Your Ah Haa Moment: Shibori with Kathy Green

East meets West at Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts later this month, Monday – Wednesday, March 29 – 31, 6 – 9 p.m., when Kathy Green teaches "Simply Shibori/Simply Fun."

Shibori is a cloth resist-dyeing technique that may include binding, stitching, folding, twisting, or compressing to create dye patterns on silk in Japan since the eighth century. Western civilization does not have an exact word equivalent to encompass all the techniques of shibori. The closest we get is tie-dye, but the term (and technique) simply covers the binding method of dyeing known as bound-resist.

There is a nearly infinite variety of methods to bind, stitch, fold, twist or clamp cloth for shibori, each of which results in very different patterns. The technique used in shibori depends not only on the desired pattern, but the characteristics of the cloth being dyed. 

In Kathy's class, students, beginners to experienced artists, will play with color to make silk scarves and purses, at least eight items in all over three days.

(photos by Amy Levek)