Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Color experiments

Anyone who knows me (even slightly) probably knows I'm crazy for color!  Been that way as far back as I can remember!  And the brighter the better... pastels just don't do it for me!  So it should be no surprise that the experiment I did in the picture below made my pulse quicken the minute I checked on it:
I'm experimenting on cotton muslin to test some fold and dye methods, but was also trying to simulate some colors I have seen on "mudmee" tie-dyed garments, which have unusual shades of color.  My theory is that the "mudmee" colors are a result of overdyeing garments that started out black, then were discharged with a bleaching agent then overdyed.  But I have also seen some "mudmee" items that don't seem to have any black in them at all.  Today, I was experimenting with using a syringe to create lines in a circular fan-fold, and also decided to fan-fold a section, dye one side with a couple of colors, and dye the other side with other colors.  I am using a combination of Dharma Trading's Hot Pink, Lemon Yellow, and a Teal Green that I created with Turquoise and lemon yellow.  At any rate, after I had 'batched' the circular fold with just black dye, and had applied some dyes to the regular fan fold, I cut open the circular shape and just drizzled some of each color in a circular pattern and let the piece 'batch' on a rack for awhile, then opened it up.... woof!  I have only come close to the effect I got on the circular area using sharpie pens and alcohol before.  Now I know I can get similar results with dyes, and I'm excited about trying this on clothing pieces! 
I do love experimenting on fabric scraps, but the true test is how it works on shirts, so tomorrow will be my 'Dress Rehearsal'... stay tuned!

2 comments:

Spinfiend said...

Hi Judy your stuff is gorgeous. How in the world did you learn how to do all of those techniques. I'm always trying to learn. Are there any good books that you could recommend?

Lisa

Judy Sall Fiber Art said...

Thanks, Lisa! Two books I have referred to a lot are "Rainbow Tie-dye" by Sulfiati Harris, and "Tie-Dye! The How-To Book" by Virginia Glesser. I have also picked up a few DVD's that helped me to do more advanced patterns. I have also been a member of two on-line forums that have been very helpful, The Dye Forum at http://www.pburch.net/drupal/ and iTyeDye: your tie-dye forum at http://www.itiedye.com/smf/. There is a great deal of data sharing at both from dyers all over the world. Hope to see you there!
Happy dyeing,
Judy