In the garden, just a few blooms showed their colours.
Rose of Sharon
Sedum
September is soon over, and cooler autumn weather will be arriving. I took advantage of the last few sunny days to try dyeing some cotton and some silk hankies.
cotton fabric
leaves from my garden
sun dyeing technique
silk hankie
leaves from my garden
rock salt
pearl dye for the shimmer
sun dyeing technique
silk hankie
ferns from my garden
rock salt
pearl dye for the shimmer
sun dyeing technique
silk hankie
leaves from my garden
sun dyeing tehnique
rock salt
pearl dye to add the shimmer
silk hankie
shibori technique
all pearl dyes
another angle
Sharpie markers
cotton fabric
rubbing alcohol
after applying the rubbing alcohol
dried
the fabric on the left half was the hankie part folded underneath
it created a soft effect
Sharpie markers on a silk hankie
after the application of rubbing alcohol
less movement than on the cotton
sun dyeing #2
using leaves and stencils
the paper stencils left a soft pattern
the plastic stencil created a crisp result
after a second application of dye in yellow
sun dyeing on silk with leaves
after a second dye of yellow
cotton fabric, leaves and a paper stencil
after a second layer of dye in yellow
the paper stencil has distinct and soft areas of the design
using a felt stencil on cotton
the second dye layer created an even softer effect
Last week I dyed some fabric with avocado pits. After drying, I cut one piece of fabric in half, and threw 1 of the halves into the laundry. After it was dried in the dryer, I put the two halves together, to see if there was a discernable difference in their colour.
It appears as though the tannins in the avocado pits work well as a mordant on cotton fabrics.
I didn't really like the experiments with the markers and alcohol, so I decided to use any left-over dyes on those pieces, as well as a cotton cloth . What do they look like now?
This piece may get some more dye additions. I like the softness of the blue and golds on the lower half, so I may add some more blue to the top half and see if I can cover up more of the ugly bit.
Or I could try doing a shibori technique on this piece to see what happens.
I like the effect on the remainder of this cotton cloth. The section with the bold marker stripes could be cut out for another application.
This cotton hankie sopped up any spills and drips and has a nice soft effect. It could easily be used as is, or used as a sopping cloth in my next dyeing experiments.
My conclusions:
I like the 1 layer of dye on the silk and cotton in the sun dyeing.
A second layer of the same dye colour might be a nice effect.
The yellow layer appears too strong, so I may try a third layer to see what happens.
The shibori technique requires more dye than I used. Even though I put 2 layers on the silk, I don't think the dye penetrated the silk enough. I do like the results.
Well, that's my week of playing with dyes. It was fun.
I hope your week was a creative one.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz
Rose of Sharon
September is soon over, and cooler autumn weather will be arriving. I took advantage of the last few sunny days to try dyeing some cotton and some silk hankies.
cotton fabric
leaves from my garden
sun dyeing technique
silk hankie
leaves from my garden
rock salt
pearl dye for the shimmer
sun dyeing technique
silk hankie
ferns from my garden
rock salt
pearl dye for the shimmer
sun dyeing technique
silk hankie
leaves from my garden
sun dyeing tehnique
rock salt
pearl dye to add the shimmer
silk hankie
shibori technique
all pearl dyes
another angle
Sharpie markers
cotton fabric
rubbing alcohol
after applying the rubbing alcohol
dried
the fabric on the left half was the hankie part folded underneath
it created a soft effect
Sharpie markers on a silk hankie
after the application of rubbing alcohol
less movement than on the cotton
sun dyeing #2
using leaves and stencils
the paper stencils left a soft pattern
the plastic stencil created a crisp result
after a second application of dye in yellow
sun dyeing on silk with leaves
after a second dye of yellow
cotton fabric, leaves and a paper stencil
after a second layer of dye in yellow
the paper stencil has distinct and soft areas of the design
using a felt stencil on cotton
the second dye layer created an even softer effect
Last week I dyed some fabric with avocado pits. After drying, I cut one piece of fabric in half, and threw 1 of the halves into the laundry. After it was dried in the dryer, I put the two halves together, to see if there was a discernable difference in their colour.
It appears as though the tannins in the avocado pits work well as a mordant on cotton fabrics.
I didn't really like the experiments with the markers and alcohol, so I decided to use any left-over dyes on those pieces, as well as a cotton cloth . What do they look like now?
Or I could try doing a shibori technique on this piece to see what happens.
I like the effect on the remainder of this cotton cloth. The section with the bold marker stripes could be cut out for another application.
This cotton hankie sopped up any spills and drips and has a nice soft effect. It could easily be used as is, or used as a sopping cloth in my next dyeing experiments.
My conclusions:
I like the 1 layer of dye on the silk and cotton in the sun dyeing.
A second layer of the same dye colour might be a nice effect.
The yellow layer appears too strong, so I may try a third layer to see what happens.
The shibori technique requires more dye than I used. Even though I put 2 layers on the silk, I don't think the dye penetrated the silk enough. I do like the results.
Well, that's my week of playing with dyes. It was fun.
I hope your week was a creative one.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz
