Sunday, November 06, 2005

Adventures in resist dyeing

This is what I worked on for most of yesterday.




First I dyed it gold using immersion dyeing.



Then I clamped it and discharged most of the gold colour.



Finally, with the clamps still in place, I vat dyed it violet. Overall I'm dissappointed with it, although there are things I do like about it. My greatest problem was that once this silk, laden with all of its clamps, blocks and wires, was gathered up, it barely fit into the largest industrial pots in the studios. I didn't predict that happening at all. I wound up removing the narrower blocks between discharging and dyeing to make the final step easier. Although I'd made several smaller samples, I still had much to learn when moving to the large scale piece.

I really hate spending hours planning something and having it not turn out quite right.


Ah well... back to working on those merino lace socks. I'm fighting the urge to start another, completely different pair of socks, but that Mission Falls wool in my stash basket keeps staring at me. I'm also firmly resolving to make something other than socks this month. Must...fight...the... addiction.

1 comment:

chris said...

Socks can be very addicting! I need to stop knitting them, too. Especially with Christmas less than 60 days away at this point! Your dyeing is gorgeous. I'm very intrigued by the process.