For years, a session dyeing generally meant I would have 50 yards of new fabric by the end of the day and would dye like this for about a week before I just gave up and ironed the piles of fabric I had created! Speed was of the essence.
Since spending so much time marbling lately, my approach to dyeing has modified a bit as well. I am thinking more about what I am doing, trying some new things and just working on yardage until I get what I would like at which point I call it the end. So now there are only a few pieces from each day and I will work on those until I am happy rather than put them in the ugly basket -- although marbling might be just the thing to add eventually!
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This was a piece that I folded and put to alligator clips on. All these pieces were immersion dyed in ProChem's Intense Blue. I had about 500 gms of fabric and I used about two level tbsps of the dye and two cuts of salt per the 3 gallons of water. I used about 1 1/2 cups of soda ash. All the pieces here went into the same dye bath.
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This was the plain white fabric as above but with the clips with the circles at the end from the dollar store. These previous two I presoaked in water so that they would resist the dye a bit more.
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This was an overdye of the intense blue over basically a 3% turquoise/3% sun yellow that I did using lwi. I loosely wrapped this yard over a rolled up piece of needlepoint canvas thinking that the dye would penetrate all layers better which it did. I was surprised that I didn't get any markings from the needlepoint canvas. It is a pretty color. I didn't presoak this one but did presoak the next one.
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This was also a piece of the sun yellow/turquoise which I overdyed with the intense blue and used the clips again after accordion folding. Don't think I will do any more layers here but you never know!
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This was one of the pieces from the previous dye session that I said I would overdye. It was originally the yucky green/gold and I had folded it and rubber banded it and dyed in the intense blue/navy mixture. Those are the darker lines. This time I wound it loosely over a 5 inch pvc pipe. I didn't presoak this one as I wanted more of the dye to go over the yucky part that didn't dye with the last bath. I will probably do no more on this one, however I reserve the right.....
Today the dye pots will have to remain silent as I MUST clean my bedroom so I can enjoy my new birthday tv!
3 comments:
These turned out great! I love the third one!
Hi, Beth! I am desperately looking for info on the proper way to dye arashi shibori... have tried direct application, but I'm not satisfied with the results. Can you recommend a book, video or on-line source of instructions start to finish? I get the pole wrapping part, it's just how the dyes are best applied to get maximum saturation! Thanks, Judy
It is no different from regular immersion dyeing. I try to find containers that are high enough for the poles (like 6 gallon containers or the largest kitty litter containers which are high). I mix up my dyes for regular immersion dyeing (requires salt equivalent to the weight of the yardage) and a couple of tbsps of dye. I dip the poles and swish around for 15 min and then add the soda ash. Stir for another 15 min., then stir intermittently for the next 3/4 hour. If you want lots of patterning, use wet cloth to begin with, more movement of color dry cloth. All from a class with Jan Myers-Newberry who does an excellent job teaching this technique.
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