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.

Green

Another example of the different color on silk and cotton.  As well as in different batches.

The silk scarf on the right was in the same container, at the same time, as the flower shirt in the middle.  Although fiber reactive dye will work on silk, the colors shift a bit so it will be different.  The tiger on the left was dyed with the same color, forest green from Dharma Trading, but in a different batch.  It shows that there are differences from batch to batch.

There are several possibilities:  I may have mixed it with hotter or cooler water, it may have been a different strength, the water hardness at the new house might have made a difference, the moon wasn't full.

Because I can

Why would I go to the trouble of hand dyeing dish towels?  Because I can.  Now I have dish towels that match my kitchen.  They were just some plain 100% cotton ones. 

 

I'm really fond of my salt pig or salt cellar (in the middle).  I do a lot of baking and cooking and it is a lot easier to measure out salt fro mthis than trying to pour from a shaker into a spoon.  Unfortunately, the seller doesn't have any more listed in their Etsy shop right now.  My Mom said it looked "so weird", which it does.  But it's fun.  Should I mention that I suggested to my husband that I could make it into a small water fountain or Halloween decoration?  But that might be too weird.

And the little bowl I have under my pepper grinder helps keep my counters and table clean.  No more pepper bits everywhere you set it down.  Those are all of my hints for Heloise for now.

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.

Canvas

Not too exciting, just a piece of canvas.  But it is pretty.  And interesting how the patten came out different on each side.  The orientation is the same in both photos. 

Just used the normal tray, swished it a few times and turned it over once or twice.  Since the canvas is so thick the dye doesn't soak through, it just sits on the surface.  It unravelled on the edges a bit while in the washer and the threads are still white on the side that was 'inside' of the weave.


It is going to become a tote bag for my display brackets.  Hmmm, I think the only other tote bag that doesn't have a logo of some sort on it is another one I made out of a lighter weight canvas I was testing.

Shapes

I did several practice pieces for the Shibori class I took. For this one I stitched it all in one batch, but pulled the thread and dyed differently. Once a yellowish green, then blue. So I got four colors from 2 dye baths.



The larger squares, rays in the star and the outside row of the football shape were pulled up before dyeing and left in for both colors so they stayed whiter.
The blue lines were also pulled up before dyeing, but they were let out after dyeing yellow and before the blue. The yellow lines were pulled up after dyeing yellow but before dyeing blue.

The blue stripes were stitched as Ori-nui. The others were running stitches. I used stencils to help plot out the stitching lines.

Square

The next hankie I did for the class was also folded in quarters, but squares instead of triangles. You can see the color is a little darker along the fold. It was also stitched as Mokume Shibori, with 3 rows of thread for the outer band and 4 rows for the inner band. The markers in the corners were just a few stitches.


The color for this one (and the next few samples coming) was actually lapis blue. The below picture is a batik cotton knit shirt dyed with the same color to show again how silk will dye a different color than cotton. I really like the colors both fabrics turned out. And the variation on the silk is interesting, it shifts color rather than being lighter and darker like the cotton. So it looks, to me, like it is shimmering.



I did a better job of lining up the layers so the folds didn’t affect the pattern like the previous sample.

Have I mentioned how handy silk hankies are for practice? A lot cheaper than scarves and you can play and figure out what will happen for a lot lower price.

An excellent instruction and reference book is Shibori: The Inventive Art of Japanese Shaped Resist Dyeing by Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada.

Color

Another example of how different fabrics turn out different colors.

Both were in the same dye bath. The shirt is a cotton knit, while the square is a silk weave. Silk can be dyed with fiber reactive dye, the type of dye you use for plant fibers. But the dye reacts differently with silk. It's still a pretty color, you just have to know it'll be different.

Also, both were stitched up as the Mokume Shibori technique. But the silk just didn't compress like the cotton. I think partly because the shirt is a knit and is able to be compressed more. And partly because the cotton threads ore a bit thicker. If I want to do a silk scarf with a stitched resist, I'll have to sew it the long way, rather than the short way. Otherwise the pattern just doesn't show up as much as I'd like.