Sunday, May 17, 2009

Dyepot Results

I washed out the last of the dyepots today, got them all ironed and photographed. I love ironing newly dyed fabric- looking at all the patterning and subtle color variations.

Almost all my playing this weekend was done with golden yellow and charcoal gray (Dharma colors). I got some spectacular results using them last year, and wanted to see if I could replicate them to some degree.



The eight pieces lined up on the left are a color modulation and value gradation from Katy Widger's book. The amount of golden yellow in the dyepots remains constant, while the amount of charcoal gray moves from a tiny bit to more than the amount of yellow. This is the one I'd done before, and these do look very similar to my previous results.

The two series to the right of that one are a color modulation in two values. In this series, both values change, with the middle one having equal amounts of yellow and gray dye. It's done in two value series, a light and a dark.

Both of these have lots of crisp, distinct patterning- I soda soaked the fabric before I dyed it.



Here's a sequenced overdye- day one, I created a 5 step value gradation of golden yellow. Day two, the fabrics are re-sorted, and overdyed with a five step value gradation of gray. The patterning on these is softer, more subtle- I added the soda ash after the dye had a chance to move around the fabrics some.

I had plenty of yellow and gray dye left, so I stirred up some lemon yellow and light red. I had six large fat quarters left, so I decided to play. I laid them out on plastic, squirted the dyes around, and squished them with my hands. I left them covered overnight, then uncovered them so they could dry before I washed them out. First are two pieces with just golden and lemon yellow; second is the two yellows with the red on one piece, and gray added with red on the second. Last is more with the two yellows and gray. All of these will make good backgrounds for printing.







I may be teaching a one day dye workshop in Grand Junction this summer, and want to have plenty of samples. So I will be playing with colors and methods of dyeing between now and then. Too bad!!!

4 comments:

The Art Quilt Association said...

Hi Beverly....fabulous dyeing results!! You are a master. So excited that you will be coming here for a dye class! Also, this is probably a stupid question, but how do you get charcoal dye. I know it's just a lighter black...so do you just add more water. Thanks much. Rita

Carole said...

Looove that Golden Yellow. Beautiful fabric! Carole

Zeitler said...

Hi Beverly,

We are the makers of Citra-Solv and love the fact that you are using our product in your art. We are in the process of setting up an artist page on our website www.citra-solv.com - and have included a link to your blog there so others might see how your are using Citra-Solv. We may post pictures of art in the future and wondered if you would be ok with our posting some of yours? Please email me back at mzeitler@citra-solv.com to let me know. Also, if you send me your address I would be happy to send you out a free bottle of Citra-Solv as a thanks. Hope to hear from you!
Melissa (and Steve) Zeitler

Rita said...

Oh, Bev, I just read the blog more closely and you said you bought charcoal dye from Dharma. Shame on me for not reading more closely!