Saturday, June 29, 2013

More Indigo

I'm still on a roll after my last batch of Indigo and am anxious to try some more. I checked the Indigo pot today; it's been a while as I've been in Atlanta with my daughter. I had no idea what to expect; I know you have to check it every other day or so to keep it active and adding thiox if needed.  I took the cover off and no "flower" so I thought...okay I blew it, but thought I would give it a stir and add more thiox - couldn't hurt It seemed to revive it. I have to let it stand a bit longer until I know for sure. 
 In the meantime, I started folding and clamping and twisting and tying. I'm using some fabric that were misfits to see what would happen.  Since the above piece has blue lines, thought it might be a good candidate.
 This is a piece of deconstructive screen printed fabric. It's a bit bright and thought it might be pretty over dyed with Indigo.
 Both were folded and clamped using pieces of plexiglass on both sides as a resist.
 I have some wonderful friends who are very good to me and often bring me old table linens for dyeing.  They are cotton, tone on tones and take a dye beautifully. I pulled out one of the napkins
 and using giant lima beans.
 I wrapped the beans in the napkin using gimp.
 Gimp is a very strong, thick thread. Using a thick thread leaves a larger resist line.  I've always been able to get gimp at any high end sewing store.  It's mainly used for corded buttonholes.
 I also used corks wrapped inside a piece of rayon.
 While at Walmart, I scoured the aisles for things I thought would be good resists and found some big washers, outlet covers and wood screws.
 I used a mercerized cotton, something I haven't tried with Indigo yet, for the washers
 and the outlet covers.
 I'm most excited about using the wood screws  - wrapping was time consuming but I'm hoping for good results.
 I also tried more deconstructive screen printed fabric....
 as well as silk organza.  I sewed large basting stitches by machine...
 and then gathered them up.  I wasn't able to get it really tight so I'm not sure how this one will turn out.
 I had a 36" China silk scarf blank just begging to be dyed so I ironed and folded it and then clamped it.  The thin fabrics do well with lots of layers as the dye can penetrate more easily....will keep you posted....

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