Colour Variations

Apart from an insatiable fascination with colour, one of the main reasons I started dyeing by hand was to try to reproduce the sort of colour variations I see around me in the natural world. I always try to have some flowers for the display table at my dyeing workshops to emphasise that point. Here's one from last weekend.

I have to do some more unpacking today. If I don't keep going in a determined way, I can imagine myself still surrounded by boxes in a couple of months time. I don't want that. But I'm going to have to break it up with some creative work, or I won't make it. So, I'll tantalise myself with the prospect of reproducing something like the colour of this rose today.

Here's the Colour

The cottons haven't made it to the sink yet. They're still "batching" and since it's a coldish day, I'll give them a good while, maybe even overnight.

Meanwhile, here's a picture of my lab:

And here's one lot of colour:

Since then I've added a second piece of fabric to each jar. I have another set of primary colours in plastic bags.

I'm using my oldest dyes. I've got a date of 21 November 2005 written on the jars. So they would have every right to have lost some of their reactivity. I have another set of primary colours that I bought a couple of years ago. If the result from this batch is disappointing, I'll try those next. Since I'm really just testing the dyes at this stage, I haven't done any colour mixing. Stay tuned for some results.

By the way, for once in my life I didn't manage to spill anything, so I took a bit of each colour and smeared it onto the bamboo test piece. I waited for 10 minutes before wiping it off. There's no colour left on the sample. That's the happiest negative result I've had for a while--unless I find that the dyes have lost all their reactivity, which I doubt.

Hand Dye Day

One thing I did manage to do yesterday was to drop in to the Neighbourhood House and get this pic of the Sussex Banner:


I made it a few years ago to celebrate the diversity, energy and warmth I see there. It's relevant to me today for a couple of reasons

• we've just launched the "Quilters at Sussex" blog and this quilted banner is next in the history of quilts that belong to the house itself--after the Carers Wall Hangings that have already been featured on the blog.
• It's made from my hand-dyed cotton fabrics. I'm planning to teach another Hand Dye workshop in a few weeks and one of my tasks today is to do a bit more promotion for it.

Also on my "to do" list for today is a bit more cleaning up at home, since my dyeing materials, buckets, bits of fabric and yarn, etc, etc, etc, seem to be slowly invading more and more of my house.

Surviving . . . thriving

One of my tasks yesterday was to plan ahead for my next term of teaching. I'm due to present my "Any Colour You Like" workshop at Sussex Neighbourhood House next term. It's a cotton dyeing workshop using procion dyes.

Here's a pic of some of my samples:
As well as covering the basics of using this versatile, cold water dye, I also look at colour mixing and texture. As you can see from the samples, I'm not interested in plain, even colours.

The big question mark over this workshop has been Kraft Kolour--my dye suppliers. They were caught in the firestorm that hit Whittlesea in February and literally went up in smoke. I've been wanting to hear from them to see how they're managing. They're a local family company . . . real people! Their website said they were rebuilding and the last thing I wanted to do was worry them with my little concerns, so I've just been checking on their site every week or two. Yesterday I got a contact page on their website and today I got an email back. They're going to be ok. They have dyes on the way by air. They sound like they've somehow found the strength to keep going. That's good news.