Dyeing Day Follow Up
- Details
- Category: In The Studio
- Published on Thursday, 15 July 2010 17:32
At last - my results from last week's dyeing day. It takes me awhile, what can I say?
All my dyed fabric sat overnight "batching". It's always fun after rinsing to get the big reveal. I was particularly eager to unwrap the shibori from the pipes to see what happened.
All wrapped up and soaked with dye, it's hard to get any idea of the final result. This is part of the fun!
This is the utility sink in the basement where I do my sloppy work. I had it installed a couple of years ago and it's one of the best investments I've made. I show it to you just because I still love it so much!
So, everything is unwrapped, rinsed very briefly in the sink, then put into the washer for a cold rinse. I used to rinse, rinse, rinse by hand, but now I leave the tedious work to my washing machine. After a cold rinse in the machine I run a hot-water wash with synthrapol to remove any unreacted dye particles. Then into the dryer, and ........... TA DA!
The fabric is ready to press. This part is fun too because I get to fondle the fabric and really see the final results. And here are the final results.
This is a grouping of the shibori pieces. They are overlapped for the picture, but are all 3 to 4 times larger than shown. I was extremely pleased with the results. Some were tied with a heavy twine and some with a very small gauge string and that makes a difference in the pattern achieved. I tied the first one or two in a more straight and controlled fashion. After that I really gave the fabric a twist as I wrapped and that gave a much more random and interesting line. The blues have a look of reflective water that is quite beautiful. I really love them all! These first time samples are small; next time I plan to dye larger pieces.
Here are the two gradated sets I dyed. The green is made by combining cobalt blue with deep yellow. I made an 8-stage gradation, but by the time you get to the lighter tints there is so little difference that it hardly seems worth it. I might just do six next time. The terra cotta was a real mash-up of dyes. Half way through I added some more orange which changes things (for the better, I think). Of course, that is not scientific at all, but this was a fun dyeing day, not science class!
So there you have it. Spending a day dyeing fabric is always fun and time well spent. It adds new colors to my fabric palette that are ready to use when inspiration strikes. Susan's work that day was quite different from what I did. Check out Susan's blog to see her final results, and as always I owe her my gratitude for getting me going, teaching me a new technique, generously sharing tools and materials and always being a supportive collaborator!
Until next time -
MCH
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