Dye Day 2

First, some housekeeping: email notifications are now working!  Amy was nice enough to email me to let me know that it wasn’t working (and apparently hadn’t been for some time), so I fixed it.  If you were subscribed but no longer want to be, you can either unsubscribe from my website (the top right of the sidebar has buttons for unsubscribing), or by emailing me (my contact info is on my About Me page).

Next: the fun stuff!  I got together with my friend Susanne for a dye day yesterday.  Here’s what I made:

This blue/green T-shirt was scrunch-dyed, in turquoise and emerald green.  I love this one – it looks like malachite!

I think I put on a little too much dye for this shirt, but love the boldness of the pattern, so I like it anyway.

An old T-shirt of Mike’s, which was previously an atrocious shade of light blue (that wouldn’t look good on anyone).  I overdyed it with Cerulean Blue.  I really like this now.  If Mike won’t wear it, I will.  🙂

I’m less fond of this one – the colors don’t have the same “ring” as on the malachite T-shirt, and I’m indifferent to the pattern.  I like it enough to wear it anyway, but it isn’t as exciting.

And, for those who have patiently read through the rest of this post, I’ve saved the best for last!

Here is my new psychedelic bathrobe:

A very nice spiral, even if it is unfortunately centered on my butt.  😉  I look forward to many years of wearing this one; it’s a nicer tie-dye than my previous (now retired) bathrobe.  An upgrade!

And…my very favorite of all…Fire Socks!

I parfait dyed these – stuck one pair into a container, added yellow, and squooshed them down.  Then I put on a little bit of red, squooshed a second pair in, and added a bunch more red.  Finally, I put in the third pair, squooshed them down, and added more yellow.  The result: socks you’ll never lose!

I’m actually very pleased with these socks.  I had been trying to figure out what to do with them – socks are too thick to come out well using conventional tie-dye methods, and I had tried painting them with thickened dyes, but didn’t like the results.  Scrunch-dyeing was the answer!  I love these socks – totally unsubtle, but will go well with my tie-dyed sweats and sports bras.  And I love fiery color combinations, in case you hadn’t noticed.

Now, Ruth asked how to keep the paint off the loom when stenciling onto a warp.  The short answer is that you put something underneath it.  I used a cut-down piece of foam insulation, 1/2″ thick, covered with muslin and then with paper towels.  You could use cardboard, but I happened to have the foam insulation on hand.  As a result, no looms were painted during the stenciling of this warp.  🙂  (I would put down a drop cloth if I were working over carpet, but that’s because I’m prone to dropping brushes, etc. onto the floor.)

Pirkko’s comment on my last post got me thinking about why I’m looking for further education on design.  Am I just trying to validate what I already intuitively understand?  So often I see people seeking “permission” to try something (in a book, or elsewhere) when they could simply go out and do it!  The question is whether further formal training would benefit me.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a good answer to this – I don’t know what is taught in upper-level design classes, so I don’t know the extent of my ignorance.  (I did get a great deal out of my two-dimensional design class, though!)  I think I will try out a course or two, and see if they are helpful.  I can always drop out!