Colored salt

I had a picture in a post long ago how the salt used to make patterns in the dye holds on to the color, giving me colored salt.  Rather than throwing it away every time I reuse it, keeping the colors in separate bowls.  I wanted to see if I could have the color on the salt go back on to a scarf.

First is a pic of the dry salt in a bowl and some of it sprinkled on a scarf

After sprinkling the rest of the salt on the scarf I misted it thoroughly to rinse the dye onto the scarf.  Here you can see the color did migrate onto the scarf.  The salt didn't have much color left on it.

And here are two finished scarves after being steamed and ironed.  Very pretty, I think.  The one on the left I used both blue and purple salt so the colors are mixed.

But now I can't do it again until I do more 'regular' salted ones since I don't have precolored salt.  Hmmm, I wonder how colorful cake sugar sprinkles would work....  But those are such small bits.

Salt spots

This is a scarf that has the salt still on it.  Before I remove it from the frame and steam it.  You can really see how it makes the pattern.  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of it after it is steamed.  This will be a really dark blue after steaming and washing out the extra dye.

Blue salt

A scarf using salt to create the design. I've shown my frame in a previous post, but here is another example of the pattern that is produced by sprinkling rack salt on the wet dye.  As the salt attracts the moisture, the color moves with it. And the blue looks so nice, very rich.  It looks like it should have texture just from the color pattern.  Since it is a steam set dye it is washable also.

Mask

Another new design.  This one is an angular mask.  I know, I'm stating the obvious.  But it seems odd not to describe it some.

It is kind of a cross between (or interpretation of) a few different tribal masks.  My grandparents were in Niger in around 1970 for work and brought back several masks.  It is also influenced by Native American masks and totem poles.  Some of the other new disigns I worked on this summer had a lot of flowing hair so this was a good way to balance it out.

Now that we have our kitchen remodel done enough that I can start cooking in it (and the dishwasher is hooked up and works!) I promise I'll do more blog posts.  I've been busy doing new designs, I just have been bad about sharing them.  Someday, I'll even take the stove off its wheeled cart.

Blue

Like the previous post, an example of color differences on cotton vs. silk and from previous batches.

The silk scarf on the right and the guy in the middle were in the same batch.  The hooded tshirt, done with the Mokume Shibori technique, on the left is the same color but from a previous batch.  I know the guy and scarf the dye was stronger.  This is Dharma Trading's Lapis.

Wildness

This is one of my interpretations of a Green Man or wild man to go with Mother Nature or Earth Mother.

When I did a sample and held it up I asked my husband if it reminded him of my Dad.  He said "I wasn't going to say that."

Eagle

A new batik design, of a bald eagle with a feather on the back.  Color is strong navy.

Lavender

Another example of the different color cotton and silk give even when they're in the same container.  This is lavender dye.  The tshirt is a soft 100% cotton and the scarf is 100% silk Crepe de Chine.  The silk seems a lot more blue.  Other times when I put silk in blue dye it seems more purple.

Frozen or ice dyed

It isn't a technique I invented, but I modified one I saw mentioned elsewhere.  Someone had described snow dyeing where you scrunch up your soda ash soaked item, put a layer of snow on it, pour on the dye and wait for the snow to melt and the dye to color the fabric.  The dye doesn't react with the fiber until it gets warm enough.  And when it is all scrunched up the insides of the shirt don't get dye as fast as the outsides.  So by the time the snow has all melted there isn't any dye left to color the inside.  Except this doesn't work as well in the summer or if I don't feel like digging snow up out in my yard.

So instead of snow I freeze the shirts in my basement freezer.  I've written up a step by step description of how I do it. Since I use the standup freezer in my basement I have quite a bit of room and can do several shirts at a time.

Some dye is highly likely to land on the table and/or floor so chose your location carefully. I work in the basement on a concrete floor near a floor drain. My basement isn’t really finished so it doesn’t matter to me. Plastic on the floor can be slippery so use with caution.

The instructions are for fiber reactive dye such as Procion MX. This isn’t for RIT or other all purpose dye.

