To dye another day

Today was dyeing day.  This is a day when I play with colour.

Someone asked me, why do I do these experiments with different techniques.  I do them as part of the art process.  I might not see the relevance of a particular texture or colour now, but the samples become a reference so that when I am working on a project, I can choose the technique that fits in with my theme or which makes most sense.  I suppose Icould go trawling the net for ideas, but this interrupts the creative process and nothing beats actually doing, seeing and feeling the end product myself.
Sometimes, an experiment with a technique will actually suggest a piece of work to me, so for me experimentation is the key.

Above are my basic tools.  Dye, Gloves, protective surface and dye.  I use Rit Dye because It is freely available and I loosely follow their low water immersion technique.

Here are a variety of fabrics, soaking in warm water prior to dyeing. They include hessian (the aqua fabric, also called burlap), scrim, cheesecloth, cotton and batting scraps (cotton and bamboo).

I use glass jars for my dyeing, these are around 500ml or 2 cups.  I use glass, because I find the microwave step tends to melt plastic, and glass washes clean after dyeing.

I am accurate in my measurements in that I only use a teaspoon of the dye powder in these jars.

I also usually start with the three primary colours, red, blue and yellow.  This is firstly, cheaper and secondly allows for more experimentation with blending. I have added about 200ml of boiling water to the jars above.

Here I have split each dye between two jars, so I have some left to mix together later.

Here I am adding scraps of batting to the three dye baths.  You can see that the colour is being taken up already.  I microwave on high for 1 to two minutes depending on how many jars I put in the microwave.  After microwaving, I use the tongs you see (the fabric is very hot and so is the jar) to squeeze excess dye out of the fabric, rinse under cold water till the water runs clear, then dry the fabric.

Here I am mixing up orange, green and purple.  Orange is 1 part red to at least three parts yellow.  Green is 1 part blue and two yellow and purple is 1 part red to three parts blue.  What I have found, is that the red is very strong, whilst the yellow is very weak, so be prepared for this.

And here is my basic colour wheel in batting.  I like to dye batting to use in machine embellishing.  It does not always take the dye evenly and this gives it depth.

Now, I am adding cotton fabric, scrunched up.

I don't mix the fabric around, but just let the dye soak up from the bottom, then microwave.  This leaves undyed areas that can be dyed over later.

In this picture, I am doing the same with scrim, which is very useful in embellished and stitched collages.  It has some transparency, but takes up dye well.
So that is the basic technique, except of course for rinsing, drying and pressing.
So let's have the eye candy.

 Cotton, loosely bunched, dyed with red.  You will find that even though the red is stronger, it is not as colour fast.  If you know anything about quilt history, you will know also that the fastness of red has always been an issue.

 A selection of batting scraps dyed with straight colours, except for the taupe one in the bottom left, which was spotted with many colours of dye, then microwaved.

 A selection of batting scraps dyed several times with green, yellow, and a mixture of red, blue and yellow which makes brown (diluted).  In the bottom right corner are lots of tiny scraps, I use these in landscapes as grass, and tree trunks etc.

 Cotton, dyed with blue, loosely scrunched.

 Scrim, double dyed with blue and purple

 Scrim, double dyed with blue and red.

 Synthietic curtain lace and binding strip, dyed with diluted orange.  Synthetics do not take up the dye well.  I treated this sample with alum when the dye was washed out.

 Batting scraps dyed with blue.  compare them with the original dark blue batting scrap at the bottom.  The dyebecome more dilute as you use it.

 Scrim, dyed with purple and green.

 Hessian, or burlap dyed with blue and red.

 Cotton dyed with purple and green (my favourite mixture) Theone on the right used a more dilute purple mixture.

 Cotton dyed with red and yellow.  Sometimes, when dyes mix together, the dye can precipitate out, creating specks on the fabric.  This is what made the brown spots.  They make a nice texture and make it look rusted.

The final, pastel sample is using leftover green, red and yellow, now very diluted.  It is not spectacular, but I can see it in some needleturn applique roses in the near future.

I hope you enjoyed my little dyeing escapade.  As usual, this experiment simply gave me more ideas for further experiment down the track and provided a large stash of fabrics to use in collage. 
My actual dyeing time was only a few hours, but all the photography took a long time and as usual I am late posting.  But it was worth it.

The creation of art is in our own hands.

Pastel painted fabric

As I said in my earlier blog on crayon, I much prefer to use pastel for this sort of work.  Probably because I have thousands and am familiar with them from painting.
Below, I have got some fabric laid out on top of parchment.  I would not use newspaper for this process, because the process involves wetting and the newsprint might transfer, or even wors, stick to the fabric when drying. (ask me how I know)  The box of pastels at the top is a pack of windsor and newton and is there as a reminder to me to explain a few things.

Firstly, the more you pay for the pastels, the better result, or more vibrant colours you will get.  This is because dry pastels are made of mostly pure pigment, and a filler or binder, which allows them to be shaped.  However, with just chalk, or student grade pastels, the amount of filler is greater and the pigment therefore is less.  Student grade will work, but not as well as artist quality from a reputable brand.  There is a positive side and that is that dry pastels can be bought individually at most art supply stores (not department stores, real art stores) They will cost 3 to 5 dollars each and for this sort of work will last a reasonable amount of time.
My second point is that I usually add pastels as a powder and because they are mostly pigment, they are very  bright even if only a little is added.  When colouring fabric, the less you have to add, the less it will alter the hand of the fabric and unless you add a lot of pastel, the hand is pretty much the same.

