Disperse Dyeing (again!)

 I know...why don't I finish a few projects before starting more!  Well, the hand stitched rail fence is almost finished...just need to get a pillow form or make a pillow form!  I'm almost, also, finished with the poncho.  Just need to pick up stitches to make the cowl collar...so that means, I can start some new projects and that's what I did this weekend. I've played with disperse dyes before and posted on my blog.  You can see two posts here and here!   So thought I'd give it a go again!  Here here are some papers that were 'cooking'.  

Pro Chem sells disperse dyes, which you mix with water.  You paint on to paper (printer paper is what I use), allow to dry then you iron the transfer/paint onto polyester fabric.  At least that is the fabric that is recommended to use.  You get several, several prints from each paper and the papers last forever!!

You can see on this blog post,  where I achieved good results on 100% cotton fabric.  Thanks to Laura Kemshall, from last March, for testing this out.  Let's face it.  I'm not washing my pieces that hang on a wall and I'd be careful to not make a small piece to sit on a table to hold my glass of wine!  

I cut some leaves from out back to lay on the papers!

I mixed up orange, yellow, blue and a purple dye.

I laid a leaf on top of a painted piece of paper, sometimes using one color or two.  Then I laid a piece of saran wrap on top of the leaf and paper and pushed out any air and crinkled some of the saran wrap.

Linda Kemshall did a video on their Design Matters where she demo'd using the saran wrap.   Just an addition to what Laura showed.  Linda suggested to keeping the paper(s) small because of  the difficulty in keeping the heat even on larger piece of dyed papers.  I kept mine at around 8" square and colored the leftover papers to use as well.  "Waste not...want not", right!

The colors may appear quite dark and to be honest, just because you see gold, green, etc. on paper, you may not get that same result when you iron on to your fabric.

I laid each piece on top of one another on a piece of plastic trash bag.  Because the saran wrap was on top of each paper, I could layer them easily.  

I took the entire 'pile' outside in the sun, covering the top layer with the trash bag and placed about 6 heavy books to squeeze the pieces a tad more!

Here's one set with the leaves removed and papers all dry.

I can't wait to print!  Again, I don't expect each piece to retain the intensity you see in the colors here....but you never know!!!!  Until the next disperse dye post, enjoy your week!  I sure will!