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Kathy
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« on: March 12, 2006, 06:15:26 AM » |
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Do you start off with your shirt damp or dry?
On the old forum, way at the beginning, someone posted their LWI experiments. One of their experiments was applying the dye to dry fabric vs. to dampened. If I remember correctly, the blending of the colors appeared more fluid and mottled on the dampened fabric. Maybe I'll get on a quick experiment right now and post my results later today I'll use cotton to so it will be more easily applicable to most others  Kathy |
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Kathy
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« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2006, 11:51:57 AM » |
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O.K. back to post my results and I will have to concede that my memory failed me  The fabric that is started dry has a more blended final product, whereas the pre-dampened fabric I seem to have gotten more veining and mottled look. See for yourself... the one on your left is pre-dampened, the one on the right started dry.  Each piece of cotton was approximately 8"x12" in size. To keep things as uniform as possible I scrunched as best I could in the same fashion into their own 4oz old dye containers. I used a 1/4 cup of water with 1/4tsp. deep purple dye powder on each. For the soda ash solution, I used 1/8 water with 1/3 tsp. soda ash. I didn't manipulate the fabric at all except when I added the soda ash solution. When I added it I slightly lifted the pieces to get the solution under the fabric and gave to light jabs to each piece to scrunch 'em down again. The soda ash was added after 20 minutes. And everything was left to sit for 4 hours on my stovetop(for added heat). There you have it. Now someone else give it a try to see how our results vary.  Kathy |
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LiveFreeorDye
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« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2006, 07:49:07 AM » |
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This is interesting. I would have expected the dry fabric to be slower to absorb the dye. And my shirts, which were started damp, look more like you dry ones (although I had 3 different colors). I wish I could show how it came out. I am still trying to figure out how to get around my provider's web templates to fit more than one image on a page, and I am not comfortable giving personal information to companies such as photobucket. Well, I'll get there, I'm sure. take it easy Sue |
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Kathy
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« Reply #3 on: March 13, 2006, 02:54:10 PM » |
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I was expecting the same thing you were and at first I had thought I had gotten my samples switched, but I had made a point to use the piece with the selvage still on it for as the dry tester. It is interesting to note that when I poured the dye solution on the wet fabric, it didn't soak all the way down so it slightly covered all of the scrunched fabric. The dry fabric soaked ther dye up with some "pools" in the crevices of the folds. This makes sense though, b/c the damp fabric already has h20 molecules taking up space in the fiber, thus some of the dye solution has no place to go yet(until it gets pushy and forces itself in  ) Maybe the difference in the results you have had and mine come from a variety of things....i.e. type of fiber, ratio of dye solution to fiber, how scrunched they were, etc. Kathy |
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tiedyejudy
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« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2006, 01:23:58 PM » |
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Well, I bit the bullet today and decided to try LWI on a couple pair of drawstring pants I have had forever. I had several different colors already mixed, so did one pair with blues and fuschia. The other pair I dyed with lemon yellow, golden yellow, orange and jungle red. I wasn't pleased with the second pair, so I rescrunched and tried adding some complementary colors: green, teal, periwinkle and cerulean, I think. It actually came out better! They're still wet, so I will wait until they dry, then take pix to show you. BTW, for a container, I used a 34.5 oz plastic coffee container. It worked really well! So I guess I will be saving them for awhile...
Judy
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tiedyejudy
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« Reply #5 on: March 20, 2006, 05:49:43 AM » |
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Well, I'm pretty pleased with the results so far. These were dyed with the garments starting out dry. I did put some dye in the bottom of the container, then added several other colors plus water in between some. The orange/blue pair started out with just oranges and yellows with a little jungle red. I was not happy with them after I washed, so I put them back in the bucket damp, and added the blues.   I've got a pair of drawstring pants and v-nect T 'cooking' right now... will see how they turn out later! Judy |
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steve
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« Reply #6 on: March 20, 2006, 06:39:39 AM » |
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The orange/blue pair started out with just oranges and yellows with a little jungle red. I was not happy with them after I washed, so I put them back in the bucket damp, and added the blues That's one thing Michael did when he was not satisfied. He would take whatever he had and dye over it. In his case, usually immersion dyeing. Last summer he brought a number of duvet covers he brought from Australia. The most popular ones were the "failures" that he eneded up over dyeing. Cool results! Steve |
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Kathy
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« Reply #7 on: March 20, 2006, 03:06:05 PM » |
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Wow! That first pair are awesome! They look like raw copper ore.
Kathy
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tiedyejudy
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« Reply #8 on: March 21, 2006, 02:48:42 AM » |
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Thanks, Kathy. Interesting note: some of the dyes I used on these first two were thickened, and they came out with a different look than the pieces I did yesterday. I was trying for a southwest pallete on a set I did yesterday, but they came out more like camoflauge! Less definition, but very interesting. I am really getting the bug now to keep at lwi for awhile. I'm even thinking of trying lwi on tied shirts, just to see how they look. Thanks for your instructions!
Judy
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LiveFreeorDye
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« Reply #9 on: March 21, 2006, 05:08:46 AM » |
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Wow, I really like those pants, too. I am very interested in your experiments. I have a rayon dress that I did some detailed sewing and gathering on (last year) that I have always planned on doing with lwi. I just haven't seemed to get to it. Maybe I will get to it soon! My main concern with it is getting enough dye (but not too much) into the gathered part so that the sewed designs are distinct, and having a relatively even background.
Are you going to show us the southwest camoflage look? I'm interested in the differences you observed using thickened and unthickened dye.
take it easy
Sue
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LiveFreeorDye
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« Reply #10 on: March 21, 2006, 05:11:08 AM » |
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Oh, one other question, Judy. How did you stuff the pants into the container? Did you go top to bottom scrunching up the legs like a tube, or did you lay them down on their side and scrunch them in?
Sue
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tiedyejudy
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« Reply #11 on: March 21, 2006, 09:15:15 AM » |
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I'm not thrilled with the pictures... they don't show the colors as well as in person, but here they are:   I laid the pants flat, then started scrunching about mid-way. I used a 3 gallon bucket and the items were dry to start with. I mixed all the dyes with just water. Judy |
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LiveFreeorDye
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« Reply #12 on: March 21, 2006, 11:51:48 AM » |
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Very cool. If this were my project, I would consider putting a design on the front of the top with foil or metallic fabric paint.
When you say they have less definition, do you mean that the indivdual shapes of the color areas are less crisp and more "out of focus" or do you mean that the colors overall blended more?
Did you put both items in the same bucket together?
take it easy
Sue
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LiveFreeorDye
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« Reply #13 on: April 13, 2006, 01:53:19 PM » |
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Well, I put two examples of my damp-dyed LWI camis in the gallery. Looking back on my notes and comparing to the actual garments, I see that the colors I placed in the container below the garments are more diffuse than the ones I put on top. After letting it sit for 30 min - 1hr. I added soda ash solution to the top of the cloth.
take it easy
Sue
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