 · Dissolve soda ash in a bucket at one cup soda ash per gallon of water. Make sure to wear your dust mask when measuring out the soda ash. While it is pretty mild, it can’t be good to inhale the powder. The bucket needs to be large enough to fully submerse the shirt. If you’re doing more than one at a time they don’t need to all be in there at the same time but it makes it easier.

· Soak the item in soda ash for at least 10 minutes to make sure it is completely wet. It can be a day or more if that works better.

· Prepare a flat work surface. I use a plastic tray to protect my work table and contain any drips. (See here for info)

· Squeeze out the excess water. You don’t need to really wring it out, but you don’t want it sopping wet. The more water left in it, the less dye that will get to the backside. Not a problem when doing fabric or a scarf since that is a single layer. But a t-shirt is 2 layers and the other side won’t have as much color. So it depends on the look you’re going for.

· Lay it out flat on your work surface then bunch it up. Try not to get parts folded under when bunching it up. You want to create high and low spots but not more layers. How tightly packed it is will affect how much dye gets into the fabric and to the back since the dye is applied to the tops of the ‘hills’ and won’t run down to the ‘valleys’ easily if it is tightly packed. 

 · I normally put the shirt into a one gallon bucket to keep it compact and to make it easy to handle. But for larger shirts I’ve used a plastic tray or plastic sheeting in a cardboard box.  A larger plastic tray can hold more than one shirt or scarf at a time.  5 quart ice cream buckets would work well and have the added bonus of 'requiring' someone to eat the ice cream.

· Put the items in the freezer. If they’re only in there an hour or two they’ll have a different end pattern than if they’re in there for at least a day and are frozen solid. Since I’m in Minnesota I could put them out in the garage come January. See here for a comparison

· For the dye, I mix it fairly strong since I want it to be a good contrast to the white of the fabric. Again, it depends on how you want it to look. I use two or three colors. They may intermix so choose colors that will blend nicely. I mix at one tablespoon dye powder to one quart water and can cover 4-6 shirts with this amount. Make sure to wear your dust mask and gloves when working with dye powder. Wet some newspaper and lay it on the table before mixing the powder. It will help capture powder and make it easily visible and cleanable. I don’t add urea or anything else. Only dye powder and warm water. If you want more info and hints on how to mix up the dye powder, Dharma Trading has good detail.

· You can put the dye liquid into squirt bottles or measuring cups with spouts. Once you’ve used a cup or spoon for dye don't use it for food again. Use some cheapo or disposable cups and spoons. Check out Goodwill or the dollar store.

· Apply the colors in patches. You’ll have to experiment to see what you like best. I tend to cover the surface with dye. Usually, I use 2 colors in about equal amounts then add a third color in a smaller amount.

· Let sit for at least one day for it to thaw and react completely. The dye won’t react with the fabric until it gets up to room temp. If the area you’re storing the container in is colder, you’ll want to leave it for a couple days. It won’t hurt it any to leave it for several days until you’re ready to wash it out. The top might dry out a bit, but it won't hurt it if it does. And after a couple days it doesn’t really matter since all the dye that was going to react already has.

· Rinse well in cold water then wash by itself in warm or hot until the water is clear. Once the extra dye is thoroughly washed out it can be washed normally.

· Enjoy.

Trains

More Trains.  Yes, I like trains.  My Grandfather worked for Burlington Northern, previously Great Northern, for about 40 years and my Dad is an enthusiast.  So I have to do trains. 

Trains are also good for both girls and boys clothes.  I don't find so many cute boys clothes I like and I'm not so big on ruffles and princesses for girls.

Of course it is also cute when the little one can match the grown up.  The husband of a friend of mine got a Pirate vs Ninja shirt from me and their nephew wanted one just like it.  I don't think it mattered what the shirt looked like, the boy just wanted a shirt just like his uncle's.  Since the stencil is one I did it was easy enough to cut a smaller version. 

And where else would you put the caboose but on the backside of a shirt?

Crackles

Yes, some more silk hankies.  I told you I've done a lot of hankies.  They're a lot smaller, cheaper and easier to deal with than scarves.  I could cut a scarf into pieces, but it is nice to not have to deal with the edges raveling.

