Dyers’ dreams

Yesterday I made a run to Dharma Trading Co in San Rafael, and bought eight yards of Kona cotton fabric plus six colors of Procion MX fiber-reactive dye, selected for their dischargeability.  Then I came home and spent the day in the dyepots:

Here are some closer views:

And here is a closeup of the fuchsia-blue cloth – isn’t it gorgeous?

Now, just in case you thought the process was neat, here is a picture of my dye table:

And here is a photo of a jar in process (fuchsia-blue from the looks of it):

Finally, here are pix of two more works-in-progress:

Not bad, considering I only got to spend four hours at the dyepots!

Now, what next?

Today I plan to:

• dye solid colors in purple and blue – very dark, dark, and medium shades
• add a complementary color to the mix – rust orange and bright orange, both solid and scrunch-dyed
• rinse out and screen print T-shirts
• discharge the screen printed T-shirts using bleach (dishwasher gel with bleach, to be exact – easier to control)
• mix up thickened dye and paint the discharged T-shirts with appropriate colors for the design
• screen print black sweats with multiple small designs in gold and orange
• dye socks and sports bras (which also means figuring out what to do with them!)

I also plan to design and sew my first quilt square for the quilting class, though that may be getting ambitious!