Photos from October's meeting

Hi everyone,

Here at last are the photos I took at our meeting in October and my results from the rust dyeing.

First of all, some from the show and tell.

Phyl's finished piece using the fabric Leah dyed for the group. I have to admit, I've not decided what to do with mine yet. Has anyone else made anything with their piece?

Then some sun dyed samples from Lis. The piece top right is cyanotype which was left in water for several days and came out brown instead of blue.

And a batik piece from Phyl from earlier this year. Mine faded quite a bit, but this piece has really kept its colour.

For the activity, Leah brought along ferrous sulphate, tea and soda solutions for 'alternative rust dyeing'. To start off, Julie showed us some pieces she had rust dyed at home, which she had produced by tying the fabric to a rusty metal drum (note the string marks). This is usual way to rust dye, but it can take days for rust to transfer to the fabric.

Then we all tried not to make a mess as we added solutions to fabric in different orders and amounts. The last photo is of my fabric from the meeting. I got a good range of shades, which was a pleasant surprise as I had little idea what the result would be.

In two weeks time we have a workshop with a visiting tutor to learn nuno and 3D felting. Please let Lis, Liz or myself know if you will be coming to the meeting.

Dyed fabric from April's meeting

A few photos from last Sunday's show and tell. First, some interesting textures from ice dyeing.

Second, a lovely palette of colours.

I'll post some photos from the batik workshop in the next few days.

April meeting - fabric dyeing

At our next meeting (Saturday 12 April) we will be working with procion dyes. Leah will bring the concentrated dye solutions and lots of soda. The list of things that you will need to bring is below. As usual this will not be a ‘taught’ workshop – it is entirely up to you to decide what and how you want to dye! So this is an opportunity to do more resist dyeing or to maybe do some graduation dyeing. Cost for chemicals will be about £5.

 

Leah will demonstrate ice dyeing (see photo above). If you want to have a go please let her know so she can buy the ice. One bag per person will cost approx. £1.50 and will give you enough to dye 3 or 4 pieces either quarter metre or half metre. You will need to supply the fabric and 1 or 2 containers to layer your fabric, ice and dyes in to take the home. If you want to do more, please bring extra ice – you could try ice cubes which would give a different effect. And if you want to try using dry dye powders rather than liquid dyes please also bring your own.

THINGS TO BRING -

Salt solution – dissolve 500g of the cheapest table salt you can buy in 2 litres of water. You’ll need to use fairly hot water to get all the salt to dissolve.

Fabric – procion dyes will only work with cotton, silk or viscose. Unless the fabric is sold as ‘prepared for dye (PFD) you will need to put the fabric through a hot wash to remove any dressings. Even with PFD fabrics it is worth checking how easily they absorb a drop of water, it should absorb instantly – if in doubt pre-wash the fabric.

Large plastic sheet, an apron or wear old cloths and rubber gloves.

A range of plastic cups and spoons for mixing the solutions.

Lots of containers for dyeing the fabric in and taking it home – plastic freezer bags for dyeing ‘solid’ colours, empty plastic pots for layered or parfait dyeing, trays for dyeing large pieces of fabric and for dyeing threads.

Kitchen towel.

Scissors for cutting fabric and a marker pen for labelling fabric / freezer bags.

Notebook to keep track of what combinations of dyes you use.

 

We also said we would use this session to dye one big piece of fabric that we will cut up and share – the idea is that we each then take this piece of fabric through multiple other processes in subsequent sessions to see where we all end up. If you want to ‘sign up’ please let Leah know. We will need to decide what size piece we are each going to have, what colour / colours we want to use to dye it and what dyeing technique we want to use next Saturday. Leah will bring the fabric (Whaleys Delphina Cotton Poplin).

 

And finally we said that we might have an ‘ugly’ fabric challenge – bring along a piece of fabric that you have dyed or printed but really hate and see if somebody else can turn an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan!

 

We’ll have a shared lunch as normal and a show and tell.

Meetings planned up to July

At the February meeting we discussed topics for the next few meetings. Here is what was decided. Dates for all this year's meetings can be found on the meeting dates page (see above).