Above you can see my tools for this project.  All that is required is a knife or blade to scrape the side of the pastel and create powder.  Even a sharp paring knife will do, so long as it can scrape.  You can also use a nail file or sand paper, but it will get clogged with powder and you will end up wasting a fair bit.

Here you can see I have put some powder on the fabric.  It doesn't look like much does it?

But when I spray it with water, the colour starts to develop.  I actually use a solution of Alum instead of water, and this serves the purpose of fixing the pigment into the fabric (You can get Alum crystals from the pharmacist, you may have to order it because it is not an everyday item) Alum is the mordant used in most printer fabric.

In the above sample I have smudged the pastel with my fingers after letting it soak for a while.  You need to make sure all the pastel dust is wet.  Any that is not wet will not enter the fabric and will fall off when you are finished.  And you definitely do not want this stuff around when you are finished as it will stain.

In this one I used a small paint brush to smudge the pastel a bit.

In this one i used a large flat ended stencil brush and rotated it on the dust to make  whorls, or whirpools of colour.

And this one was not altered in any way, the pastel simply soaked in.
I couldn't wait to finish, so I ironed the fabric dry.  Because there is little other than pigment, ironing doesn't really alter the effect like it does with some fabric paints.
And here are some high res pictures of the finished fabric.

No brushing

rotating stencil brush

small strokes with brush

smearing with fingers

As you see it is very easy to get very vibrant colours with this technique.  And there are more ways than these to use them.  

That is for another lesson.

The fabric above was treated twice,  the first layer was pale green and i used the stencil brush, then I put the dark green on top as a sprinkling and allowed it to soak.  If you want the pigment to spread more, you need more fluid.

The sample above was using the smearing technique (Fingerpainting I call it).  If you have been following this blog, you would know that I have a fascination with tree bark textures and this was another experiment in creating bark.  I simply scraped lines of a handful of browns and ochres, sprayed then smeared.  It took all of 30 seconds and I was very pleased with the result.
It really is worth experimenting with this technique.  I would love to see some of your results.

In Art, there is no such thing as a failed experiment, only experiments with interesting results.

Painted fusible

Here is number three in the series using fusible web.
Besides creating fibre film and fusing plastics to web, you can also paint fusible web to create beautiful overlays to use in fibre art work.
1.   Make sure you lay out some newspaper under your fusible sheet

2. Paint.  I use Dala Fabric paints and  KV art fabric liner, but since the fusible web  will really be too fragile a surface to wash in your finished work, you can really use any water soluble paint, acrylic paints, high quality water colour (with a good pigment base), not any oil based paint, however.  It is best to water down the paint before using, as very thick paint will be:

1. difficult to spread without tearing the web
2. take a very long time to dry
3. Take away from the transparency of the finished product

3.  You can use a brush, a soft one as the web tears easily.  A large flat painter's brush works well for large areas.

3.   You can also use a roller or brayer, best on a hard surface

4.  You can use a stencil brush, but don't brush too hard.

5.  You can use a sponge, or even a piece of fabric or tissues scrunched up.

6.  Notice the texture that happens as the backing paper starts to wrinkle.

7.  If this is the way your web crinkles, you can use it to your advantage, to make an excellent tree bark look alike.

8.  The wrinkling and the texture differs between;

1. brands of webbing, 
2. types of paint, 
3. the amount of water added 
4. the way paint is applied. 

The webbing below does not crinkle.  The backing paper is quite thick on this sample, and the webbing was applied in a different manner during manufacture.  If your local quilt store has several different types of webbing, buy a small amount of each (making sure you write the brand on the back as the assistant is cutting it) and experiment.  You can also alter the way the backing crinkles by prewetting, perhaps  in small circles, separated.  This will also alter the way the paint moves in the web.

9.  Wait untill the webbing is completely dry and carefully peel off from the backing.  If paint is thick or has not dried properly, it will stick to the backing and will tear as you peel it off.  It is best to leave it at least 24 hours before trying to peel it off.

A selection of painted webbing from this session.  Store the web flat on it's release sheet,  I have folded and scrunched these to show you how transparent they are and the effects you can get from layering them, but until the web has cured a bit, there is the possibility of folds like this sticking, so to be safe, keep them flat.
Just an extra bit.  You can also print on fusible web with an inkjet printer, however, the web needs to be attached to a thick backing (like my second type) and needs to be securely attached to the webbing. re fuse your webbing to the backing before you print if your  webbing has a habit of peeling off (this often happens in humid or damp areas)  I will be covering this technique in a later blog, but thought I would just mention it now, so you can play.

This is a rough, early sample of inkjet printed webbing fused to white muslin.
Eventually I will be showing you how to use surfaces like this to create beautiful effects with FME and other embellishments.  but use your own imagination and experiment, experiment, experiment.

For more information, see:

• Hot Textiles, by Kim Thittichai
• The Complete Photo Guide to Textile Art By Susan Stein

The following three blogs  paint and use painted web in very different styles

• Susan Brubaker Knapp
• Grace Quilts
• Inch by inch textiles

After midnight again.  Naughty me