Saturday, July 28, 2012

Ice Dyeing

Here are the steps I use to dye with ice:  Pre-soak the fabric (I'm using silk crepe de chine scarves) in a soda ash solution.  Squeeze out water and scrunch fabric into the bottom of a plastic container (dedicated to dyeing), layer with ice cubes, sprinkle with Procion MX dye (wearing a mask for protection, of course), and layer the whole thing again if desired with fabric, ice and dye.  Let sit for 24 hours at room temperature.  It can be hard to wait that long, but the surprises are worth waiting for.  Then rinse and wash out dye with Synthrapol.

The dye table is set up with ice, fabric, dyes, plastic spoons and containers.

Ice is sprinkled with dye using plastic spoons.

Cover the work with plastic wrap.

Wait 24 hours and unwrap.

The scarves have been rinsed, washed and tumble dried.

Here are the scarves after ironing.....mmmmmm....delicious.

Friday, July 06, 2012

Re-Re-cycled

This is a beautiful length of linen and two remains of cotton crocheted tablecloths from my mom's collection.  She used parts of the tablecloths for artwork in the 1960s and '70s when she was creating wallpieces that were collaged, gessoed, painted and antiqued. 

Now I have them, and after washing and drying on the grass today they'll join my stash.  Ideas are percolating.  What might you suggest?


 Handwork from another era.