A Little Dyeing Time

Back in 2012, I took an online Mandala class by Shibori Girl (aka Glennis).  The class was great and I  produced some cool pieces (you can see some here).  So my blog/bud, Kay S. from Quilts + Color created some stunning mandala pieces the past few months, which inspired me to give it a go again.  You have to check out her mandala ice dyes..NO, wait...wait until after you've seen mine or else you won't even come back to look at what I've done here!  Kay's pieces are stunners!!!!

My pieces aren't the greatest but it was fun to fold fabric and see how it turns out..oh a note on the dye I used on this piece!  It has been in the downstairs frig for five years!  Yes, five years and it was still perfectly fine to dye with!!  On another note, I do not put soda ash/fixer in my dyes...I do soak my fabric in fixer but do not add to my dye solution.

It was really hot this past weekend therefore very easy to let the pieces batch in the sun!

This is a yard of cotton sateen fabric that was fold based on Glennis' method.

This is an 18" square of some cheap cotton but it dyed up quite well.  I do have a project in mind for this piece.















I also dyed a yard of cotton sateen I had rusted a few years ago for a background to put my beaded leaf on.     I used both green and blue dyes and laid the fabric in a tray, pouring dyes over the folds.
It's a pretty piece and I like the way the rust shows through the dyes.

 But it came out a little too dark for what I wanted but I have some ideas to  perhaps lighten it....then I'll overdye with some pale green or light blue.  This is what I was trying to achieve!

It's actually fabric from a blouse  my friend saw in Chico's!  She called me over to look at it and the colors are really perfect for my leaf...although, I decided I'm going to need to bead two smaller leaves. One big leaf just won't look right alone...but we'll see what happens.

I'm thinking if I brush my dyed piece with bleach I should be able to lighten up the piece to allow the rust show though and remove some of the darkness. Can't hurt to try!!!  Besides...what else am I doing!