Before Timberline resident Judy Sall begins to tie-dye a batch of cloth, she assembles some tools of her trade: Buckets, string, measuring cups, spaghetti-sauce jars, dental floss, rubber bands, squeeze bottles, bamboo skewers and bottles of fiber-reactive procion dye.

Since moving to Flagstaff from California in 2003, Sall has been devoting most of her creative energies to the ancient art of shibori, known best in America as tie-dye.

Her passion for crafts and fiber began in the 1950s and arose from her early love of finger painting.

Her focus shifted seriously to the tie-dye form in 1998.

"It was about the color and the free form," Sall said. "I've done fiber arts through the years, but tie-dye just really stuck. I really love it; it's an art form to me."

The public will have an opportunity to see and purchase Sall's work Saturday and Sunday, when she participates in the 12th annual Flagstaff Open Studios.

This popular self-guided tour showcases the work of Sall and other members of the Artists' Coalition of Flagstaff.

FUN TO WEAR

Sall will be sharing the space of Araceli Walker, at the jeweler's studio on South Tombaugh Way (No. 22 on the Open Studios map).

Although she has been at many craft fairs, this is her first time to participate in Open Studios.

"I just thought to myself, this is how you get people to see your work: To get out there and actually hawk your wares," she said.

Sall will be exhibiting more than 150 individual pieces of her tie-dyed clothing, with prices for every pocketbook.

"I was looking for something people would want to buy, and people tend to gravitate toward something they can wear," said Sall, who works out of her home with Bruce Sall, her husband of 22 years. "This is a labor of love. I could not live off of this, but it's nice if I can sell something to pay for more supplies."

As a member of the Coconino Quilters Guild, Sall likes to fashion wall hangings and will also be selling some of her art and landscape quilts.

Sall, who joined the coalition in 2005 and serves on the board of directors, also exhibits in the annual Recycled Art Exhibition, another stellar ACF show.

"I love to reuse things," she said. "One of the things I like about the exhibition is that it promotes reuse of items that we would discard."

NO PIECE IDENTICAL

Shibori techniques date from 8th century in Japan and, like tie-dye, involve binding certain sections of cloth, a resist technique that produces sometimes unexpected patterns.

"I can do eight shirts in a row, using the same pattern and same dyes, and they all come out looking different, not identical like the manufactured look, " Sall said. "It's one of the things I love about tie-dying."

In Japan, the common fabrics used are silk, hemp and cotton.

"I prefer cotton," she observed. "It has a better body and takes the dye better."

Sall said she has learned patterns from other people but has developed her own style.

"You learn to do some of your unique things that make them yours," she said. "My favorite thing is when you can get light and dark, and you can have the light filtering through."

Her favorite dye colors, ordered from Dharma Trading in California, are turquoise, sapphire, royal purple, lapis, lilac and a new favorite, robin's egg blue.

"Bronze is nice, too," she added. "It's an odd color on the chart, but it does wonderful things to other colors; it's a warming agent."

A CULTURAL ICON

Although she was born in San Francisco and lived on the edge of the Haight, Sall spent her formative years in the Pasadena area of Los Angeles.

She didn't really join in the revolution that made tie-dye a cultural icon in the '60s.

"I'm a child of the '60s, but my mom wouldn't let me play with the hippies," Sall said. "Then, with my new job and getting married, I was so busy, I kind of missed out on when tie-dye became popular — Woodstock and the Grateful Dead," she said.

Sall said the three techniques most used in creating a resist to control dyes are wrapping, stitching and clamping.

In Japan, shibori artists mostly use thread to tie cloth and create resists.

"It's labor intensive," Sall said. "I don't know how they do these things. They sit there and wrap and wrap and wrap. I'm more flamboyant."

One of her preferred techniques is pole-wrap shibori. She uses a 5-gallon bucket or a segment of sewer-size PVC pipe.

Sinew or cord is wrapped around cloth positioned at an angle on bucket or pipe. Wrapping evenly, or in a more crisscross fashion, produces differing results. Sall said she also likes to use clamps and even tin can lids to create patterns.

"You come out with a different look," Sall said. "Anytime I do it now, it's like Christmas when I go to rinse it out."

Today, Sall networks often with fabric artists and others through her Web site at www.tiedyejudy.com.

Betsey Bruner can be reached at bbruner@azdailysun.com or 556-2255.

IF YOU GO…

WHAT: 12th annual Flagstaff Open Studios, a self-guided tour of artist studios, presented by the Artists' Coalition of Flagstaff. Also Prelude, an exhibit of one piece by each participating artist, through Sept. 20

WHEN: Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

WHERE: Various studios around the Flagstaff area. Prelude exhibit is at Coconino Center for the Arts, 2300 Fort Valley Road

COST: Free, with suggested donation for Prelude show

INFO: For more information, call 522-6969 or visit www.flagstaff-arts.org.

Tour brochures and maps available at Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff Visitors Center and Artists' Coalition of Flagstaff Gallery.