Recycled Mail Book, Transformed Book Exhibit, and Shibori Style Fabric

I continue to experiment and surely it is all taking me somewhere with my art, soon I will get back to painting...?Shibori Dyed Fabric
Above is a picture of fabric pieces that I recently dyed using shibori type methods to create the patterns. Shibori is the Japanese word for several methods of dying cloth with a pattern by binding, stitching, folding, twisting, or compressing it. I've read that that Shibori has been an art form since the 8th Century, quite a tradition. The West sometimes calls it tie-dye, however that does not adequately include all the techniques of shibori. I have belonged to a Machine Embroidery circle of women for a couple of years, where I learned this and various other types of experimental mixed media techniques from a talented fiber artist named June. I had fun with the techniques and the most fun was seeing the transformation of my pure white fabric into the great colors and patterns above. I am interested in taking my experiments further with natural vegetable dyes. Now, what to do with those pieces, perhaps a fabric book is wanting to emerge?
Recycled Mail Book
I have been playing around with junk mail again the last couple of weeks, and decided to make a book out some of it. So, here it is finished, and I really like the outcome. Very portable size, mixed pages of various papers, fold out accordion pages, all ready for me to sketch onto. I got creative with my binding and it came out better than I hoped, as it is totally flexible and lays flat.

Transformed Book Exhibit
I forgot to mention that we went to the Bellevue Art Museum early this month (another free day). There was a book exhibit featuring 31 artists, "The Book Borrowers: Contemporary Artists Transforming the Book", that I especially wanted to see and it was well worth the visit. Consider going since it's on til June 14th. It examines the meaning of the book form in a time when we are becoming increasingly digital. I do love books and magazines and can't imagine going totally digital, there's something wonderful about holding a volume in my hands filled with ideas or stories that can paint images in my head and take me to another place. As for the exhibit, there was a life size reclining Buddha carved from books, a mini-Grand Canyon carved from a set of encyclopedias, and the truly amazing art of Brian Dettmer. Click here to and here to see some of his intricate carvings... I had heard he had some items in this exhibit and that is who I did not want to miss.