Handkerchief: Unfolding My Handiwork!

 The postage stamp from Arimatsu. I love the picture of the bird on it.

 It's now unfolded and I can start cutting the thread!

 The tools that were used.

 This is Yukiko and she is hard at work in taking out the thread from her handkerchief.

 As you can see she chose pink.

 One thread down and many more to go....

 Don't worry the patterns get more interesting than this. This is the only one where I tied a single ring, the rest have at least two rings.

 Pulling the thread!

A peek at whats to come! Keep an eye out for the next post! It will be a full display of all the patterns on my handkerchief and a little look at my friends handiwork as well!

I'm not sure which was more fun, tying or untying the handkerchief.

Nagoya: Arimatsu Shibori Kaikans' Museum

 Handmade dolls with shibori paper clothing.

These dolls were depicting how people used to work with shibori. Now, there are more machines involved in the dyeing process, but the sewing and tying are still done by hand.

Some samples of the different effects that are possible with shibori

 What the fabric looks like after sewing and tying, but before being dyed.

 Dyed fabrics that were twisted into ropes that will later be unrolled as in this photo.

 Fabric from previous generations.

 More historical items with shibori fabric.

 A close-up of the fabric being unrolled.

 There was an old woman who was working on some shibori. There were three seats for the ladies to sit, but on this day she was the only one working at the time. Her hands are very agile with a needle and thread!

 Another tool that is sometimes used in tying the fabric.

 A finished product. They had sewn two different fabrics together to make a zabuton (cushion to sit on).

A wall hanging.

Nagoya: Arimatsu Shibori-Kaikan; The Tying Process

 The tying part was the most fun for me. Just the idea that wrapping a piece of thread around the material can create a pattern was exciting!

The pattern was on the material with this dark ink that disappears with dyeing so you don't have to worry about stitching or tying exactly on the dots.

 My master piece! or what will become my master piece. They give you a choice of 3 colors, green, pink and indigo blue (the color that started it all). I chose the indigo blue and I'm really glad I chose that color. I will show you the finished product in another post. It's really amazing how it turned out. I am very happy and it is worth it to take the time to visit this museum.

The were sliding doors covered in paper in the front of the room. It had this tiger family and bamboo and mountains which are all tie-dyed! It was beautiful.....

The tigress and her cub

You can see with this close-up that it is all from shibori.

 The mountains

 The tiger

 Even the door handle was detailed, not in shibori, but still.

I hope this post makes you want to visit Nagoya! I highly recommend coming and going to Arimatsu. Kyoto may be known for the traditional buildings and temples, but the only historical place for shibori is Arimatsu. Come visit where it all started!

Shibori-Kaikan visit their website to make a reservation. Click on the English button to read it in English!