Transfer Dye

I recently attended a workshop run by Cas Holmes, at the Ballarat Fibre Arts event.
The first thing we experimented with was transfer dyeing. I had done a very small amount while studying my Studio Textiles and Design course but had not done any for years.

The idea is that you paint your dye onto paper and then iron it onto your fabric. It works best with synthetic fabrics.

Today, two friends and I had a play with it again. We were trying to work out what papers work best and what fabrics work well.

I purchased my dyes from Kraft Kolour and they were delivered very promptly!

I'm not sure we have discovered a lot but we had a very pleasant day.

One thing that one of us discovered is that you can transfer the dye from paper to paper - much more her thing. She is more interested in paper art now, rather than textile art.

Different papers soak up the dyes differently and some seem to retain the dye more than others. Different fabrics take up the dyes differently. It seems that we need to do a lot more experimenting before we know much!

Experimenting with different resists and layers of fabric, to see if the dye would go through.  We had drop cloths to catch any dyes that soaked through. No many did, as you had to wait till the dye was dry before ironing it onto the fabric. But some of the thinner fabrics did let the colour go all the way through.

 The dyes looked much darker on the papers!

 It even worked on some felt that one of us brought along. 

 This too is felt. 

These two images show the dye painted onto some pianola roll paper and then ironed onto the fabric. As I have said, the colour comes out very differently on the fabric. It will take a lot more experience with the process to be able to accurately predict results.

One thing we did learn at the workshop is to keep the papers, they can be used in the mixed media piece that you might eventually make.

Going away

I have been away for a couple of days, into the hills. It was beautiful weather, there was no working tv, no radio and no newspaper (actually, I did buy one but when I start to read it I decided I didn't need to pollute my mind anymore). It was a wonderful time away.

I had been with some friends the day before and we had been going to do some sun dyeing but the sun didn't shine!! So we did paper eco dyeing. However, the sun shone while I was away and I had the makings still with me. I got out the dyes, found plenty of leaves, flowers and grass seeds and decided to try it anyway.
I had three different sorts of fabric. As I wasn't sure what I was doing, or why, I only did small pieces for sampling.
The information for the sun dyes I had, from KraftKolour, said that it was for cotton and silk, so I put away the polyester fabrics and just used the cotton and silk - at least, I hoped it was just cotton and silk. I haven't actually washed them yet as I had to iron them and then wait for 24 hours, so that is a task for tomorrow. Here's hoping the colour doesn't wash out.

I used a piece of quilting fabric that had been screen printed. It was interesting to see that the screen printed part didn't really dye - I had found that out previously with some procion dyeing. But it didn't really do much with the sun printing either, maybe because I didn't use strong resists, I only used some grass seeds and a few leaves. So that piece was a bit of a dead loss - but it might be useful in some patchwork and I will keep it in case. I also used a variety of colours and it might have been better to have used less colours.

Another piece I used was gauze cotton. It worked well. I actually ended up with two pieces as I had dye left over after my first experiment. The second gauze piece was there, the left-over dyes were there and I was getting tired. So I just scrunched up the second piece, dipped it into the various dyes and ended up with a rather green piece of fabric. It had also wrinkled, so that affected the dyeing too. But it actually has some of the most interesting designs. It was the last piece I did, so I probably had been learning as I went along. I am going to do some machine sewing and see if I can develop some of the images further.

I can see a blue wren here, just waiting for me to develop the image further.

The grass seeds came up ok on the gauze too. I do like grass seeds!

Another couple of pieces were of homespun cotton, also suitable for quilting. They have given me some interesting parts that I many use, or I may just put them in my ever-increasing stash.

However, I enjoyed the exercise and will try some new ideas in the near future. Summer is coming after all. I have to find some positives in all that sunshine and warm weather.

Ooops

I thought I had posted about this tapestry earlier but found that it is still in draft form.   So ...
This is the post as written a couple of weeks ago (November 26th, to be exact), I hope it still makes sense.

I had plans to twist and turn the slits and make it all join up - in a very 3D way.  Those plans are on hold for the moment because of the exhibition.  The way I planned to sew it together would make it very different from the other two small tapestries I have done, so I have taken the curator's advice and will leave it in its current state - almost.

When I hold it up, the weaving develops a slight curve.

It is very messy at the moment and will stay pretty messy.  But it was suggested that I could dye the hanging strands of warp thread to make it more interesting.  I can see that it could look very much in tune with my other work.

I decided that I wasn't that happy with how I had finished off the weaving, as I had been going to braid it.  So now I am doing the (very!!) tedious job of double half hitching using cotton, with the work off the loom.

I have been a bit concerned about how to dye the threads without having the dye getting onto the actual weaving, or wicking up the threads.  I have had several helpful messages, suggesting water colour paint, food dye (not sure if you can get black, assume so) and procion dye.
Then I went with a friend to visit Kraft Kolour and Bonnie, lovely lady, got out some cotton yarn, some black sun dye and painted the yarn there and then.  It took the dye well and didn't rub off.

I decided to try some leftover warp threads before launching into working on the actual piece and painted them with the sun dye.  I left it in the sun for a while.  It says on the bottle to heat set the dye (when using it on fabric) but when I washed it, no colour came out.  So I will be big and brave tomorrow, if the sun comes out (it is forecast to be thundery), and paint the warps.

I am hoping to cut them off later, braid the ends, and sew it up as I had originally planned, so I don't want the dye to go all the way up to the weaving.

Visiting artist

I have dipped my toe into the school system again - a friend is an art teacher in a primary school and invited me to work with small groups of grade 3/4 children to teach them silk painting. I have the grand title of Visiting Textile Artist.
My previous experience has been as a generalist teacher but I had done some silk painting with some of my classes and with multi-age groups on theme days.  However, it is several years since I have ventured back into a school, so I was feeling rather nervous.
It is also quite a few years since I have done silk painting.  Dare I admit that it could well be 15-20 years?  We did do a little in my Textiles and Design course but that was using a screen and Manutex, not the way I was used to and not the way we did it this time.
I had forgotten how much time is spent in preparation and cleaning up - and how little time there is between classes.  Actually, I have not had to cope with that latter problem very often, it is more relevant to specialist teachers and now I have a much greater appreciation of how hard it is.
So far the lessons have been a success.  The children have produced some lovely work, using limited resources.  Really, all you need is the silk, the dye and some embroidery hoops - and a space.
Here are pictures of some of the pieces as I have been ironing them.
I am not sure why I call it silk painting when we use dye, not paint.  Maybe because we use a brush to put the dye onto the silk.We used heat set dyes from Kraft Kolour, very easy to use.

I decided to limit the colours to red, blue and yellow and the dyes mixed on the silk to produce the other lovely colours.
We also used table and rock salt to produce some of the patterning you see.