To Dye for

This is how I spent my weekend.

I took recipes from Color by Accident. The first sets I started with are dark and light versions of single colors.

Here you see the primary red. PR13 Fushia Red from Dharma Trading Co. This red is one of the primary dye colors. I wanted the variation in color, so I deliberately didn't stir much to keep the dye distribution uneven.

I learned a lot from doing the batches I did this weekend and I definately found a lot of things I'll be doing differently next time.

Here you see the light and dark versions of the primary yellow PR1 Lemon Yellow. The light one here was definitely not as 'light' as I'd thought it would be and the color distribution on the dark piece was much more even than it had been on the red. I didn't think this got stirred more, though it might have.

Next time I am going to see if I can get a much lighter version of the 'light one'.

I had two different blues. This one is PR23 Cerulean Blue. This is not listed as a primary but Ann Johnston listed it as one color she used quite a bit. I thought it was a very pretty blue and Jason definately liked this blue better than the other one.

Again, this is light and dark versions of it.

In addition to the Cerulean Blue I had PR25 Turquoise which is listed as a Primary.

Here you see the light and dark versions of these. It definitely has a very different color.

This first exercise was interesting for me for a number of reasons. I learned a lot about what I will do the same and what I will do differently next time. For instance, there were a ton of little things like having more measuring cups and something to stir the cloth in the dye buckets instead of always using gloves. I went through a ton of gloves. I'm also not so sure I'd do so many different colors at one time. I had four different colors with two versions of each. This meant I was washing fabric long past my bedtime.

Oh, that's another thing. I'd start on Saturday this time instead of Sunday. That would give me more 'fudge' time. I spent part of Saturday picking up the rest of the things I thought I'd need and then sort of lazing away the evening.

I'd also dye more cloth at one time. Because it's the same amount of mess for a little verses a lot.

After I was done with the color study, I didn't want to waste all that remaining dye, so I did some other pieces to see what would happen if I used the left over dye water. Now, I knew it would be different because with the initial batches I put some dye directly on the cloth then added the soda ash water after a few minutes. That meant this dye water I was using already had the soda ash in it and I wasn't sure what difference it would make.

For this piece

I dumped the remaining yellow and both blues into a bucket with a wet piece. It ended up being greenish but definitely more 'blue' in the green.


These two pieces are what's left of everything in the dye vats. I layered the cloth on the left and poured the water on the layers. First the red, then the Cerulean blue. After that I added the cloth on the right and poured in the yellow and finally the turquoise.

I had expected at least a bit more red or a deeper purple, but that didn't happen. I'm still really pleased with these two pieces and in the future I think I'm going to make sure I use up the remaining fabric this way. All the other pieces were a bout two yards. This was a total of about six yards.

The most unexpected piece was this one.

This was all of the leftover dye water together. I expected it to be more brown or gray or something, but instead this is what I got.

I was so excited to see each piece come out and I'm definitely hooked!