Sun 16th March – Silk papers made from cocoon strippings – Julie will show us how we can embed threads and snippits of fabric in our papers. She’ll also show us how the silk paper can be moulded over bowls to form 3D pieces.

 

Sat 12th April – procion dyes – this will be an opportunity for those of you who want to do some more resist dyeing, clamp dyeing, parfait dyeing etc. and Leah will demonstrate ice dyeing. There will be a couple of group activities for those who want to take part. We will be dyeing a large piece of fabric to be divided up and each person gets a piece to use as a base to add layers of colour during workshops during in the year. Please also bring any ugly fabrics that you have dyed or printed but don’t like – we’ll have a lucky dip then see if we can’t turn some ugly ducklings into beautiful swans!

 

Sun 18th May – To be decided. We were trying to arrange a workshop on batik...

 

Sat 14th June – Using text to create texture – Leah and Julie will demonstrate a few techniques and then let us all experiment! Leah will bring procion dyes so that we can work onto cloth. The dyes will also work on paper but you may prefer to bring different inks. You’ll also be able to use the dyes on any pieces of batik you have from the previous class.

 

Sun 20th July – Cyanotype and sun printing are planned.

 

Our first meeting of the year

We had a great first meeting last Sunday and it was good to see so many of the members. We were working on narrow strip insertions and I'll post pictures later.

We also had a show and tell of fabric from our November meeting. The Shibori and resist dyeing session produced some very nice and subtle patterns and here are some photos of the results, from:

Pat

Liz

Lis

Phyl

Julie

And finally, a lovely palette of dyed fabric and threads from Julie

At next month's meeting we'll be revisiting working with sheer fabrics. I'll post details in the next few weeks.

Happy New Year...

... to all our members, and anyone else reading this blog.

Mandy sent me a couple of before and after photos of fabric she dyed at the November meeting. Here is the fabric before rinsing. You can see the plastic discs used as a clamped resist.

And here is the fabric after rinsing. The circles can be seen clearly and there's an interesting variation in the dye take up with some areas more yellow and some more blue.

The next meeting will be on Sunday 19 January, when we will be trying out some techniques for using dyed fabric, such as using narrow insertions. We will also be discussing a programme of meetings for the year.

Hope to see you there!

Meeting cancellation and results from the Shibori dyeing session

Please note that the 15 December meeting has been cancelled, as not enough people are available. The next meeting will be on Sunday 19 January. See the 'meeting dates' page above for all dates for 2014.

Here are two of my fabric pieces from last month's Shibori dyeing session. I'd be happy to post more pictures if any members would like to send me one or two.

This one was pleated lengthwise and wrapped around a tube, then squashed down towards one end and bound with string. I painted on green dye first, then black dye the following day. I'm very pleased with the feather like patterns (and it is greener than it looks in the photo).

This one is a piece of superliner from Empress Mills (cotton fabric with a backing of polyester wadding). I pleated it and secured the pleats with rubber bands. Orange dye was followed a few hours later with petrol green. I like this one so much, I now think it is 'too good' to use as a bag lining!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone else's dyed fabric at the meeting in January.

Shibori dyeing session

We had a great meeting on Saturday, thanks to Leah who brought along all the dyes. We were dyeing the fabric we had prepared at (and since) the last meeting. Some fabric was Shibori stitched and others wrapped and tied round resists. There were lots of interesting bundles: Here are fabrics prepared by Catherine

And some by Liz

Then we applied the dye...

Come back later to see the results!

November meeting - Dyeing our stitch resist pieces (and anything else)

At our next meeting on Saturday 16 November, Leah will be bringing along dyes and soda solution so that you can dye your Shibori pieces. She will also demonstrate how she uses perspex plates to form resists (as in the example below) and we can also try wrapping cloth around a pole to create a resist. 

