Post #568931 by MadDogMike on Wed, Dec 15, 2010 10:30 PM

Thank you G, I am working on hardcoating the Moai so I can paint him

Even Jacques Cousteau had to come up from the depths of the sea sometimes! I’m working on another mysterious tiki project.

This is the rare and elusive Witco/Orongo Sooty Tern Tentpole Topper and Netted Float Lamp Holder.

I wanted a large quantity of fabric that looked somewhat like thatched roof. After some research I decided to try Arashi Shibori, an ancient Japanese “tie dying” technique. This is usually done with small silk scarves wrapped around a pole or PVC pipe, instead I used a 9x7 foot piece of muslin wrapped around a 15 gallon plastic drum. First I dyed the fabric yellow in the washing machine (shhh, my wife doesn’t know! :o ). Next the fabric is layed out flat and rolled around the drum

The fabric was spiral wrapped with twine

Then “scrunched” down to the bottom of the drum, making room on the drum for more fabric to be wrapped and scrunched. In the end about 250 feet of twine was used to wrap and scrunch all the fabric.

The drum and fabric were taken outside and doused in boiling water to help facilitate wicking the dye into the fabric. Then boiling tan dye solution was painted onto the fabric. I let this set for about an hour then rinsed it with the hose, cut the twine and unwrapped the fabric. I used Rit dye which works best when heat set, so I wadded the whole wet mess up and steamed it for 30 minutes.

Then into the washer and dryer and here is the finished fabric.

The effect is a bit more subtle than I had hoped for, I may end up doing it again with brown dye instead of tan. It has little red and green spots all over it. I assume the tan dye was made of red and green crystals, some of which I didn’t get completely dissolved :lol: