This box arrived the other day at the Maiwa Loft. International first-class mail. We receive a lot of packages, many from locations all over the world, but this one was particularly interesting. It held a couple of prepared warps for the Woven Shibori class that starts almost exactly one month from now.

Catharine Ellis's breakthrough technique - woven shibori - embraces new approaches to the art of weaving and dyeing. In this technique weft threads create stunning and unique resist patters.

We have a few spaces still available for students to learn this technique and we will send the prepared warps directly to the student with their registration confirmations.

Woven Shibori is a process of weaving and resist that Catharine Ellis developed in the early 1990’s and has continued to evelve both technically and artistically.

Traditional Japanese shibori uses a variety of means to compress cloth before it is dyed including stitching, binding, folding, pleating, ect. The stitched shibori was the inspiration for woven shibori. In traditional stitched or mokume shibori parallel rows of running stitches are sewn by hand with a needle into a piece of finished cloth. When the stitches are completed they’re used to gather the cloth tightly. Then the cloth is dyed. The folds in the cloth resist the dye to varying degrees, resembling mokume or wood grain.

This class is suitable for weavers of all skill levels.

Catharine taught the Professional Fibre Program at Haywood Community College for 30 years before retiring in 2008. She is now devoted to studio work and teaching a limited number of workshops. Her original training was in traditional woven techniques, which led her to weave functional fabrics for many years, often incorporating ikat resist dyeing. More recently, her career has been defined by the discovery and exploration of the woven shibori process.

Catherine Ellis is the author of Woven Shibori, Interweave press 2005.

If you are a weaver you won't want to miss this rare opportunity to study with the woman who created and popularized the woven shibori technique.

Catherine Ellis: Wool Felt - Dyed

Merino wool

Woven shibori resist, felted, dyed

Catherine Ellis: 400 Steel Threads

Stainless steel, 80" x 20"

Woven shibori, heat

Catherine Ellis: Silence

Merino wool

Woven shibori resist, felted