See the 'And then we set it on fire' blog for ideas:

 

http://andthenwesetitonfire.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/shibori-folding.html

 

http://andthenwesetitonfire.blogspot.co.uk/2013_07_01_archive.html

 

It will also be an opportunity for you to top up you stash of hand dyed fabrics. Leah will be bringing the seven basic colours (Royal Blue, Turquoise, Magenta, Scarlet, Golden Yellow, Acid Lemon and Black) and will also bring Rust, Petrol Green and Indigo. She will bring soda solution as well as a soda bucket if you want to presoak any of your fabric. There will be a charge of £4 for dyes and soda on the day, in addition to the usual £5 meeting fee. 

Please let Leah know if you will be attending so she knows how much dye to prepare.

Below is the list of things you will need to bring -

 

Salt solution – dissolve 500g of the cheapest table salt you can buy in 2 litres of water. You’ll need to use fairly hot water to get all the salt to dissolve. Empty 2 litre soft drinks bottles are ideal for storing the solution.

Fabric – procion dyes will only work with cotton, silk or viscose. Unless the fabric is sold as ‘prepared for dye (PFD) you will need to put the fabric through a hot wash to remove any dressings. Even with PFD fabrics it is worth checking how easily they absorb a drop of water, it should absorb instantly – if in doubt pre-wash the fabric. How much fabric you need will depend on what you want to do but you can easily dye 5+metres in a day. Don't forget the fabric you stitched in preparation at the last meeting.

Large plastic sheet, an apron or wear old cloths and rubber gloves – procion dyes will stain you and more importantly will stain the floor and we don’t want any accidents!

Plastic poles and string if you want to try that type of resist.

A range of plastic cups and spoons for mixing the solutions as well as plastic bags, trays or a bucket to carry your wet fabrics home.

Lots of containers for dyeing the fabric in depending on what you want to do – plastic freezer bags for dyeing ‘solid’ colours, empty plastic pots for layered or parfait dyeing, trays for dyeing large pieces of fabric and for dyeing threads. Use old yoghurt pots, ice cream containers, soap tablet boxes etc.

Kitchen towel for mopping up.

Scissor for cutting fabric and a marker pen for labelling fabric / freezer bags.

Notebook to keep track of what combinations of dyes you use.

We’ll have a shared lunch and show and tell as per usual.

Disperse dyeing - report from Sunday's meeting

Sandra lead a wonderful day on disperse dyeing and printing and on acid dyeing. We started by looking at samples brought in by Julie and Glenda made using disperse dyes to paint papers. The effects ranged from crisp and precise to organic and textured. Sandra explained how disperse dyes work and we spent the morning happily painting papers. 

Here is the dye painting table.

And here are some more painted papers.

A quick trip to the car park produced some lovely leaves to print with! Here are some of the results.

The way that these dyes works is that the painted papers will be placed onto fabric and ironed to transfer the design. Come back next month to see more of the results.

After lunch we used the disperse dyes to dye polyester and silk. Sandra also showed how to use acid dyes to colour silk and nylon. Sandra brought in a microwave steamer and a microwave that she keeps just for dyeing ... she definitely doesn’t recommend using the ones that you normally cook your veggies in!

There were lots of happy exclamations as we started rinsing out our bright, beautifully coloured fabrics. So a successful day. Thanks again to Sandra!

May meeting - Dyeing with disperse and acid dyes

The next meeting is on Sunday 19 May, when Sandra will be demonstrating how to use disperse dyes to paint and dye polyester. She will also bring some acid dyes for working on silk and nylon. 

 

Please let Leah know if you will be coming so that Sandra can bring the right quantities of dyes.

 

If you want to have a go please bring the following -

• Polyester, silk or nylon (I can supply small pieces of polyester if you don’t have any)
• Brushes or sponges for painting on the dye
• Non metallic cook in bag suitable for the microwave plus extras to take your work home in.
• Plastic cups and spoons for mixing dyes
• Gloves / apron

These methods need a microwave to fix the dyes. Because this will limit the amount of fabric each of us can dye we will be dividing the group into two with one half dyeing whilst the other half work on their own projects.

The meeting will start at 10am at the Memorial Hall in Croft (small hall) and will have a shared lunch as normal. We will also have a show and tell of the dyed and discharged pieces from the last meeting and any projects you’re currently working on.