Eco-Dye Update
I'm still here, though not exactly in the blog-o-sphere. I had a chunk of last week taken up by food poisoning. I'm just fine, but yech! It's amazing how many things can pile up on the to-do list after just a few days.
So now, I'll get you caught up on some of the art things that have been going on around here. Let's start with my eco-dye experiment. You may recall that I first tried to dye fabric with red cabbage and then, when that failed, I tried to dye with flower petals. That didn't work out as expected either. Though disappointed with my results, I decided to chalk this up to experimentation and rinsed the fabric to remove the vinegar scent that still lingered.
Big mistake. What little color there was just leeched right into the water. I didn't even know there was that much color left in the cloth! At that point, I figured I might as well just wash the fabric in Woolite and start over.
After rinsing and hanging the cloth to dry, there wasn't a lot of color left; you had to squint to see it. I took it to my ironing board so that it might be smoothed out and serviceable again. And look what happened -- color reappeared!
This is much more subtle than I expected from the experiment -- I had originally hoped for pinks, blues and yellows to explode across the fabric, but the delicate nature of the cloth is really growing on me now. I might even have an idea as to how to use this piece.
I brought the cloth to my fiber art group last night and asked why they thought the color had disappeared down the drain. I got lots of good suggestions and from all this, one thing is clear: I need to conduct more experiments. I'll keep you posted.
So now, I'll get you caught up on some of the art things that have been going on around here. Let's start with my eco-dye experiment. You may recall that I first tried to dye fabric with red cabbage and then, when that failed, I tried to dye with flower petals. That didn't work out as expected either. Though disappointed with my results, I decided to chalk this up to experimentation and rinsed the fabric to remove the vinegar scent that still lingered.
Big mistake. What little color there was just leeched right into the water. I didn't even know there was that much color left in the cloth! At that point, I figured I might as well just wash the fabric in Woolite and start over.
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This is much more subtle than I expected from the experiment -- I had originally hoped for pinks, blues and yellows to explode across the fabric, but the delicate nature of the cloth is really growing on me now. I might even have an idea as to how to use this piece.
I brought the cloth to my fiber art group last night and asked why they thought the color had disappeared down the drain. I got lots of good suggestions and from all this, one thing is clear: I need to conduct more experiments. I'll keep you posted.
Comments
Ging.