Another Shibori Do-Over

This piece, just above, used to be the piece below. The new colors on the redone piece, which is handwoven silk woven shibori, are so complex that it was difficult to photograph. How I got from A, below, to B, above, was this:

The cloth was originally dyed with acid dyes, so I used discharge paste to do bomaki shibori - and the discharge paste did nothing, no surprises there. That's my last attempt at removing color with Jacquard Discharge Paste. Anyhow, then I thioxed it. I still wasn't happy with the color removal, so then for good measure I bleached it for just a few minutes in a 1/3 solution with water. I rinsed it in anti-chlor, then washed in hot water and synthrapol. While it was clean and still wet, I immersed it in a bath of violet acid dye. And you see what I got.

I love turning finished pieces into something else, something more complex, a finished piece of art cloth instead of a scarf. Even though I've handwoven this piece -- and previous do-overs -- by the time I've decided to do something new with it, all sense of risk seems to have vanished. I'm not attached to it. I'm willing to experiment and work with what I get, and keep working it until I like it.

I suppose this art process is a metaphor for my life...I keep working at it until I get it right, 'til I'm happy with it, 'til I can comfortably live with it, 'til I'm willing to put it out into the world and claim it.