My local art quilt group, the Dirty Dozen Fiber Artists, had a dyeing day recently, at Ruth Anne’s “barn.”
We started with Gabriele explaining wet cyanotype to us.
It’s similar to sun printing, but with chemically treated fabric that turns dark blue. That is, until you add water to the process. After that the results are much less predictable, but always interesting.
The treated fabric is sprayed with water and greenery or other resist items are placed on it. Glass is secured tightly on top to hold it all in place, and it’s put in the sun.
After a few hours it’s ready to come inside for curing, rinsing and drying. This involves leaving it in a dark environment for a while and a few other techniques. Finally, it’s ready.
And the backs are pretty, too. I think I’ll use them as yardage and actually cut them up as needed.
Sandy taught us about low immersion dyeing. She’s very subdued. NOT!
A common technique with low immersion dyeing is to manipulate the fabric in some fashion and to put it into a small space with the dye, so it stays in that shape. This prevents the dye from spreading evenly and interesting mottled colors can be achieved.
These are some of my resulting fabrics. Very useful, right?
We also did ice dyeing that day and I’ll show you that in my next post.
I’m SO lucky to have this intrepid group of fiber artists to hang out with!
Ellen Lindner
