Sunday, July 11, 2021

Out from Under the Dome -- Part II


When you live in a land where 1/2 the year is winter, and you find yourself rushed through spring and plopped down in the midst of the hottest summer on record, what to do?

Sun dyeing!  In this case, HOT sun dyeing!

I had several jars of assorted dyes kicking around from last year (I can imagine the active dyers among you cringing) -- some Dylon, some acid dyes (for yarn especially), and some MX dyes (for cotton and linen).  I decided I didn't care about the type of dye; I was simply going to put assorted fabric -- already pre-treated with soda ash -- into large glass jars, pour in dye (even more than one type in a single jar), stick 'em out in the 39 C sunshine for a couple of days, and see what would happen!

I'm pretty sure I've written somewhere how that, while I admire shibori-style dyeing, with folds and clips and knots and such, I don't want to do it.  The closest I've come to it is either wrapping and tying fabric around PVC pipe and then putting it in dye or applying dye with a pipette or whatever.  I prefer the serendipity of "scrunch" dyeing (also known as 'parfait' dyeing) -- where you scrunch prepared fabric into a container, and either pour dye over it as you go -- in layers, like a parfait -- or after it's scrunched into the vessel.

That's pretty much what I did with this fabric.  Two pieces were silk twill.  Another couple were cotton from my "inheritance" fabric (thanks again, Joan!) and there was one light-weight cotton 'scarf' that had been dyed a rather bland beigey pink (is beigey a word?!) in a workshop some years ago.  A 'natural dye' workshop, I think.

Here's how they started out.  The turquoise is the "inherited" cotton; the others are silk twill.  The over-dye piece isn't shown.



Now...here's how they turned out.

The "inherited" white cotton was in a turquoise acid dye, so of course (because it's plant fibre and not animal fibre) it didn't take the colour deeply.  But surprise!  Only after I dyed it did I realize it had an embossed motif (see the circled area)!



The silk twill was treated with random pourings, parfait style, of golden yellow and scarlet acid dyes:

Main colour: golden yellow; 
secondary colour: scarlet

Detail photo!

  

Main colour: scarlet;
hints of golden yellow


Detail photo!


Last but not least, there's the over-dye -- from bland "beigey pink" to..."Everything But the Kitchen Sink"!  😉




I really have no idea what I'm going to do with any of these, but there's gold to be mined in there come winter, with the hopes of the return of art exhibits and sales in my area -- let alone anywhere else!

And yet...there's more.  Stay tuned for Part III, as I link this up to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday, too.

Have a great week!

3 comments:

Kate said...

Oh, what fun! I did some tie dying a long time ago but I've never tried any other type. Yours look very interesting. I wonder what they want to become?

Bethany G said...

Totally wonderful that you had some fun dyeing - and yes, I drag out the jars from last year that I found in the laundry room, or the cupboard under the basement stairs - and sometimes leave them in the sun along, with a bit of soda ash and salt added... and then a teaspoon of a similar colour of dye powder and let them sit another day and then just go for it! I rarely dump dyes... not always a great result, but I have tons of fabric that have been gifted like yours - MAKE COLOUR. MAKE ART!

I have had so many wonderful comments from friends about your beautiful small piece I purchased at the spotlight auction... much loved.
Bethany

Joan said...

Wow Margaret, your experiments have turned out some wonderful results. I think you’ll have some fun with those fabrics once you find yourself inside when the weather becomes cooler. I look forward to seeing the end results! Xx