Monday, June 22, 2009

A Day To Dye For!




Here's a recipe for a perfect day:

1)  Start with:  6 friends and fellow fiber artists
2)  Add:  several yummy colors of Procion MX dyes
               3)  Stir in:   2 dozen (or more) yards of PFD fabric
4)  Sprinkle liberally with imagination and spontaneous creativity
5)  Bring everything together in the lush, serene acreage surrounding Pat Spillane's home

The result?  Yards and yards of colorful fabric and a whole lotta fun (laughter is a natural by-product of the process).

Pat Spillane (read her blog here), Kris Gregson Moss (check out her website), and Patti Turi (an expert with her camera)

Here I am, stirring my "cauldrons" . . .

Karen Sturtevant and one of her creations

We measured and poured, dipped and stirred, sprayed and drizzled; we congratulated ourselves on our successes and learned from our goofs.  And we laughed -- a lot.

Barbara Vanselow (she offers amazing hand-made dolls on her website)

I wore my hand-dyed socks (a gift from a friend) just for the occasion.


Here are my results from immersion dyeing a gradation of blues (they were supposed to be shades of periwinkle, but I learned that fuchsia is not a very stable dye color and washes out very easily). 

So I have a question for any of my readers who have done some dyeing of their own: I used 2 tablespoons of Cobalt Blue and 3/4 teaspoon of Fuchsia.  What combination should I use to get that nice shade of blue-violet?                

3 comments:

Nina Marie said...

This looks like so much fun! Honestly dye me green with envy. Also - I'm constantly looking for gradations of periwinkle - its such a useful color!

imquilternity said...

What a fun day! I'm so anxious to find time to get out in my garage and do some dyeing! Well, you know I love saturated colors so I'm probably the wrong one to offer advice, but I say use 1/2 cobalt and 1/2 fuchsia! And then send it to me if you don't like it! :))

Chris Daly said...

Great socks! What a wonderful way to spend the day. I would use Hot Pink and Sky blue mixed together to create the 4 lightest fabrics and then add in a black with a blue undertone to the 3 darker fabrics.

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