Monday 6 February 2012

Snow Dyeing Results

There's nothing like a bit of snow to get you blogging every day ;-)  So, withiut further ado, here are the results after the fabrics were rinsed with cold, warm, hot with Metapex, lukewarm and lukewarm water (cos I can't stand the cold) and then spun and ironed dry.  The Metapex, or Synthrapol, is a detergent that holds the loose colour in the water and stops it going back into the fabric thus shortening rinsing time and saving sore hands.  (Many thanks to Annabel who gave me this tip a long time ago).



This (above) is what the silk noil and silk scrim from yesterday actually look like.  The colours from the scanner were well off the mark.








These colours are not totally accurate but they do show the exciting marks that the snow has given.  They remind me of storms brewing or of gas clouds in space.

The next images are from the tray dyeing,



Above is a piece of 80/20 batting, cotton velvet and a scrap of vintage cotton doily.


And finally the pieces that were in the pot


I can't remember what the fabrics on the left above were but I think one is a bamboo cloth.  On the right is the overdyed onion dyed cotton and the light fabric is Evolon.


This piece above is a very old piece of cotton sheet that is very thin and worn but which has taken the colour at the bottom of the pot beautifully.  All of the colours are a bit more turquoise than the computer is showing.

I am quite pleased that I did get some nice greys in a couple of the pieces and the rest are all leaning towards turquoise with deeper tones, all of which will make an appearance in some future project.  As ever I used a range of fabrics to see what happened but sadly I didn't note anything up so I can't be sure what I was using if I wanted to repeat the exercise.  Will I never learn? lol

My erosion bundles enjoyed sitting under their coating of snow for a couple of days and some of them disappeared completely from sight.  There are two bundles sitting under the snow on top of this old watering can.  What mysteries await?


20 comments:

stitchinglife said...

What glorious fabrics. I'm useless at making dye notes too, if that's any consolation!

Sandies' Patch said...

Fascinating post.
I've saved some crispy brown onion skins, if I don't do any dyeing with them, I can always put them in the compost!

Loving the Turquoisy colours.

Have a great week,

Sandie xx

jan said...

Beautiful fabrics, I've never tried snow dyeing. Love all the colours...x

Wendy said...

You have a sheep in the 4th photo, as clear as day :)
Do you ever sit and do nothing?

Yvonne said...

Love the results.

Heather said...

You've a super range of fabrics their and the patterning is lovely. I think it's quite nice to have a spontaneous dyeing session and not note everything down.
I must have a go with an erosion bundle off - should have thought about it in the autumn perhaps.

Heather said...

That should of course be 'there' and why did I type 'off' in my comment!! Note to self: read through what you type before you hit the publish button!

liniecat said...

Yummy results!

Sandra Wyman said...

Love the patterning on these Julie!
And why am I not surprised you've used turquoise?

imac said...

Oh shucks, just threw that old can out, thought the stuff on top too, oopps. lol.

Nat Palaskas said...

What fabulous results from snow dyed. Sadly it doesn't snow here (Australia)at the moment. We have hails occasionally! I love what you did - have fun - hugs Nat

Anonymous said...

Beautiful colours :)

Ro Bruhn said...

What fabulous results, they're marvellous. There has to be some benefit from all of that snow.

Maggi said...

The pieces that are grouped together after the silk noil have stunning textural effects. the

Lis Harwood said...

Your results are fascinating and have inspired me to keep going with this snow dyeing lark! I love the crystal type patterns that have formed, especially on photos 4 and 5 (although I can see the sheep!!) I'm still waiting to reveal my second attempt, I think it froze again last night. Very exciting.

Odile said...

Your tests are very successful and dye fabrics are beautiful. Here aiso, we have snow and it is very cold.

Su said...

I've wanted to do snow dyeing for a while now, but have to admit that once the snow came I whimped out as it was too cold! Your results are great though, the patterns that the snow gives are really interesting. Maybe I'll have a go next year!

B.T.Bear (esq.) said...

We allways enjoy yor snow dying escapades!

Hey ware has yor hat gon?

Angela said...

Such lovely colours particularly the tray dyed ones.

Dot said...

Oh my goodness Julie. Your fabrics are amazing. Am suffering from snow dyed fabic envy :)