Dyeing – Page 4 – albedo too

Collusion: sampling, Dyeing, FybreSpace the shop, ice dyeing, journal: lessons to learn, Sketchwork

dye painting tests

Posted on December 27, 2016December 27, 2016 by arlee

My Dharma order arrived 6 days after being ordered, but with the silly season upon us, those pesky spare five minutes’s available had to wait until after chripcrapmas………..

I ordered 4 colours (teal blue, rust brown, oxblood red and warm black), planning to augment the palette with what i already have (golden yellow, red, olive, violet and true blue), trusting i will be able to approximate the colours and blending shown on the acrylic painted paper mock-up (left in photo below). Didn’t use all of them though!

On cotton, right, previously soaked in soda ash, though i also added the soda ash *to* the Procion. These fabrics won’t be washed, but i still worry about fading or exposure to any elements in the air. I’ve never had any luck in removing all the alginate before (think icky snail trails…), so bypassed thickening and directly “painted” on the cloth. I do know however, that though usually one wants super saturation with the dyes, this one is too dark, and MUCH too red! I still like it and will continue to work on the idea.

I also did another piece:

The Procion “Rust Brown” has a LOT of red in it, shall have to tone it down. It was based on this, and in a larger scale, may become the background for something.

Mood/story board in the stoodio:

I also did a little ice dyeing, tshirts for the Son below and the Greyman (still batching).

Somehow fitting that i end the year with how i started the year!

Speaking of ice, my camera captured this, a trick of the light and of the time.

And then i remembered, fortunately in plenty of time, that i also need to dye some threads as well! The quantities i’m going to need precludes buying “ready made’ though i’m sure some will come by mail 🙂 Some i’ll do the same way as the cloth, painting bits on , and some will just be immersion dyed.

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And the FybreSpace shop is now gone.

Days of Honey, ice dyeing, Jam Day

durings and afters

Posted on December 26, 2016December 26, 2016 by arlee

Dyeing, Ecoprints and Natural Dyes, in progress, Residency 2016

hexed and rumexed :)

Posted on August 13, 2016August 13, 2016 by arlee

The couple left to be stitched at the bottom will have to be done after the edges are finished (the back covered). Since, as i mentioned before, that “symbol”/shape has shown up before often in my work, i can see these being a focus for awhile in other pieces.

And the results of the Rumex seed stalk dyepots:

I was quite shocked at how much colour washed out of the soda ash modified one–in the bath, they looked a warm reddish gold, but most of it disappeared. The best was just plain old alum with the dyebath, though i did get a surprise from an immersion of white cotton thread in the exhausted ammonia modified bath, peachy!

I’m wondering if there was a chemical reaction similar to madder, in that first the yellows are extracted (poured off in madder), and then the redder tones show up? I’ll test that a bit more, as i do like that shade. Other than that, i won’t bother with gathering this plant material again–yellow is basically yellow, after all, and there are a million plants that give that 🙂

"OPINIONATION", Dyeing, Ecoprints and Natural Dyes, garden dye plants, in progress, Residency 2016, Residency 2016

place your hexes

Posted on August 12, 2016August 12, 2016 by arlee

Subject to change without notification, but i am betting this will be the most likely configuration.

And i’m having a terrible time photographing things this last week–the weather has been strange with dark moody skies and then a burst of blinding sun, and then thundercracks and lightening!

Doing some natural dye experimenting as well. I gathered dock (Rumex) seed stalks, after seeing the results someone else did in a REPUTABLE, SCIENTIFIC, FACT BASED FB group. Currently these are in various vessels with different modifiers and mordants.

Fresh above, dried and drying below.