The one on the left was completely covered with wax then scrunched to get the wax to crackle.  Soy wax doesn't crack as much as paraffin, but it will crack.  I didn't start out to see what it would look like.  But the test  design I was trying to do was rather blobby and unattractive.  So I figured it was a good opportunity to see how it would turn out if I completely coated it on both sides.

The one on the right is to show what color the dye was.  Even though it was in a blue dye bath, the coated one turned out with a lot of purple.  A more extreme example of the color shift of fiber reactive dye on silk.  It is beautiful, but would be an awful lot of wax on one scarf.  I'll try doing some smaller circles on a scarf like this and see how it turns out.  Since the soy wax is degraded by the soda ash used in a dye bath the wax tends to wear off more on a larger item that needs to be stirred more.  But it should still look really interesting.

Better

In a previous post I commented that a piece I'd dyed was nice, but not quote what I wanted. This is the 2nd try and I like it a lot better. The shape of the petals is more what I was thinking and the dye application is better. In the first one I didn't put the dye far enough away from the stitched lines. The filling in between petals is nice because it gives a more dimensional look.
The petals are Maki-age, stitched outline, pulled up and wrapped with the ends of teh thread. The stem is Maki-nui, straigt rows of stitching and pulled up tight.
I think I mentioned before that it is a good thing you can get decent fabric to play with and practice on for pretty cheap. And think of all the entertianment time I got out of those small pieces of fabric.

Petals

Can you see a trend in my work? I really like this color, but it is also similar to the color of natural indigo which is what was frequently used for dyeing before synthetic dyes were developed. Another practice piece stitched and dyed using thickened dye.

The petals of the flower are Maki-age; stitched around the outline, then pulled up tight and the thread wrapped around the point that sticks out. The straight lines are two rows of Maki-nui; straight rows of running stitches.




One of the things I learned is that when using thickened dye – at least at this consistency – I need to apply the dye to both sides of the fabric. It doesn’t soak through to the other side much. I use (no-needle) syringes to apply the dye. Using a squirt bottle seems too much like trying to get ketchup out of the bottle. And I can easily refill the syringe. The surplus store has an assortment of sizes.



I’m doing another practice piece similar to this, I want the petal shapes to be a bit different. These are nice, but the look I want it not so angular. Again, I need to apply the dye a bit further from the stitched line to get enough color to really show off the stitched part.

Folds

It’s a good thing plain white fabric is reasonably priced so I can do practice pieces. The marking pencil didn’t come out from some areas when I decided I didn’t like what I’d drawn the first time. And the shape isn’t quite what I wanted. And…. But that’s what practice pieces are for.



For this one, I used dye thickened with sodium alginate because I didn’t want it spreading too much. But I need to put dye further from the stitch line so it shows up better.



The PVC cup was to try to keep the dye from getting on the part I wanted to stay white. I was concerned that it might get transferred to the other half by my hands or dye on the table. There is a technique called oke zome where the stitched fabric is placed in a bucket and a tight lid is place on so the fabric can be dunked in the dye vat. Indigo requires the item to be dunked in the dye vat several times to get a dark blue color. Since the indigo turns blue when exposed to the oxygen in the air, it doesn’t work well being painted on.

The little red pieces are bits of fabric I put between the knots and the fabric. It keeps the knots from showing up on the piece and makes it easier to find your knots when it’s time to take out the stitching.



I like how the finished piece turned out. I'll try again to get closer to what I have in mind.

Blue

And just for fun, the blue version of the stitched circles.

Variety

Not all of the scarves I've done lately have been red, I've also done some blue & purple. I'm really happy how the pattern on this one turned out. Tilting it up on one side makes the dye move differently. It kind of looks like little snowballs rolling down a hill.

Salt

I really like how this scarf turned out. It took me a couple tries to get what I wanted. It's a silk & wool blend and feels nice and airy also.

Salt draws water to it. If you have the scarf really wet with dye and put some large crystals of salt on top of it, the dye will get pulled towards the dye along with the water. That is why there are darker spots.

Well, and I really like the colors, but I'd be pleased with how it turned out even if it wasn't sapphire and amethyst.