Saturday, March 14, 2009

Tie Dye!!



I spent most of yesterday dyeing. Shannon asked me to tie dye some shirts for the family in Switzerland she will be visiting and nannying for in May. I did single color spirals for the parents, and two color spirals for the young boys. They look great- hopefully it stays that way through the washout! The first one, a green spiral, is in its second wash now. The others are waiting their turn at the machine.




I also did a few silk scarves, tried out a new muslin I found at JoAnn's, and just for fun, tried dyeing some white on white fabric I had laying around. Lance also asked me to dye a couple of work shirts green, so he and another staff can wear them on St. Patrick's day. I had no idea how well these would work- the shirts are 55% cotton and 45% polyester, and they were light tan, not white. I knew they would come out lighter than my dye baths, due to the polyester. The first one got done last night, and the second is now in the wash. They are definitely green!



These are four of the five silk scarves I've done. I'm happy with the green and blue, although I may go into the green with some Shimmer paint and leaf stencils. The two red ones, not so sure. I like the patterning on the red and white one, although it is busy. I may try discharging the other red one and see what happens. I'm glad these scarves are so cheap, I don't feel as bad when I create a dog. Or when I learn that it is possible to melt silk if you nuke it too long!

I will be back to making leaves, maybe this afternoon. I've got three small pieces of rust fabric that will work, and am still trying to tone the orange fabric I found. Maybe I'll have pictures tomorrow. I'm heading back to the washing machine, and trying to clean up some of the mess in the studio.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, to this un-trained eye they all look good to me! Honestly, I like the business of the red/white one (but then much of my work means breaking up fabrics into bits-n-pieces). If I didn't have so many other friggin' projects on the tables I'd try my hand at some simple tye-dye. It looks like such fun!
Later

Karoda said...

your dye buckets look soooooo gooooood! i can't wait til it gets warm enough for me to get down and dirty. each year i feel like i've forgotten everything i knew about dyeing and it feels like starting over, but i work into a groove and i'm good to go!