Saturday, March 16, 2013

Snow Dye Report

Yesterday, as I posted, in a pinch I cobbled together what I hope will be the last batch of snow dyeing till December.  I decided to use the dye powder directly on the snow, rather than mix it with liquid first.  Here's what it looked like at the outset:

Sky Blue/Golden Yellow/Hint of Fuchsia Red

Lemon Yellow, Golden Yellow, Some Scarlet, Fuchsia Red

I let it sit about 7 hours, and the snow was still there, though diminished in volume.  Quite a lot of dye left in the rinsing.  Once washed with Synthrapol and dried in the dryer, this is what turned out:


Pastel, indeed, but perfect for sunrises or sunsets or florals or funky skies.  The pastel results are likely due to a combination of things:  first, the fact that the fabric is recycled bed linen and therefore not likely pure cotton, but a cotton-polyester blend; and second, the fact that my soda ash solution wasn't fresh.  It had been preserved from the last batch of snow dyeing -- about 6 weeks ago, at the end of January.  But I am not disappointed.  I knew those things going in.  And so...the results are not unexpected and entirely satisfactory.

On the "Train" front, I assembled a larger truck-end yesterday.  Don't you think the proportions are better in this view?


The truck is not yet fused down; I am undecided as to whether or not to show a few of the grasses/cat-tails behind it.  I'm going to ponder that for a while, as I await an order of 1/8" silk ribbon from Dharma, which I will dye and use to put those in.  I have only a bright, sunny yellow and a selection of reds in my stash, and can't find any silk ribbon locally to save my soul.  Neither can I find it online except in large quantities, with 4 weeks requested for dyeing.

In the Dharma order, I included a yard of silk habotai and one of silk charmeuse to play with in my online class with Jane Dunnewold through Craftsy.com, and another jar of Sky Blue MX dye powder...for obvious reasons!

And now to prepare to head out to Edmonton.  It's snowing lightly and there's a bit of a breeze, so I'll venture out cautiously and see if I can make it up Highway 21...with a pit-stop at Lori's in Sherwood Park, just for fun.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

5 comments:

besshaile said...

I really like those pastel colors - they're not washed out looking. Just soft.

Linda A. Miller said...

I like the delicate look of the colors as well. I am sure you will find a great use for them.

Linda A. Miller said...

Forgot to add this comment...yes, the change in the truck size works better...a stronger image. Like where you are going with this one.

Cathy Tomm said...

The pale colours on your snow dye fabric will make great sky's. If the fabric is a blend that maybe as dark as it will dye. Hope you had a good trip out today.

Wil said...

Old soda ash is not a problem at all. It takes me sometimes close to a year to finish a gallon of it. If you want dark colors with snow dyeing, you really have to use a lot of procion powder.