I am fascinated with exploring all the possibilities of fabric alteration, like smocking, pleating and orinuno. The book on the picture is called Shadowfolds and is about a folding technique developed by a very old japanese gentleman named Shuzo Fujimoto. He started this as a folding technique with fabric, called hira-ori, a form of orinuno, or origami with fabric.
He developped this technique using methods of binding very similar to american smocking, resulting in tessellations done with thin linen or silk, beautiful to see and amazing when hold against the light.
I have tried one of those on a batist hanky. The dots of the pattern are drawn on the fabric and connected with tread in a concentric way.
The book tell us to pull and knot the thread for each binding while progressing from the middle. This won't work, though. When pulled tight the dots get distorted and is not possible to see which dots have to be connected.
What I did was connect all the dots each binding and let the thread hang. This method I used before when making bubble smocking, a form of american smocking.
This is how it looks with all the dots connected but not tied.
When connecting the dots is good to keep the pattern close by, so that you connect the right dots together.
Then, starting from the center, pull each thread tight, knot three times and cut the thread.
This is the back completed.
Now at the front you turn each circle of folds, one clockwise and the other counter clockwise.
Iron with your very appropiate japanese mini iron :)
My result is only so-so. Specially the decagon in the middle is only a blob. I will try again with shantung silk.
But you get the idea.
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