Year 2’s Shibori Dye Adventure

In Year 2 art classes, students have been exploring where colour comes from in nature. Looking at the work of fabric and fibre artists from Korea, India, Thailand, Laos and Japan, they noticed how cloth is dyed using colours from flowers and plants. Students investigated how to create a resist from this dye, using Shibori folding techniques and wrapping. There was lots of excitement when their prepared cotton cloth went into a natural dye of their choice from dark green, dark red or light blue. They made predictions and discussed their ideas for how repeating patterns might be made through this process.

In subsequent lessons, the students will unwrap their tied fabrics to see the different patterns created by the resist techniques. Their cloth will be used as an attachment for a canvas tote bag, which they plan to paint using turmeric, butterfly pea and roselle plants. This week, the exciting investigations into how they will paint with colour extracted from these plants has begun.

Already Year 2 students are finding that these colours behave differently to synthetically manufactured paints. They will need to adapt and test how to use them in the creation of their bag designs. So much learning takes place when we are trying new media and materials. Students practice being open-minded, adaptable and resilient during the creative process.