I had started with four colors I'd purchased from Dharma - Fire Red (PR10), Light Red (PR12), Grape (PR17) and Imperial Purple (PR131). This was my first attempt at doing gradations and I did several things wrong, but I learned a lot in the process.
I did two sets, Light Red to Grape and Fire Red to Imperial Purple. I expected to get similar results from each with perhaps the second set just more vibrant. I had the Fire Red and Light Red from my time dyeing previously, so they were older dyes. I'd been told by Dharma they still should be good, but I honestly don't know if the results I got were due to the dye being older or if that's just the colors.
This is the light red to grape and it's showing a bit more blue than the actual fabric. This is pretty much what I had expected, sort of 'berry' colors.However this is not what I thought I'd get from the second set.
The fire red (at the top), was much more 'orange' than red and so the colors were a bit more brownish when combined with the Imperial Purple (which had a strong blue overtone).
I messed up the proportions on the run and I don't think I let the fabric cure long enough in the soda ash solution. It was also a very hot day and I do my dyeing outside.
Since I had dye left over I thought I'd do a bit yesterday to both see if I could do the gradations better and maybe let the fabric cure longer. Because the Fire Red had been so orangey i t hougth I'd go from the Light Red to the Fire Red. Here's what I got.
I'm much happier with my gradation here, I didn't mess up the proportions. This set does not have either the pure Fire Red or Light Red but starts with a mixture of each. Again the monitor display doesn't show the rich coral colors that I got with this batch.
I'm really happy with the colors I got here, but a little concerned that I won't be able to easily reproduce them because I'm still unsure if the age of the dye powder changed things. I guess I'll find out in the future!
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2 comments:
That was a fun day! I started using only pure colors because the results were so unpredictable with the blended colors, like the fire red. No knowing what's in the blended colors makes it a little harder. I do mix more than 2 colors but I do it on my terms! LOL!
So glad to have you back! What are you going to make with those fabrics? Inquiring minds are wondering.......
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