Maggie Bunzl (England) "In my current pieces I am using the Japanese technique of shibori (tie-dyeing) as a means of transforming two-dimensional handmade paper sheets into three-dimensional sculptures. I choose strong but flexible fibres like kozo, hemp, linen or abaca, which are first formed into large flat sheets on a vacuum table. Some fibres have been coloured with iron oxide pigments processed from the earth or with vegetable dyes (such as cherry leaves and plum bark). Others are left in their natural state. The sheets are wrapped, folded and tied, then dyed in iron rust, tannin and indigo or simply plunged into a vat of water. As the paper dries into its twists and folds, it becomes something else. Its texture is transformed into that of skin or bark: the natural tannin in the dyes reacts with the extra iron and tannin solutions to give a rich colour shading from chestnut through to black, while the iron rust tints fibres still in their natural state with gold, orange and brown. (…)" From: Timeless Paper, Leiden 2002 © Compres Publishers Ltd