Dyeing using Landscape Dyes for wool & silk

Landscape Dyes are Australian made

and they come in the most divine range of colours.

A one-day workshop with ATASDA in Sydney

introduced me to world of Landscape Dyes -

I came home with an excited heartbeat.
Once my ordered goodies arrive in the mail, I will be experimenting with much more dyeing.  Watch this spot!

Altering the visual texture by process of discharge on pre-dyed fabric.

Whilst all the buckets and messy stuff was readily available in the courtyard,  it was just the right time to mess around more with the discharge process.   A piece of cotton fabric that I previously dyed with Procion MX dyes was just waiting to be altered.  So I applied a thickish flour paste, waited for it to dry rock solid hard over 2 days, then cracking it all over, it was able to be discharged with an application of bleach.   The bleach settled into the cracks but not the area where the flour paste remained.    By the time I got to undertake the discharge process I discovered a few holes in the fabric – nibbled by a nighttime visitor, probably a hungry possum with a liking for some carbs.  Now doesn’t this makes for a unique piece of fabric? 

Seriously the process produces an interesting visual texture which in this case, enhanced the darkly dyed fabric that was sitting in my cupboard.   Now it beckons to be used in my art-quilting work, so in my book – that is a good result.

Click on the small pics to get a closer view.

Shibori S&T….Zen SNORED her way through my pathway to Shibori TEXTURE, but look at the result from using a narrow metal tube!

Shibori discharge – eyecatching results.

MORE HOMEWORK HAS BEEN TAKING PLACE!

Whilst immersed in pots, pans, and “mess” that Shibori  discharge requires, I took the opportunity to do more homework.    

I put my new “tube turner” to good use, on a wide plumbers pipe, and a narrow metal pipe to produce stunningly eyecatching results.  

This turner is fantastic – saves a lot of frustration and physical hardship from winding string along bulk fabric – Barbara Schey’s wonderful design, which was freely conveyed to me at her workshop.  My handy hubby constructed the device, and presto I can wind my string like a breeze!

Methods used in this batch were the pole wrap, Arashi, and Pamela’s method of splashing/sloshing – all to good effect.  

I am itching now to try my hand at Shibori techniques using dyes.    Just hope the weather stays fine – and I finish my commissioned quilt for a newborn during the next few days, so I can Shibori fabrics with the colours of the rainbow.

I welcome your comments.

Shibori homework

Brimming with confidence gained at Barbara Schey’s Shibori workshop it was time to tie myself up in knots with homework.

Here’s my first batch of discharged pieces – arashi technique on one piece, the other used woodblocks.

The (top) lighter piece was discharged using bubble wrap – I left it discharging too long hence the reason for being so light, too light in fact but still interesting.

A little taste of Shibori

Barbara Schey, a Shibori guru, acquainted me with the craft of Shibori at a one-day Taster workshop conducted by ATASDA NSW at Epping.

I left home with very little knowledge of Shibori, knowing it had something to do with string and tying things up in bundles! Well, was I in for a surprize. There are so many techniques involved in Shibori applications, and my day concentrated mainly on discharge techniques.

Look at these, my very first samples, using discharge methods on cotton voile and silk organza fabrics.
This weekend I’m off to local hardware and plumbing stores to acquire “tools of the trade” for Shibori experimenting in my own backyard.

Apologies for the double images – my blogging skills don’t match up to even my new Shibori skills.