Tien Chiu

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Cross-dyeing magic, part I

I have now completed the first round of dyeing (fiber-reactive).  It was magical.  I started with fabric that was nearly white, like this:

undyed fabric
undyed fabric

…and when I dyed it, like magic, a rich, beautiful pattern appeared!

fiber-reactive dye swatch, scrunch-dyed in brown and black
fiber-reactive dye swatch, scrunch-dyed in brown and black

Here are a few more swatches:

fiber-reactive dyes: scrunch-dyed in turquoise and purple
fiber-reactive dyes: scrunch-dyed in turquoise and purple
fiber reactive dye: arashi shibori
fiber reactive dye: arashi shibori
fiber-reactive dye: stenciled maple leaf
fiber-reactive dye: stenciled maple leaf

(Yes, you are reading “Hello World” in that swatch.  What can I say, I’m a geek!)

Keep in mind that these are only half the story.  I will be overdyeing with acid dyes later this week, to dye the other half of the fabric – and am eager to see what happens!

Meanwhile, in shibori workshop-land, I have completed some more samples of stitched shibori:

stitched shibori triangles
stitched shibori triangles
stitched shibori, orange circles, stitched on fold
stitched shibori, orange circles, stitched on fold
stitched shibori, mokume style, stitched on bias
stitched shibori, mokume style, stitched on bias
stitched shibori, wavy lines
stitched shibori, wavy lines

The fabric in the stitched shibori, by the way, is more of the alpaca/tencel fabric, this time dyed in rust brown and gold, which “averages out” to a rust orange.  However, the fabric has more depth and variation than a single-fiber fabric…perhaps not obvious in the photo, but pretty neat in person.

This week will be a fairly quiet week, as the cotton-wrapped polyester thread I ordered (from Atlanta Thread) will take several days to arrive.  I plan to finish the acid dyeing, which will take a few days, and take some quiet time, cleaning up the studio and maybe reading a few of those books I have piled up!

Comments

  2. nice to see some of the other patterns. i have always been fond of the larch pattern- there have been so many examples of it over time it’s become a favorite.