Recommended Reads

The following titles are a worthwhile addition to any textile or design library. We also recommend you check out the Slow Fiber Studios Shop, where we stock our latest and greatest discoveries.

Clamp Resist Dyeing of Fabrics

In late 1960s, heavy wooden blocks with carved ornamentation were discovered in an antique shop in Ahmedabad. This book describes the background to the finds and the details of the blocks. Technical conclusions about the use of Ahmedabad blocks are drawn form the existing blocks in Calico Museum in India, Basle, and Victoria and Albert Museum collections. Additional evidence comes from the patterned and dyed fabrics from Asia and Europe, as well as literary references. This book surveys the distribution of fabrics and procedures, and discusses the age and origin of the technique.

Authors: Buhler, Alfred and Eberhard Fischer.

Publisher: Calico Museum of Textiles, Ahmedabad, India, 1977.

123 pages. 76 b/w figures, 12 color plates. 6.75 x 9.5 x 0.25 in. 0.7 lbs.

Hagire no Bunkashi: A Chronicle of Fabric Rags – The Power of Cloth to Connect Time and Space

Image catalogue chronicling boro and other pieced garments

Published by: Fukushima Prefectural Art Museum, Fukushima, Japan (2006). 168 pages. Color images. Japanese text. 29.5 cm L x 22.5 cm W (11.5in x 9 in) (2lb)

Imprints on Cloth: 18 years of field research among the Miao people of Guizhou, China

Step-by-step instruction and illustration on Miao indigo dyeing. Features the making of calendared glossy cloths, pleating, wax resist painting, crinkle textured cloths, and more.

Authors: Dr. Sadae Torimaru & Dr. Tomoko Torimaru. English editors: Yoshiko I Wada, Nancy A Salumbides. Published by Nishinippon Newspaper Co. (2004, 2005). 144 pages. Color illustrations. English & Japanese text. 9.5 x 9.5 x 0.5 inches (2lb). ISBN: 4-8167-0592-9

Jiaxie Chinese Folk Textiles

beautiful facsimile of a traditional bound book, a step-by-step photo record with text about Chinese folk textiles
Hansei, Taipei, China, 1997
Chinese text
b/w

The Kimono Inspiration: Art and Art-To-Wear in America

Edited by Rebecca A.T. Stevens and Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada. copyright 1996 The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C.

The Kimono Inspiration: Art and Art-to-Wear in America explores the use and meaning of the kimono in America and traces the transformation of this quintessential Japanese garment from its ethnic origins, through its many appearances in fine art, costume, and high fashion, to its role in the contemporary Art-to-Wear Movement (from the Introduction).

Exhibition catalogue from The Textile Museum. 208 pages. Color illustrations. English text. 9 x 12 x 0.5 inches.. ISBN: 0-87654-897-4

Size: 12x 9.5″. Weight: 3 lbs.

RRRipp!! Paper Fashion

Beautifully printed catalogue of images and essays accompanying the exhibition “RRRipp!! Paper Fashion,” from 1960s Americana to today’s forefront fashion designers from Belgium, Europe and Japan. Curated by Vassilis Zidianakis of ATOPOS.

Shibori: The Inventive Art of Japanese Shaped Resist Dyeing

Seminal book on shibori; tradition, techniques, innovation, and appendices complete with tool diagrams, glossary, etc. See complete description here on Kodansha Publications site

Authors: Yoshiko Wada, Mary Kellogg Rice, Jane Barton

Publisher: Kodansha International (1983, 1999 paperback) 300 pages including 104 color plates, 298 b+w plates. English text. 8.5 x 12.8 x 1 in. (3lb) ISBN 0-87011-559-6

Spiritual Fabric: 20 years of field research among the Miao of Guizhou, China

Step by step instructions and illustrations on growing, harvesting, making indigo dye; weaving; plaiting; etc; from off-loom to backstrap loom variations.

Authors: Dr. Sadae Torimaru. English editors: Yoshiko I Wada, Nancy A Salumbides. Published by Nishinippon Newspaper Co. (2006). 144 pages. Color illustrations. English & Chinese text. 9.5 x 9.5 x 0.5 inches (2lb). ISBN 4-8167-0691-7

The Textiles of Cambodia: Ikat, Nui-Shibori, and More

In Japanese and English. Essays: “Cambodian Textile Culture by Kazuyo Uemura; “Cambodian Ikat and Naga” by Noriko Ogawa; “Cambodian Dyeing and Weaving with a focus on the role played by Cham people” by Etsuko Iwanaga; extended captions for each piece; maps; and a weaving loom, parts, tools.åÊ

Publisher: Fukuoka Art Museum, 2003

Tsutsugaki: Beauty of Paste Resist Indigo Dyeing

In Japanese and English. Essay on Tsutsugaki (tsutsu: tube, gaki: drawing) with historical and artistic aspects by Etsuko Iwanaga. Exhibition catalogue of works from Edo to just before World War II. Chapter 1: Celebration (wedding bedding, wrapping cloths with auspicious Chinese motifs), Chapter 2: Celebration II (kimonos and textiles with auspicious Japanese motifs), Chapter 3: Tsutsugaki from Saga Prefecture (from the Miyahara collection), Chapter 4: Life and Festival (items celebrating every day life: shop curtains, firefighter’s coat, ritual cloths, horse sashes, torso cloths worn during festivals). Detailed description notes.

Publisher: Fukuoka Art Museum, 2011

Vintage ISS Shibori Swatch Book – Limited Edition

Vintage ISS Shibori Swatch Book – LIMITED EDITION. Available online at shop.slowfiberstudios.com

Published in 1992 at the first International Shibori Symposium in Nagoya, Japan.

A book of 32 sheets of actual shibori fabric swatches on cotton(except one from Kyoto) covering representative techniques practiced in 1992. Details as follows; Sheets 1-22 from Arimatsu-Narumi, Japan; Sheet 23 silk sample from Kyoto; Sheet 24 purple root(gromwell) on cotton from Iwate Prefecture; Sheet 25 from Akita Prefecture; Sheet 26 from Niigata Prefecture; Sheet 27-29 from Yunnan Province, China; Sheet 30 Laharia shibori from India; Sheet 31 Tritik shibori from Indonesia; Sheet 32 from Mali, Africa.åÊ

8-page booklet included explaining each process in both Japanese and English text.

Printing by Tokai Kyodo Printing Co.L.td

Published on November 21, 1992

Translated by Takaharu Ito and Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada

Size of book: 10.10 in. x 7.6 in. x 1.5 in. (1.75 lbs.)

Size of swatch:

Size A: 10 cm x 12 cm(framed) / 12 cm x 13.5 cm(actual)
Size B(smaller): 6 cm x 9 cm(framed) / 11cm x 8(actual)åÊ
Size C(smallest): 5 cm x 6 cm(framed) / 6 cm x 8 cm(actual)

Weaving, Dyeing and Embroidery: Diversity in Sumatran Textiles from the Eiko Kusuma Collection

In Japanese and English. Essays: “Weaving, Dyeing and Embroidery: Sumatran Textiles from the Eiko Kusuma Collection” translated by Etsuko Tsuzuki, curator, the Fukuoka Art Museum;åÊcomprehensive descriptions for each exhibit covering geographical, historical and cultural context.

Publisher: Fukuoka Art Museum,åÊ1999

Yomigaeru Maboroshi no Senshoku: Izumo Ai Itajime no Sekai to Sono Keifu (Textile Mirage: Izumo indigo itajime)

images and process explanations on indigo itajime from Izumo
Shimane Prefectural Museum of Ancient Izumo, 2008
Japanese text
29.5cm x 24.5cm
color