Karen Kamenetzky Fiber Art

Mulberry Bark.

Well new to me anyway. Apparently it has been used for hundreds of years in Japan and elsewhere in Asia. It’s also referred to as kozo and is used extensively in papermaking.

I got some bleached and then dyed it with Setacolor.

dyed mulberry bark

I’m a sucker for the texture which is irregularly grid-like but can be teased into curvier lines that form around serendipitous holes. Very fun to play with. It’s quite stiff and when wet and shaped will dry to that shape. Folks, like this woman, make delicate bowls with it.

Me, I will dye it, pull the fibers into the pattern I want and stitch it down. That’s the plan anyway. I think it has great potential to add interesting organic surface texture.
Have any of you used it?

Tags: cellular, dyeing, fiber art, mulberry bark, textile art

This entry was posted on November 6, 2015 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Dyeing, Process, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.