Well I'm out of shibori paper scraps now! This is the final basket in the diagonal weave in all of its glory. There were some technical issues (of course there were) but I triumphed in the end.
The top is done by folding over all of the ends and weaving them back into the body giving it a zig zag edge.
its interesting to me how the two weaves have such different personalities to them. The diagonal is kind of jazzy and dynamic, the horizontal is calmer and stronger in appearance.
Good point! Are they strong enough to function as anything but decor? mmmm... well I wouldn't take them to go apple picking but I bet they could carry a quart of blueberries... no matter I will probably use them as dry vases or just put the square vase inside of them and use them for flowers... The paper is really pretty strong and the places where I joined two pieces have nice 1" plus overlap. I only had one piece rip while I was working with them. Elizabeth brought up a good point which is that the tight weave does obscure the shibori patterns quite a bit, it would be interesting to find a way to construct a basket that maintained the continuity of the patterns better. Just a thought.
Also in the interest of complete disclosure I never did manage to get to my "less interesting project" last night so I should probably put in half an effort now!
4 comments:
Love, love, love this finished basket. Also love the picture contrasting this basket with the non-bias basket. What's the footprint size of the basket? Could you put an empty small glass or jar in the center and use it as a vase? I'd love to see flowers bursting out of the riotous color. (Did I say how much I love these colors by the way?)
I've been giving the warp faced strategy some thought. I have an idea that might work. I'll have to try a sample (of course I don't have any shibori paper so it'll be dull construction paper, but for a prototype that would be fine). And now, I'm actually thinking that the next time I dye fabric, I should do some paper with the left overs...
Hi Elizabeth
The footprint is 4" square, and since I wove them around the glass vase I can slide it right back into them and use it as a water tight vase, unfortunately I only have one vase so maybe a trip to Micheals is in order to get another :)
Dyeing paper is very satisfying so I'd reccomend it the next time you have the colors out. Rice paper is nice because it has a combo of thinness and strength which works well with manipulation, but cotton rag or mulberry work well too. I have plans to look into teabag paper which is even more fabric like. The one difficulty with paper and Procion dyes is that you cant really set the dyes nad rinse out the excess, so be careful with glues or waterbased mediums too much liquid willl cause the patterns to run, judicious use is called for.
Let me know how the sample turns out! I'm curious to see it...
Such a beautiful and unique result! You could make a gorgeous lantern with this idea too!
Hey Kit
you read my mind... I was thinking votives!
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