Chocolate

I really like the pattern that resulted on this silk scarf.  I stretched it on the frame, painted on the dye and sprinkled rock salt all over.  Salt attracts moisture and so the color can move along with the water it is dissolved in.  The more dye collected in one spot, the darker it is.  But different colors of dye react in a variety of ways.  Blue moves a lot more than red, for example. 

It also makes a difference how wet the scarf is or how large the salt crystals are.  If the salt just dissolves then it won't pull the dye around.

The chocolate brown dye I used for this one didn't move in the same way as the blue one in the post here.  It did give a really neat texture though.  Kind of like miniature leopard spots.  It looks like it should have a pebbly texture, but doesn't. 

See, chemistry matters.  And is fun.

Project

These pictures are the same project.
In the first one, the scarf has been stretched and painted with dye. The salt was just sprinkled on it.



The next one is after it dried. The salt pulled the dye into the patterns. It looks a bit lighter than it will after it's been steamed.



The last one is after steam setting, washing and ironing. Although it is Crepe de Chine and wouldn't need to be ironed, you know how it is when you'll be showing it to a lot of other people.



Did I mention that I really like the pattern the salt makes in the dye? The one on the stretchers right now I put a lot more salt on & smaller granules. We'll see how that ones turns out.
I also want to try some kosher salt. So far, I've been using rock salt. Kosher would be much smaller flakes. I'm hoping for a more 'foamy' appearance.

Stretching

This is the setup I use to stretch silk scarves. The frame is some left over salvaged flooring. What I installed upstairs looks a lot better than this.

By assembling it like a pinwheel, it makes it easy to adjust the size. The tongue and groove of it helps keep the pieces in place better.
The red things are regular woodworking clamps.
The blue silk hooks are attached with rubber bands to keep tension. When silk scarves get dampened they stretch a bit.
On the table is heavy vinyl from the fabric store.
I don't want the scarf to sit right on the vinyl so I put some pieces of 2x4s under the frame to elevate it.