in the dye zone
ever since I discovered i could dye my own fabrics i kinda get into a zone when i actually get to do it. it’s been such a long while since i did anything creative and it felt sooooo good to get my hands into the dye pots again.
this time i’m dyeing fabrics for my class with Nancy Crow and, as most of you probably know, she requires A LOT of yardage in all colourways, shades and tints for her workshops.
I usually dye fabric the Anne Johnston way…..piling 3 pieces of fabric in a large jar using 3 different dyes on each layer (see above). i love the way these fabrics turn out, sort a serendipitous adventure.
this time, however, i need tints and shades of each colour….and that means gradation dyeing that i haven’t done since i started dyeing years ago. instead of using baggies with lots of water, I utilized a low water immersion technique (thinking green here) and small plastic containers.
the process
…made up a 1 cup solution of dye for each colour
…poured 1/2 cup of it into a measuring cup
…dribbled that over one of the 1/2 yd pieces of soda-ash soaked cloth
…manipulated it with my gloved hands so all the cloth is coloured. I then
…topped off the remaining dye solution with a 1/2 cup of water
…mixed it thoroughly then
…poured out a 1/2 cup of that newly mixed solution and
…dribbled that over another 1/2 piece of fab. i continued like this until all 6 pieces were done.
the wait
i then repeated these steps for each colour and stacked up bin after bin, soooo cool to behold! btw, i got these hand dandy containers at Target….rubbermaid takealongs squares…. 8 for about $4.00…sweet deal!.
meanwhile…
i had a white shirt that had definitely seen better days (dingy white is so out!) and decided to used some of the remaining dyes on the shirt that i scrunched up in a small bin. can’t wait to rinse this out, love the rainbow effect!
next post…the results, stay tuned.
for more in depth tutorials on dyeing check out these:
paula burch’s “all about dyeing”
terri stegmiller’s “2 colour gradation”
melody johnson’s “the lazy dyer”
melissa’s “fabric dyeing 101″
cynthia st charles’”conservation dyeing“
(this is not the most comprehensive list but a start for those not familiar or needing a refresher)
Wow, Grace — that’s a lot of measuring for you, knowing how you typically do it.
It all looks great. You sure picked a HOT week to dye!
Was a lot of measuring but got a good rhythm going…..scrunch fab….pour water…..shake…..pour half cup….dribble over…cover….repeat. And yes, was drenched by the time I eventually finished.
Horrible you, keeping us in suspense! I can’t wait to see how that shirt turned out! Looks fabulous.
Thanks for sharing this! I usually don’t measure anything when I dye but I think I will try this out this week. I haven’t done gradations before. Your fabrics turned out beautifully!
Katy S´s last blog ..Another finish!
[...] 2nd piece i painted was one of the gradation fabs I did for Nancy Crow workshop, originally golden yellow, it got messed up in the wash with green splotches so i saved it for the [...]