OKINAWA (5) Shibori

This is a tablecloth done in shibori. Last night we ate in a local restaurant which had only five tables (Okinawan style - sit on the floor)  in an old Okinawan house. The food was delicious but the tablecloths were stunning.  Every table had a different pattern of cloth.

When I say local, I mean three minutes away, done an unlit muddy lane, using a flash-light to guide us. As we returned to our chalet, we heard music and walked past what is clearly the village hall where there was a class going on in Okinawan dance. We stood outside and watched through the windows.

During the day, we had been very unsuccessful in finding an indigo studio I had read about. Ruth set about the web to see what she could do and, by the end of the evening, she thought she could get us there. So we set off at 930 this morning and found it!! The notices for it are all in Japanese and it is called Ai Zome in a village called Izumi high in the hills.

Here we are dipping our shibori work into the Indigo Vat. They do it differently from everything I have been taught. You dip the fabric in and out slowly but continuously for three minutes. Then it is inspected and we repeated this three times.

This is Ruth's piece at the end. It is of cotton and about 18 inches square.

And this is mine - a piece of hemp. We were both rather pleased with our efforts.

This is my piece of completed bingata, ironed, soaked, washed and dried.

And these are Ruth's pieces. All very pleasing. We have been repacking this evening. Throwing away the paper and plastic bags we have collected and wondering if the airlines will let us on board. I have made a list of what I have bought for the Customs people although I don't think I am over the limit.

Tomorrow we drive South to Naha, return the car and fly to Tokyo, then to a hotel and up early on Sunday to get to  a different airport - Narita. Then home on Sunday afternoon. It has been great. We have both been very taken with the kindness and courtesy of the people in North Okinawa. No-one here speaks English at all. They don't speak a lot in Naha, the capital, whereas you can count of someone speaking English in Kyoto and Tokyo. At our hotel in Naha, noone spoke English!

Here our hotel used a computer translator - and they warned the restaurant we did not speak Japanes. As a result, when each course arrived, the girl also brought a piece of paper with the ingredients written out in English. Obviously they had spent some time on the web before we arrived!! 

Seen a lot, done a lot, more than I expected to. I'll be back - the question where?