Sunday, April 30, 2017

What Happens in Folly.....

Well....you know....but honestly - myself and 2 wonderful girlfriends, Mary and Kate headed off to Kates beautiful home in Folly for 3 days of fun. We always have so much planned and never get to do even half which is fine; there's always next time. We unpack the car and are off and running.
 On the agenda this time around is ice dyeing, acid dyeing and Rit dyeing....along with great food, champagne and watching beautiful sunsets.
 An hour after we got there and Mary is diving right in with ice dyeing. Ice dyeing involves laying down wet and scrunched up fabric treated with soda ash, a layer of ice cubes and dye powder on top of that.
 As the ice melts at different rates, so does the dyes striking the fabric at different times giving a very crystal like affect. We used all sorts of fabric...not just white. We were on a mission to use up many of our "not so pretty" fabrics to save them from the trash.
 In our excitement, we laid down our fabric...
 and with great enthusiasm, started spinkling the dye powders....OH...wait a minute, we forgot the ice!
 So we went back and added ice and lots more dye...
 We decided to take a serendipitous approach and let whatever happen...happen...not keeping tract of colors...
 But then we thought better of it...what if we get this amazing piece and have no idea what colors we used...Between the 3 of us, we had tons of colors....so the easy way out - to take a picture of the dyes as a reference.
 Years ago when I first ventured into dyeing with procion MX, I made large swatches of all the dyes I had. It has been one of the best investments of time and energy. I never dye anything without referring to these swatches and possible color combinations. I have also bleached 3 areas on each piece to see how that particular color will discharge. I used regular household bleach - diluted, soft scrub and discharge paste. All bleach out differently as you can see in the swatches.
 I have also over the years collected over 100 dye colors...many of which I find I don't use so I'm trying to get rid of those colors. I didn't succeed with too many but those that did, the swatch went into a batch for over-dyeing.
 Kate had some fabrics that were blends and not good candidates for MX dyeing so she was anxious to try Rit dye - good for any fiber except nylon. I remember years ago before I knew what procion dyes were, I would dye bathroom rugs to give them new life.
 Kate had tremendous success with a large quilted piece of fabric, good for a backing.....
 turned out great.
 Well, Mary always has a problem with bugs...They LOVE her although the feeling isn't mutual. Kate fixed her up with a clip on system that turns on and off with a little switch...and keeps those little buggers at bay....
 And speaking of bay...as happy hour approaches...we take our wine and walk the long walk out to the boat dock at Kates house...yes... this is the view she has...it is magical and wondrous.
 The grasses, the sun on the water and beautiful sunset...
doesn't get any better. Well, this was just day 1 so please stay tuned for more ice dyeing and acid dyeing....and caramel sauce and homemade chocolate chip cookies...and.....and....

2 comments:

  1. You captured some awesome sunset pictures Judy! And ahhhhh, the bug bites…..I guess I’d need to wear 5 OFF clip on’s to keep the bugs from finding me…..one definitely wasn’t enough. My reactions to the bites are worse each time, but that won’t stop me from joining the fun in the future!

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  2. Well, Mary, you are still cute as a bug! No wonder they are after Mary all the time. Thank for pics, Judy! look forward to day 2!

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