Question for all dyers here that do direct application

[mishoga]

OK, I paint on many of my designs. I usually mix my colors in very small containers, kind of the size of the containers you recieve from chinese food that give small amounts of duck sauce. Even cutting down the size of colors I mix, I am wasting a lot of superclear and die mix.
Have any of you used a artists palette plate? It's a plate with many small domed indentations for water/acrylic paints. (Forgive my spelling errors)
I'm thinking maybe I could put a few drops of urea water in each section and dip dry brush in dye powder and mix, then add super clear by dropper.
How do you minimize waste of supplies? What methods do you find works best?

Please share some of your secrets, unless of course they are TOP secret 
Mishy

BTW, Judy, love that piece of art you have up on Etsy. It's beautiful! Have to add that to my favorites.

[tiedyejudy]

Hi, Mishoga.  Thank you for your kind words!  I had fun with that piece.  I have done dye painting using a pallete plate because I hate to waste the dye too.  I use the smallest measuring spoon and barely dip it into the dye powder then sprinkle into the urea water and add thickener.  It's like mixing paint... you can always add more.  I even mix colors in the center as I am working.  I have a client who wanted me to do several 'critters' on shirts for her this summer, so I got a workout.  Also, I have heard others mention that you can cover and store for short periods, then if the dyes dry out just add some more urea water.  I should mention that I soda soak my garments and dry rather than add the soda ash solution to the dyes.  For the garments I worked on this summer, I used soy wax to cover the area I would later paint, then dyed the shirt using LWI.  Then I soda soaked, dried, and painted the 'critter'.
Hope that helps!
Judy   

[mishoga]

YIPEE!!!!!!!
I thought it would work!!!!
Thanks Judy
 
Mish