No! It’s not a joke!
I’ve just spent a very happy afternoon finding out……. and the answer is most definitely, ‘LOTS!!!!’.
It’s a new month and a new theme and throughout the whole of June I’ll be having fun trying out different dyeing techniques……. and I’ve decided to kick off proceedings with a spot of tie dyeing.
Tie Dye ideas and inspiration from Richards Arts & Crafts.
In truth I’m more than a bit of an ageing hippy; I’ve had a good few goes at tie dyeing in the past – mainly scrunching up folds of fabric in a random fashion and binding areas tightly with yards of string before dipping in a bucket of Dylon coldwater dye and then hoping for the best…….
It’s definitely time to take things to the next level though. So my personal challenge this week has been to have a go at creating a spiral tie dye pattern.
Image courtesy of thaitiedye.com
After watching a few tutorial videos on YouTube and finding some websites that showed the various techniques I’d planned to try out, the first thing I did was to buy some industry standard dyes. I chose to use Procion MX dyes as these seemed to have been mentioned quite often. My colour pallette currently consists of yellow, magenta, chinese red, turquoise, midnight blue and black – all mixed up in squeezy condiment bottles ready for application.
I got them from here – a very helpful company that dispatched my order in lightning quick time 🙂
And here’s a link to one of the videos I watched to help me along the way…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PJnM6MK30U&feature=relmfu
So…… How did I get on?
Will it work?
The technique was simple enough to carry out and I used all my colours, including black, on a plain cotton bag that I’d bought from a local craft shop. I left it wrapped in cling film for 24 hours and was desperate to see if it had worked. Looking at the above picture I must admit It’s a bit hard to tell what was going to happen once the bands were taken off and the whole thing was unfurled. It was terrifying!
My first ever attempt at spiral tie dyeing – How pleased am I?
Turns out that I needn’t have worried – it worked out quite well. I think the colours could do with being a bit more intense and the yellow doesn’t really show up too well – the application of black has kind of engulfed it a little bit so I may leave this out next time. The base colour of the bag was cream rather than white and I think this has had an effect on the final result too. Still……. it’s not to be frowned at; You can definitely see a spiral, I’ve learned a lot from doing it and I’ll be better prepared for the next time.
And will  there be a next time? Absolutely! The same time, same place next week. More tie-dyeing, but a different effect.
Here’s a few extra links I’ll be looking at over the forthcoming week in order to get ready for the next project:
http://www.howtotiedye.org/tie-dye-patterns/
http://www.richardsartsandcrafts.com/TIEDYE.html
Until then…… Happy Crafting & Peace out! 😉
The Big Blue Bully Bus 