Giving Myself A Headache

I don't know why but it seems that sometimes I just give myself a headache.

Early this morning I was up and rinsing out fabric I dyed yesterday. I had used varying colors on 20 oversized fat-quarters. Most of them turned out just as planned but there are always a few that surprise me. And I have gotten to a level in my dyeing adventures that I document the 'lesson learned' when these nuances happen. One of today's notes was that Strong Navy will pretty much take up every fiber molecule it can touch and other colors will only have a stand if put on the fabric first, allowed to absorb for a substantial amount of time, then add the Strong Navy dye stock.

So, let's get to the headache of the day. After getting everything thru the final wash, rinse, dry, and pressed sequence, this is what they looked like.

I then realized that I didn't have any samples of a new 'black' dye I had gotten a few months back. I also wanted to put a 1 yard piece of fabric into a quart size canning jar and do my low water immersion method of turning the container upside down every 20 minutes for the first two hours. This is a take off from an article I had read many years ago. I used fat quarters and jelly jars at that time. So, I snipped my fabric at the 40" length, tore it across, placed it into my soda ash solution and off the the studio to mix up 1 cup of dye stock. I don't know why but I just could not wrap my head around how to find the grams for weighing out my dye powder. I could find the oz measure on my scale but the gram icon was eluding me. But the strangest thing was that where the g for gram should have been, was this weird squiggle mark. Well, I spend considerable time figuring out just how much in ounces 5 grams is. Made my dye stock, put it into the jar, squeezed out the soda ash solution, and then pushed the fabric into the jar. I spent the next 2 hours flipping the thing. 

The quart jar is now sitting on the window sill waiting for tomorrow. That's when I will do the warm water rinse, ice water soak, hot water soak, and then into the washer with the hopes that just one time through a hot water wash, and two cold water rinses will take care of all excess dye. There really shouldn't be much excess as I used the amount that 1 yard of my fabric should need for the proper depth of color I was going for. But, tomorrow will show me it worked, or what I need to adjust.

Oh, about the HEADACHE, that squiggly line that was where the gr belonged, it IS a lower case g. 

Funny how not having that r after the g made me think it wasn't what I needed. Like I said, Sometimes I give myself a headache!

May God bless you common sense to look closely when you think something isn't as it should be,

Luann

Dyed Sheets and Pfd Cloth

A few days ago I got the urge to get the 'grunge' out of some sheets. I did an ice dyeing process. I also did a heap of snippets and 2 dozen fat quarters of fabric. I put up pictures already of the cloth but finally have a couple of the sheets. First, a 'group' photo of those fat quarters. 

 

A total of 6 yards of scrumptious eye candy. 

And the sheets.

 

 

I really like how these came out. Try to ignore the purple rug bombing this picture!

Yesterday I set about doing a second set of sheets. These were NOT done with the ice dye method. More of a low water immersion. I squirted dye stock onto them and gave them a good massage. After all was said and done, this is how that set looks. They aren't on a bed, just over the back of the rocker for 'portrait' time. I like the colors as they combined to make new hues and shades of my favorites.

 

 

 

All in all, I like both methods. Each has its own final look. These will be fine in the same room. After all they are usually covered up with a blanket or quilt. And I may just need to make two coordinating quilts for these beds. Since I lean toward intense colors when dyeing fabric, I'm sure I can find plenty to look good with these sheets. 

The best part, about doing ice dyeing and 'squirt it on' method, is the serendipity  of it, and I don't keep records of mixtures, etc. 

The worst part of doing them in either fashion is that sheets weigh a ton when they're wet and they are near impossible to rinse properly. My back will testify to this. 

All in all, though, I like having things personalized. And what can be more personal than the sheets you sleep between done up in some favorite colors. Hmmm,, maybe the hubby's undies could be more blue and green and,,, ahhh, maybe not! But I bet my grandkids would think it was cool. They're just young enough to not be embarrassed by such things. 

Well, I'm off to see what else I can 'personalize',,,,,

God bless your color adventures,

Luann