(reposted from
elisem's question)
elynne came over yesterday and we dyed fabric. I was pleased with lots of what I did, but there was one piece that made me go "oh, LOOK." I don't know if the beautiful part will be there any more, but I have it floating near the front of my mind.
It was a pink dress of my mom's, just t-shirt material, scoop neck, longish. She'd spilled some hair dye on it, so it had a little light brown streak that she wanted me to cover. One of the dyes I had was called "Sunrise Red", so I thought I'd try to make a sunrise-like painting out of the dress. I didn't have a large work surface, so I had to hang part of the dress over the edge of the table, and when I pulled the top third of it back up I found that the Sunrise Red had decided it was the star of the show. It bled up toward the neckline in a red aurora going to yellow at the edges, which was wonderfully dramatic against the pinks and lavender and purple. It was just amazing.
The dye has to sit for 24 hours, so I don't get to find out until tonight if it's bled more, if it still works or if I didn't manage to preserve it when rolling it up with plastic to keep. Dyeing has more of the hand of coincidence in it than my other crafts. It is about random effects at least as much as skill. Frustrating but exalting.
It was a pink dress of my mom's, just t-shirt material, scoop neck, longish. She'd spilled some hair dye on it, so it had a little light brown streak that she wanted me to cover. One of the dyes I had was called "Sunrise Red", so I thought I'd try to make a sunrise-like painting out of the dress. I didn't have a large work surface, so I had to hang part of the dress over the edge of the table, and when I pulled the top third of it back up I found that the Sunrise Red had decided it was the star of the show. It bled up toward the neckline in a red aurora going to yellow at the edges, which was wonderfully dramatic against the pinks and lavender and purple. It was just amazing.
The dye has to sit for 24 hours, so I don't get to find out until tonight if it's bled more, if it still works or if I didn't manage to preserve it when rolling it up with plastic to keep. Dyeing has more of the hand of coincidence in it than my other crafts. It is about random effects at least as much as skill. Frustrating but exalting.