Wednesday 26 October 2011

Colouring of Materials - bonus.

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On this occasion, I dyed all the little pieces in plastic bags,
them sewed them together. I rinsed them several times
and the water seemed to be pretty well clear.
As they were drying on pieces of kitchen roll, I noticed
that some colour was coming out of them onto the papers.
During subsequent dyeing adventures, I re-used the same
papers but dried different coloured dyed samples on them.
I ended up with some lovely random effects which I'm sure
will come in useful in the future.
Even better, they all split into three layers, each of which is
slightly different. Oh, joy!
We all love an unexpected bonus, don't we?


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This is a general view of the papers.


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I've taken close ups of some of my favourites.


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Tuesday 18 October 2011

Chapter 6. Colouring of Materials. Part 3.

In part 3, I've returned to a computer manipulated image which I used at the beginning of my sketchbook. The formerly elegant angels looked like swirly ghosts after manipulation with Paint Shop Pro. These strong, bright colours are more like the palette I would prefer to work with.


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The composition of these yarns is as follows -
1) cotton boucle
2) thick cotton perle
3) cotton chenille
4) thin cotton perle
5) thick cotton
6) viscose boucle with cotton binder
7) viscose and cotton 'snarl' yarn
8) viscose gimp
9) cotton slub
10) bamboo
11) cotton and polyester boucle

I really like the variegated effect of these yarns and I can't wait to use them!


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This is a bit of a cheat, as I used my embroidery machine to make the motifs on this little bag. The background is free embroidery, quilted through cotton wadding and the fabric is hand-dyed cotton velvet, lined with pure silk.
I just couldn't wait to make something with some of the hand-dyed fabric! (No self-control - it applies to chocolate, too)

Chapter 6. Colouring of Materials. Part 2.

Unfortunately, I didn't get everything prepared after the gym last night, in time to post again. However - home from the gym again this morning and full of energy (or maybe not), here is part 2.

Last time, I mixed the dye powders to obtain the colours I wanted. This time, I mixed up the straight colours in the bottles, then mixed the liquids together in the plastic bags, on top of the damp fabrics.



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Once again, I'm using this gorgeous gargoyle. He's so characterful - but difficult to photograph, as he's so high up. I really like the cool colouring in this photograph and the rather slimy green areas on the stone. This is quite a limited palette, all blues & greens. Again, it's not what I would normally choose but it's good sometimes to work outside your comfort zone.



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Sample 1, the cotton/viscose brocade, was different on both sides so I reversed some of the pieces to show the difference. Sometimes the flowers are shiny and in other samples, the background is shiny. This fabric seems to have more variety of colour than some of the others and it's one of my favourites.
The silk/viscose velvet has taken the dye really well but it was evil to sew - it's exceptionally slippery - and stretchy!

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Again, I used up the remaining dyes on the yarn samples. From top to bottom, they are made from -
1) cotton chenille
2) cotton perle
3) cotton boucle
4) loosely twisted cotton and viscose
5) cotton and polyester slub
6) viscose ribbon.

I don't think I've ever dyed this much yarn in my life. Now, I just need to acquire the taste for hand stitching! (or maybe I'll just use it for couching and the embellisher)

Monday 17 October 2011

Chapter 6. Colouring of Materials

After a long break, I've started on Diploma work again - and not before time!

I decided to use cold water 'fibre-reactive' dyes (Procion) for my samples, although I'll probably experiment with other methods too.
This first batch of samples was taken from an old gravestone, adorned with a dove. This is not the type of colour palette which I would normally work with - and that's why I chose it.
All of the portfolio pages are A2 size.

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I liked the strong contrast between the three shades of grey and the 'acid bright' yellows and greens. I've used a range of fabrics, listed in the left hand column.
Fabric sample number 5, the cotton mix jacquard, looked different on each side. I've used the 'front' for some samples and the 'back' for others, to show the different effects.


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Dark grey fabric sample 3, the silk chiffon, had disappeared when I came to sew the strips together. Of course, just after I glued the samples in, it re-appeared -jumbled up with the dyed threads. The silk chiffon was very wispy and elusive. I'll have to keep a watchful eye on it in future.


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I put a selection of skeins into each plastic bag, as I was dyeing. They are (from top to bottom)
a) bamboo b) cotton boucle c) viscose ribbon d) viscose loop with cotton binder
e) cotton/polyester slub

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Here they are, in all their glory.


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To use up the left over dyes. I put these pieces of velvet in a tray and dropped the colours onto them. I think the top piece is synthetic, as it came out very pale. They were cheap bundles (60p each) and had no details with them so I don't really know what they were made from.
Overall, I was pleased with this first batch of dyeing. The samples were very close to the gravestone colours so I feel quite encouraged by this.
Roll on the next set of samples. I may post them when I return from the gym, if I'm in a fit state!