dyeing

Hi,

Welcome to my my first blog post on our new site! I thought it would be nice to have a journal of the things that inspire my work, as well as show some techniques i use and some of the process of creating my pieces. I'll jump right in..

Yesterday was a dye day. It had been far too long since i got my hands dirty and was eager to play! I had some lovely, light, airy, super summery, black rayon that i wanted to do some reverse shibori on. Reverse, meaning take the colour out by using  thiourea dioxide and shibori, being an ancient dye method using anything to stop the dye from reaching certain areas of the fabric. I decided to use folds this time, then bind it. It's tricky, often the liquid doesn't reach my deeper folds which means i have to do the process a few times over, refolding the fabric each time. I didn't think i would be blogging it so i don't have any shots of the fabric folded and bound but here is a shot of the fabric after dyeing and unfolded, ready to be washed and dried.

dye pot with my new favourite slippers.

After a few dye vats i'm done, the parts that keeping getting bleached are starting to go a colour i don't like. There are some beautiful usable parts of the fabric, sadly, there are parts that don't make the cut. That's the thing about dyeing, sometimes it works better than you could ever dream of and sometimes not. Next dye session- colour! I've been loving the reverse dyeing but am longing for colour mixing. I'll keep you posted on what this latest fabric will become, till then..

xog

the day's work drying in the sun and hanging with my veggies.