With Linda Johansen's fabulous book Fabric Dyer's Dictionary in hand, I set out to learn to dye. I am beginning with the Rainbows at the beginning of the book. They didn't seem interesting, but I was pleasantly surprised. They are great fun!
First I armed myself with the basics:
a bolt of PDF fabric, 32 yards to be exact, yikes.
the dyes, a clear and a muted of each basic color, yellow red and blue :
Lemon Yellow
Golden Yellow
Fuchsia
Chinese Red
Turquoise
Cobalt
I made enough dye to last me the week, I put them in squirt containers and will keep them in the refrigerator in the studio.
I pre-washed the fabric and tore it into fat quarters.
Using a pigma pen I marked each piece with the corresponding color number from Linda's book, hoping the numbers will survive the process (which they did).
So, I measured the required amounts into the little baggies, put the fabric in, massaged it and put the little baggies into a plastic box, where they will spend the night in their dye bath.
Oops, I think I must have been tired and or bored towards the end, the last two fabrics came out the same. I will have to re-do the 12th one tomorrow. Notice the two on the left, don't they look strikingly the same!
Here's the Clear Rainbow after I got the last fabric done correctly:
Aren't they gorgeous!
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