Orange Flower

Here's a mini I just finished using a print I made with a deconstructed silk screen last year. 

"Orange Flower" 14.5 x 19"

Dye Retreat 2012

I spent a week in June dying fabric with friends in East Texas. 

It's an annual event that began 39 years ago. You can read the history details here.

One of my goals was to dye a sky background for a motorcycle portrait I've been working on.

I pleated a piece of muslin and laid it in a wallpaper tray under 

the clothesline to catch the dripping dye.

I wish I had used sateen.

Another goal was to dye some shirts, baby clothes and baby blankets for gifts.

I borrowed Becky's bag of toy balls and tried my hand at dying a piece of flannel for a baby blanket.

Here's the dry flannel.

Among other things, Kathi drew with thickened dye on linen, 

and painted this large piece of sateen on the floor...

 Linda experimented with some shibori on Kaufman's new Radiance fabric (a silk/cotton blend)...

and Jill played with some deconstructed silk screening and 

made test pieces of all 10 of Dharma's new 2012 dyes.

Several friends visited during the week and Smokey the cat supervised.

I had a great time.

I still need to make room for my pile of new fabric.

Dishcharge with Dishwasher Liquid

A friend gave me four shirts to play with during my annual fabric-dying workshop next week. Unfortunately they are 50/50 Cotton/Poly. I don't like the results I get when dying cotton/poly so I thought I would play with some discharge ideas.

I put some cheap dishwasher liquid in a hair color applicator bottle. The cheap stuff seems to contain more bleach than the better dishwasher liquid.

 - wet Dishwasher Liquid -

I doodled on a couple of shirts and put them in the sun to dry.

I found it hard to rise out the dried liquid so after a while, I gave up and threw them in the washing machine with a couple of beach towels.

 - Washed and dried shirts -

I'm happy with the result. The black went to a heathered grey with a little brown around some of the edges and the magenta bleached to pale pink. Neither one smells like bleach.