I’ve been wanting to make a dye sampler book for years, so I can tell exactly how the colors look when low immersion dyed. Some I’ve know, but the majority I have no idea how they will look dyed without ice. I purchased most of my dyes (fiber reactive dyes) so students of my Icy Delights online class could see how 45 different dyes split in ice dyeing, and hopefully saving them from having to buy dyes they didn’t like. If I dyed all of these low immersion, then I’d have samples (and lots of fabric) for future projects. I’ll show you how some of them look ice dyed compared to low immersion in future posts.
So I started with my reds. Here are 10 of them.
As I mentioned, I dyed them low immersion. Here is a link to a post where I described my process. For these I used 2 grams of dye to 1/4 cup of water. I’m really looking forward to the next batch.
In other dyeing, I finally dyed these white vintage napkins for my friend Barbara to match her placemats. These are dyed using the vat/tub method in my Wonder Washer. Here is a tutorial on that method if you are interested. This is a great way to dye if you want a sold color.
I also finished my SAQA Collaboration quilt for this month. Here is a sneak peak of a part of it. This is my favorite so far of these quilts.
I received in the mail Saturday these wood block stamps I had purchased from Johanna. She not only gave me a great price, but threw in some extras including silk for me to play with. Oh My! I know what I’ll be doing once I get my sampler dyeing done!!
As for gardening, I’ve been doing a little work out there. With the weather and my back, I’ve not been hitting it as hard as I usually do, but it’s getting done. Last year I put labels next to all of the irises, so while weeding in the iris beds I looked at some of the labels, and the writing was gone! I was so excited when I looked at this one – it still had ink on it, but still not much help!!!
But I have a backup!! I made a paper map of the areas, just in case!
I am so looking forward to them showing their faces again this year. And I’m hoping the new ones bloom too.
The weather has turned a bit cool, so I’ve stayed in the last couple of days. It was good though. The Indiana Genealogy Society had their annual conference, and this year it was not only free, but online. I was pretty much deep in the genealogy stuff on Friday and Saturday. Now to get back to dyeing and gardening. Hope you have a creative week. Thanks for dropping by.
For some inspiration, check out Off The Wall Friday.
What’s not to love about this post!!! No answer on that.
The boysenberry is my favorite on these samples. I made some ‘paint chip’ type of paper cuts for recording when I did the gradients. I enjoy just looking at them, lol.
Funny how the one label that didn’t wash off was UNKNOWN,,, isn’t that a real statement about life!
Great info, and I’m looking forward to seeing you use those printing blocks. I wish you lived ‘down the street’, we’d have so much fun!
Your dye samples are luscious! I keep thinking I should do that with my paints, since I often can’t figure out how to duplicate colors that I mixed years ago. I hope you can get your back pain under control.
I do LWI dyeing but have never measured/used a scale. That is a great idea to be able to replicate colors and to not waste dye . I love your blogs but may have missed info about concentrates. I have a question, do you make concentrated dye solution to use later on? I want to use 1/2 cup of water and end up with a med to dark value dye mix ready to dye my fabric. Can you tell me how much dye powder to premix for the concentrate to add to the 1/2 cup water. I want to work with a small batch and not end up with a lot of unused dye. Thank you in advance, Claudia
Luann, Thanks. I like the boysenberry too, but never dyed it as is so I didn’t know how it looked. You are so right about that label!!! I, too, wished you lived down the street. We’d get into a lot of trouble!!
Sherrie, Thanks. Would be a great project during those hot days!! Thanks. It’s much better than it was, but still not right. I sure never thought I’d have to deal with back pain, but it is better so that’s good.
Hi Claudia, I do make dye solutions sometimes but like you said, you end up with so much. I have some I mixed a year ago sitting on my counter. Not sure how good they will be now. For those concentrates I mix up 10 grams of dye per 240 ml of water or if I’m going to do a smaller quantity, I’ll do 5 grams (a little over 1 tea) for 120 ml (1/2 cup). I premix when I’m going to add different colors in specific sections of the piece of fabric. I also measure in grams and ml because they’re more accurate. As you mentioned, if you measure if you find a color you love, you can replicate it again. Otherwise, it’s hit and miss. These pieces are fat quarters and I’m using the 2 grams per 60 ml or 1/4 cup. Even with that little amount of dye it still takes time to wash it all out! Hope that helps.