Though someone else with 40 years of natural dye experience got a range of colours from yellow green and brown to red and orange, i’m getting some glorious shades of ————————— ——————— yellow again………..but i like yellow now, and the more threads i have in the arsenal, and to over dye, the better my thread stash looks. Could be the season, could be the weather, could be the soil, could be the stage of growth, everyone gets different results with some things. My rhubarb root dye pot gave me the most luminescent glowing gold threads that i had to try these, and there were good results from burdock as well, but i can find no roots due to recent “herbicide” spraydowns. The bastards.

And why am i harping on PROVEN DYE methods again???? Because this kind of crap is still around:

There’s a whole chunk of “dyes” listed for various colours (some are REALLY dumb…), but ANY site that immediately tells me i can use SALT and VINEGAR as a MORDANT or “fixative”, is IMMEDIATELY scoffed at by true natural dyers. Do a little research. (For one thing, vinegar is a MODIFIER, (and a Ph adjuster)not a mordant. Go look up the definition of mordant, you idiots.) Just because this is “Pioneer Thinking” doesn’t mean it’s true. “Pioneer thinking” also includes a hell of a lot of old wives’ tales. There are SO many good books, fantastic teachers and methodology sites, there’s no excuse for this ignorance. Stop perpetuating it, UNexperts……………

Back to regularly scheduled stitching again while things stew and rest.

Dyeing, Ecoprints and Natural Dyes, ice dyeing

subtle or bland?

Posted on July 27, 2016 by arlee

Can’t make up my mind!

Did some tests yesterday with some of the tansy and solidago in a leftover madder pot. Meh. Top is cotton, bottom silk, and the thread is cotton—though i do like the thread.

tansy madder tests

My old method did not work well with the ecoprint though:

eco over procion ice silk

The cotinus barely made an impression on the previously ice dyed (Procion) silk.

The cottons were a bit better in the baths (tansy/solidago/madder bath):

cotton eco over procion silk in tansy and the other side:

cotton eco over procion silk in tansy b

Just tansy:

cotton eco over procion silk in tansy cc

Perhaps if i used the method i developed on my own, i might have got better results. (No, i am not sharing that because as a friend says “every dyer has her own secrets.”)

I’m getting to the point with ecoprinting of giving up, quite frankly. There honestly are many who are doing a much better pushing of the technique (witness Irit Dulman’s incredible work and teaching), and i can’t afford to take a class with her, mostly because of the distances away. I’ll keep the process in the arsenal, as there are certain results i can predict, and use in my own work, but the days are gone of pots bubbling for weeks on end with reams and yards of fabric coming out. I also do still love the natural dye colours, so will continue with that: any colour addition, whether natural or “synthetic” pleases me, as it returns me to the days of “making potions” as a child. As my mother says “fabric is fabric”, no matter whether it came new or from old curtains, so colour is colour!

I’m still in a rut with the making though. Lots of ideas, little inclination to spend the time bringing them to fruition, too much thinking “it’s been done before”, and little desire to keep doing the same thing over and over. The rest of the summer will be spent just f*****g around in the stoodio, with no real plan. I need to give myself a break, overly ambitious overachiever that i am.

Dyeing, FybreSpace the shop, ice dyeing

down in the dungeon

Posted on July 25, 2016July 25, 2016 by arlee

It’s been so hot and humid here, i’ve had to do my current ice dyeing in the basement! I did learn a lesson as well: silk just doesn’t give me the same satisfaction with colour breaking and pattern dispersion. Oh well, will just stencil or work more colour into this some other way. Though originally intended for some scarves, i think this one will become a flowy summer top for me.

The cotton “drop/sop cloth” under is lovely, destined to be a cushion cover.

I finally convinced my boss that it would be in her interest too, if she carried some of my “bread and butter” products–though i did have to explain that phrase as it doesn’t translate well into Farsi 🙂

I’ve also added a few more of the “res fabrics” to the shop, and thank you very much for looking and your support!

