Dye Workshop 2012, part II

Saturday morning, we arrived bright and early, it was going to be an even hotter day! Each of us started to unwrap our pieces of fabric, each scarf was a Christmas present according to Meredith. Some were dry from sitting out all night, and some were still damp from dye. We oohed and aah-ed as we undid one piece at a time, and took turns rinsing them in a sink. Then they got dropped into a bucket with Synthrapol to soak out the remaining excess dye. We were in ecstasy looking at our masterpieces and holding them up for everyone to see.

Amy suggested we hang the scarves from the big hickory tree, the branches were just the right height from the ground. Meredith was the tallest and clipped on a bunch of clothespins to her t-shirt. As we hung up the scarves, they blew in the wind, and glowed with the sun shining on them.

We had a bunch of happy artists! More and more scarves went up on the tree, until we had trouble finding room for them all. Nancy and Vera's yardage was gorgeous, Nancy's two blacks came out very deep purple with shades of green and turquoise. Vera's yardage was an assortment of colors, folded and patterned, in green, rust and teal.

The tree was a riot of color, glowing in the sun! We had over two dozen scarves flapping in the breeze. We had two late comers, and we sat and watched them open their goodies too.

After the excitement calmed down, we went inside to try the marbling. The trays of goop had dissolved completely and were very clear and thick. Everyone had ironed their alum treated fabrics. I started by dropping a single drop of paint, straight to the bottom it sank. Over the next hour we played with the paint, trying to make it float, then disperse. One brand dispersed but wouldn't float, the other brand floated, but stayed in a tight drop and wouldn't disperse. We combed several attempts with a small amount of paint, they came out very delicate pink with a few blue and purple lines. Not enough paint on the print. We would get one paint thinned out, and a dispersant added and when we used it the second time it wouldn't float. We got very frustrated trying to get just the right consistency for the paint. We went to a "better" brand, Luminere and Neopaque, they were good quality paints, but would NOT disperse. We decided on a lunch break and to try again later, as we felt we were getting closer. After another wonderful lunch, all the leftovers from the day before, plus mini eclairs, we gave marbling another shot. Finally some of the paint was floating enough to try the combs, and we got a few ok prints. As we fiddled with more paint, getting it just right, we were happy to get anything printed. Some of the ladies fiddled with other things, and getting cleaned up. It was getting hotter and hotter, even with the air conditioning in the studio, it got to be 104' outside, so we called it a day. Part III, will be pics of some of the marbling efforts, a few of us will give it another try at my house on Wednesday.