Interestingly, when the layers are closed up this wrap has a very kelpish look.
Light plays a huge part in the colors in the layering. When the layers are opened to the light, however, the look is quite a bit different and just as wonderful! Such is the personality of the Kelp Chameleon Wrap. Worn as a scarf with the layers closed, it would look more like the picture above, and the color is intense. I wrote about this wrap in a previous blog piece, so thought I would do a post on the finished piece in a sort of picturely historical way all my own!
When opened, you can see kelpish portions of the wrap, although the color actually pervades the entire piece.
First of all I put silk on plastic, crinkled the silk and sponged on dyes, wet on wet. When dried, washed and again dried, it was very pretty on the pole in pastel colors.
The next color addition was the kelp - brown dye with lots of yellow added. It was beautiful, and I could feel that it was not the finished piece, as it had solid layers of pleated color. It needed more cohesion with the colors. So it was wrapped on the pole again and this time it was wrapped with a twist and dyed dark blue.
By twisting it as I wind it on the pole, smaller bits of color are added to the wrap. It looks in the picture below that it is all going blue, but such is an illusion. You need to remember what it looked like before. There are plenty of illusions to mislead one while creating art on the shibori path!! I am always prepared for a surprise or two...
The central picture shows how it changed in looks after the blue was added. Of course it is laid out on a piece of pale green printed cotton so the color is not exactly true to the silk. I then refolded and wrapped it again, but this time on a much smaller diameter pole. The result is the finished piece at the bottom. (And at the top).
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My hope is that you can see and appreciate how much artistry goes into designing and making each magnificent work such as this, and that the money you spend to acquire and wear this art is well worth it.
(Originally posted 2 October, 2016). Edited 26 January, 2024