Mother's Day Shibori Scarf

"This Shibori scarf is blue

Made with love just for you"

My second graders continued their Asian art unit by creating an indigo-dyed cotton scarf called Shibori. Much like tie-dye, the cloth is folded and bound with wooden sticks and wrapped with rubber bands or string before getting its indigo bath. We made a science connection by figuring out the two kinds of plants needed for this process. Below, you see the flag fold clipped with clothespins and the rolling method on the wooden dowel. There's also the fan fold, which is bound by two wooden sticks, as seen above.

The fabric was cut into long lengths from a big roll of cotton muslin, and after folding we went outside for the indigo bath - indigo has kind of a stinky smell when it is fresh! Another interesting science moment - when the fabric first comes out, it is a greenish color and begins to turn deep blue as it receives oxygen and begins drying, cool!

Once the pieces were dry the next art class, we opened them up and trimmed any long strings, leaving the fringe edges. Next we ironed them and folded them nicely with a presentation card. I hope all the moms enjoy their new scarves as fashion accessories or even as table runners. Happy Mother's Day!

This lesson was inspired by the New City Arts blog -  http://newcityarts.blogspot.com/2012/05/third-grade-shibori.html