As in any other medium, there seems no limit to the imagery one can create in working in shibori. That’s one of the things I love about it. The challenge lies in its engineering aspects. The image below is student work, but it wasn’t child’s play, it was work.
I was fortunate to witness some of the aspects of the making of this piece – and yes, part of it may have been play – certainly experimental. It was a dip at a time, letting it oxidize, assessing it and repeating the process until the dye was deep enough or that it covered the desired areas. I love the playful aspects of the piece. It also takes me to a long ago place, a certain lake and some memorable sailing.
From time to time, especially when I’m in the middle of a workshop, often, a particular proverb comes to mind. I encountered it my early years of teaching as well as explorations in indigo. It has become a favorite:
「青は藍より出でて藍より青し」
「あおは あいより でて あい より あお し」
Ao wa ai yori dete ai yori ao shi.
The translation has to do with blue being stronger/better/beyond the blue in the indigo plant (at least it’s a reference to an original color source) or something of that ilk. At any rate, it refers to the student being better than the teacher – quite often the case and certainly in my experience many times. So, I wonder if this has more to do with becoming better – growing past the teacher, which is what is wanted in the end. That may be the message in the proverb and to the teacher as well.
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Years ago, in my art history studies of ancient Babylon, and encountering the images of the Ishtar gate, I was amazed. It was almost a solid indigo! Or so it seemed. A few years later, I went to New York and visited the Met with the specific intention of seeing the 
糸で/ Ito de/ By Thread 