I just ordered a scale . The 2 grams per 60 ml of water , now is stock/concentrate which can be further diluted to get either light, med or dark dye solution? , 1 tablespoon for Light, 2 tablespoons for Med. 3 – 4 tablespoons for dark in a cup of water. Do I have it correct? It does take a lot of time to wash out. I would love to know if the one sitting on your counter is still good. I have dye solution with soda ash in it in the dedicated fridge that is a few days old and am going to see if it still works or if the SA has expired. I will try it on an old t shirt and see what happens . Thank you so much for this, Claudia
Claudia, First of all, the dye solution you have with soda ash in it is toast. Throw it out. Once you put the soda ash in the dye water you only have a short window – 4 or so hours (maybe less) to use it. My dye solution is just dye and water. I’ll let you know how it works when I try it soon. Glad you ordered a scale. I’m using the 2 gr per 60 ml as just a guide for a fat quarter. Some dyes will need more like blacks. Dharma has ** after those that need more dye. I bumped it up to 6 grams for the blacks and they still didn’t turn out very dark but then blacks are hard to dye. How much you need depends on the weight of the fabric, not the size. Dyeing for this swatches some of my pieces are not as dark as I’d like and that is because some of my fabric pieces are heavier. Usually if I am trying to be exact I’ll use the same fabric. However, I wanted to use up some old fabric and my goal was just to get an idea of what color the dye was. As I mentioned I’ll premix 5 grams to 120 ml, put them in squirt bottles and squirt the colors on the fabric. Just do a few with the 2 gr per 60 ml and see how you like them. If not dark enough, use more. Have fun and play! If you’ve never taken a dyeing class, Candy’s online ones are great. I’ve taken most of them and learned so much from her. Here is her link: https://classes.candiedfabrics.com/ Let me know how you do. Meanwhile I’ll go see how those old dyes are doing!
Hi Lynda, I will trash the dye with soda ash that is in the fridge… wasted.. Thank you for the heads up! I will try the 2 gr per 60 ml as dye concentrate/stock and then dilute it to use for either light, med or dark results on the fabric. Thank you so much . I took a basic class many years ago … I do it just for me to use for quilts or dye hubby’s t shirts. I am waiting for my scale to arrive and then to “play”
Claudia, Unless you are dyeing real small pieces, I’d go with the 5 g to 120 ml. Remember I’m using the 2 to 60 for fat quarters. Have fun!!
Thank you, I will do the 5 to 120 then. I just received my scale today. I am still not clear as to whether this 5 g to 120 is a concentrate recipe to be diluted for dyeing different values. I easily get confused.
Claudia, Yes, if you want to do values, that is one way I do it. I’ve been wanting to do a post on dyeing values for quite some time, so I’ll work on one for next week. Meanwhile, if you want to dye fat quarters, you can use the 2 grams to 60 for each one, adding more for blacks if you dye blacks.
Your reds are gorgeous! And oh, those wood block stamps!
Your reds are yummy and what a good idea to make samples. As for your garden markers, believe it or not, pencil is better than marker and wood is better than plastic. Your map is a good idea. I have done that with my hybrid day lilies.
Thank you so much for great information. I look forward to your blog posts. I don’t know how you manage to garden, harvest and process the food you grow and all the dyeing, fabric art, etc that you do. Once again thank you for sharing.
Claudia, You are so welcome. Well, hubby does a lot of the gardening, and in the past couple of years we’ve scaled down quite bit. I’m not as particular this year about the asparagus patch or other areas. I love my art, but there is something about getting out there and digging in the dirt. Love it …. until it gets real hot!!
Norma, I usually use metal tags that I scratch in, but I thought this year I’d do something different. Won’t do that again!! Yes, I have all of these dyes and don’t know how they look low water immersion dyed. Now I will!
Angela, Thanks! Yes, can’t wait to play with them but gotta get all this dyeing done first!