I’m also planning these again–the Hippie Chick Packs are now an annual summer offering!

hippie-chick-redux1

Contextural Fibre Arts Co-operative, potassium permanganate, Residency 2016

black and white, and red all over

Posted on May 30, 2016May 30, 2016 by arlee

Yesterday’s orientation went well, with 25 participants this year, old friends and new friends joining in. We were also reminded that this year’s “theme” for the end of summer exhibit is “Self Edge”, a play on selvedge. HMMMM, ideas abounding.

I was thrilled also to see an active potassium permanganate vat that i can use! This bodes very very well for the challenge plans i have for myself. Photos below are from my 2012 residency.

The big bins that hold donated (or discarded!) yardage from students have grown to three! These treasure troves are large enough that one could fall in! I’ll have to crawl in the next time. I left some–great way to reduce my own unused stash–and took some, just barely stirring the top overflowing layers. And what a score it was!

In my sketchbook for a good while have been plans and scribbles for work using black, white and red. I found approximately 15 yards of red, maybe 4 of black, and a few assorted white in different weights and weaves. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I know there’s some polyester in the mix, as most “broadcloths” sold these days are a 60/40 mix, but that’s okay. Fabric is fabric, and there’s enough cotton in them to do what i need to do.

Now i have to go buy some big plastic sheets to protect tables (HOW did i forget them on the list????), and dig out my notes from the 2012 residency, and hopefully i can get in there tomorrow morning to start! (One of the other Residenciers (? 😉 ) has already screenprinted major yardage!)

Dyeing, Ecoprints and Natural Dyes, garden dye plants

hope Springs for the dye garden

Posted on April 13, 2016April 13, 2016 by arlee

I haven’t given up on that, in fact have been keeping a close eye on what’s up already. The Gallium boreale planted last year in those damn cheap Chinese peat pots grew all of 2″ total last summer. I’m guessing the stoopid pots have finally broken down and this year already, those dinky little babies are 6″ tall. They’re being contained in one pot because they spread like crazy, but finding the roots is near impossible, due to the hairlike consistency of them., so maybe corralling the wild beasts will help! I plan on using these for ecoprinting, rather than as a dyestuff–pretty sure i’d have to harvest ACRES to extract enough dye. I have seen some marvellous bundling results with madder root, so it’s worth a shot with these as well.

For the record, the photo above is work by Michela Pasini, and the link to her blog is highlighted in the paragraph above. I can HOPE to get results, probably paled in comparison, but you never know until you try. And obviously, it’s not going to be until the end of the summer, so that i have enough.

a collusion of ideas, ice dyeing

damn damn, double damn

Posted on April 5, 2016April 5, 2016 by arlee

GRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I don’t know why i keep *&^%ing up with the background for the largest Leighton work. I try things and they don’t work, so again today i will pick out stitches. It might be time to alternate with some new stuff as well, stuff that doesn’t involve domesticity 🙂

I was looking at these yesterday, a treasured watercolour from sweet Serena, and an old fabric journal page from 2006.

And these ice dyes:

Still loving that moon thing that has been happening, so they will undoubtedly pop up here as well.

And the texture on this older sample gives me some ideas as well.

I *do* tend to obsess over possible multiples, but in the end, only a few will make the cut–that short attention span for a motif still crops up. Even so, looking at them this way prompts other uses, techniques, and stories.

I’ve subscribed to Seth Godin’s blog, and today quite resonated with me:

The focus that comes automatically, our instinctual or cultural choice, that focus isn’t the only one that’s available. Of course it’s difficult to change it, which is why so few people manage to do so. But there’s no work that pays off better in the long run.

Your story is your story. But you don’t have to keep reminding yourself of your story, not if it doesn’t help you change it or the work you’re doing.

ice dyeing, Leighton work

she grows slowly

Posted on March 31, 2016March 31, 2016 by arlee

Back to the serious stitching. Some photos due today for the exhibit promotions!

Third batch of ice dyeing was mostly BLECH, so disappointing that my camera ran away after taking a shot of the one piece i like. Lesson learned: the fabric i used for the first batch was the best.