Fabric Dyeing Workshop, part II, discharging

Photos:
Dyed fabric,
Dori,
Gracie - shibori,
stenciled T-shirt,
Peggy




Two of our fabric dyeing workshops have focused on a certain technique. One year we all brought dark t-shirts to discharge the color with bleach. We tied them with rubber bands and string and dropped them in a bucket of bleach and water. Various amounts of time elapsed and we rinsed and put them in a stabilizer to counteract the erosive qualities of the bleach. They came out very nice, with the exceptions of several that had bad placement over the breast area, and Cynde's that stayed in the bleach too long and disintegrated in to long shreds of holey fabric. The underlying color on the black/blue t-shirts varied with the brand, some bleached out grey, orange, rust, or greenish. We also printed with stamps and stencils with "Soft Scrub" as our bleaching agent, these prints were very graphic, we learned that the chlorine evaporates from the paste rather quickly, so you have to use a fresh blob of cleaner. Also that the longer it stays on the whiter it bleaches, so you can get a variety of looks. Cynde also played with Jacquard De-colourant, a product designed to remove color when heat set. She painted through a stencil on a t-shirt, and when the product was dried, she heat set it with an iron. The patterns were beautiful, and we all want to try more of this.