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You are here: Home / All blog posts / Katazome + cross-dyeing – oh, the possibilities!
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August 8, 2012 by Tien Chiu

Katazome + cross-dyeing – oh, the possibilities!

As I prepare to wrap up the Celtic Braid Coat, I’m thinking about my next project.  I think I’m going to do katazome on warps and mix it up with cross-dyeing.

Here, at least in theory, is how it works:

Starting with a white warp in a cellulose fiber (cotton, rayon, linen, etc.):

First, you apply the resist to the warp:

undyed warp with resist applied (orange square)
undyed warp with resist applied (orange square)

Next the warp is dyed with a red-to-yellow color gradient, and the resist washed out:

warp painted in red to orange color gradient - after washout
warp painted in red to orange color gradient – after washout

Where the resist was, you have white; the rest of it is in the dyed color gradient.

Now, the fabric is woven using a lime green weft:

fabric, woven with lime green weft
fabric, woven with lime green weft

…and a circular patch of resist is applied:

woven fabric with a circular patch of resist applied
woven fabric with a circular patch of resist applied

Now the cloth is dyed with acid dyes in a blue to green gradient.  This will dye the protein weft but not the cotton warp; the result, after washout, should look like this:

woven fabric, dyed with acid dyes in blue to green color gradient, resist washed out
woven fabric, dyed with acid dyes in blue to green color gradient, resist washed out

The boundary lines will not be so neat in real life, of course, as the edges will “feather” during weaving.  But I think it’s an interesting technique with a lot of potential.

Since I have a 10/2 cotton warp already on the loom, this presents some excellent possibilities, as well as a way to use up a 15-yard cotton warp (what was I thinking?).  At Bonnie Inouye’s recommendation, I’m going to weave up some “fabric” with a fine, sacrificial weft this week (one pick every inch or so) and resist/dye the resulting fabric – possibly this weekend, possibly later.  I’m debating whether to keep the warp white before dyeing or whether to dye it with a “base coat”, probably yellow.  Also debating what stencil pattern to carve – I’m thinking flames but am coming up with some intriguing possibilities (phoenix feathers!) in my design class.

This will all take some time, though, so it probably won’t happen until next week, assuming I can finish up the Celtic Braid Coat this week.  (Possibly a tall order!  We shall see.)

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Filed Under: All blog posts, dyeing, textiles, weaving Tagged With: cross dyeing, katazome

Previous post: Piecing
Next post: Pieced panels

Comments

  1. Stephanie S says

    August 8, 2012 at 9:00 am

    What an interesting idea. I love it! That illustrates the unending facination I have with weaving – there are so many things I want to experiment with and not enough time in the day. Best wishes.
    Stephanie S

  2. Maryse Levenson says

    August 10, 2012 at 4:41 pm

    This looks like fun, I can’t wait wait to see the finished piece. Maryse

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