Wednesday 16 January 2013

Snow dyeing

I didn't manage to wash my farbics out until late yesterday evening and finished ironing them dry just before 11 last night so the pics had to wait till this morning.  As I feared I had used too much dye powder and I didn't get quite the results I had hoped for.  However, I'll show you the best bits.



This piece above started out as a self coloured cream fabric with printed dragonflies.  The feathers were screen printed in a previous play session and the snow dye has randomly coloured the background and made the dragonflies 'pop'.  I could have got this result with low immersion dyeing too as you cannot see any real effect from the snow.





 These blue pieces have more of the marks I would expect from thawing snow but some of the areas are more solid than I would have liked.



I like the marks above which came from batching the doillies lower down against this fabric.


I think all three of the fabrics above had some polyester in them so the effect is more muted.





As the only colours I used in the red pieces above were lemon yellow, cold red and terracotta I think the dark patches have come from concentrations of the terracotta dye that did not dissolve.




I love this broderie anglaise fabric above and as it's a lightweight cotton it has taken the dye well.  I wish I'd dyed a bigger piece now.


I think this is a tiny piece of lightweight linen above.

 These doillies could have been dyed in any dye bath, snow wasn't required but I love the spread of colour in them.

And finally,



Two areas from a damask napkin with a good variety of colours and marks.  

There were quite a lot of other pieces that didn't come out too well so I havn't shown them and I didn't dye any yardage, just fat quarter pieces and smaller. 

If I had known the very old Hungarian dyes were going to strike quite as well I would have been a bit more sparing with them and maybe then the dye would have had more room to create its patterns.  There is a rumour of more snow later in the week so if it arrives in enough quantity I'll probably have another go but with dyes already mixed with water.  If anyone would like to volunteer to rinse it all out for me just give me a call!  I hate that part!

19 comments:

sharon young said...

Super colours, Julie, and the effect on the first piece is beautiful, the feathers look amazing.

Clare Wassermann said...

Wow there are some great skies here!!!!!

Amanda said...

Really interesting Julie. Well worth the effort!

PeggyR said...

I really like how they turned out!

jan said...

I think you've got some great results, love the broderie anglaise

Jackie said...

There is absolutely something to be said about your snow dying. The colors are beautiful, Julie...and I love the effects gained from the melting snow.
Lovely...
You have one-of-a-kind material(s) and how wonderful is that!!
Love,
Jackie

liniecat said...

Stunning blues!

Gina said...

Some good results Julie but I think it is all that rinsing and ironing of fabrics that puts me off any sort of dying!

Ro Bruhn said...

Fabulous results. While you're printing with snow we're printing with the sun, we've had such hot weather that they are printed in ten minutes.

ju-north said...

Beautiful results!

pam said...

Didn't you do good - the first piece is amazing and all those potential uses in your scenes for the other fabrics - look forward to seeing them in use later on. Hopefully the snow will only come to you!!!!

Heather said...

I'd say you have a good collection of useful fabrics there Julie , even if they aren't what you were hoping for. I'm sure they will find their way into various future projects and add a touch of something special.

Maggi said...

Great results Julie. You have some fabulous blues there. I am definitely not going to volunteer to wash out for you - you are on your own there!

Wendy said...

Maybe it was the wrong kind of snow ;) the blue pieces are spectacular, the red more muted, but sometimes muted is what you want. I love the crochet pieces. I didn't see those yesterday?

Yvonne said...

Very interesting. Lovely colors. Lots of possibilities.

Anonymous said...

they all look quite amazing to me Julie, would love to see where they end up in your quilts. xox

Françoise said...

Some nice results! Are you going to try again this weekend?

Anonymous said...

Snow dyeing - another of those things that I keep meaning to have a go at and now you've got me all keen to get stuck in! If only I hadn't got so much school work to do... :os

Ro Bruhn said...

These are gorgeous, I love the effect. While you're snow printing, it's so hot over here that I've been sun printing.