Work in Progress - March Week One
This is what I am working on during the first week of March.
I set the dyed fabric covered with plastic outside to cure for 24 hours. I live in Southern California, where sometime during most days the temperature will reach 70 degrees. If you live in another climate, just place your bundle on top of the refrigerator for 24 hours.
I forgot to take a shot of the inbetween stage. But once the fabric was rinsed and washed (hand rinsed three times, with lots of wringing between each rinse, then machine washed in hot water and Synthrapol), I mixed my dye solutions and hand painted the fabric.
For hand painting, I use liquid solutions of dye mixed with urea water. To achieve the proper thickness for hand painting, sodium alginate (seaweed) is added to the dye solution. (Use a blender to mix the sodium alginate with water. A little goes a long way, and this can be a gummy mess.) When I'm ready to paint, I get out an old ice cube tray, add a solution of soda ash and water to the dye solution, thickened with the sodium alginate. The solution will keep for about 4 hours after the soda ash (the fixer) is added.
I will heat set the fabric after I've completed adding all of the design elements.
The first image is a shot of the fabric after hand painting and with freezer paper stencils cut and ironed on.
The next step is applying dye over the stencilled area. That I'll do this evening and you can see the results tomorrow, right here.
The Steps
The fabric is a striped cotton damask sheet which I purchased from a thrift store.
The fabric is soaked in a soda ash and water solution (buy at a pool supply store for the best price). Minimum soak time 15 minutes, doesn't matter if you leave it soaking for a longer time.
While the fabric is soaking I mix up my dye, using Procion MX dye and adding urea. The dye should be mixed into a paste before adding to water to thoroughly dissolve the dye powder. I work outside. As a safety precaution, wear gloves and a mask. The urea can be added to the dye and water solution or mixed separately with water and then added to the dissolved dye.
The fabric was folded on a diagonal (while damp) and then dye was poured on the edges.
I set the dyed fabric covered with plastic outside to cure for 24 hours. I live in Southern California, where sometime during most days the temperature will reach 70 degrees. If you live in another climate, just place your bundle on top of the refrigerator for 24 hours.
I forgot to take a shot of the inbetween stage. But once the fabric was rinsed and washed (hand rinsed three times, with lots of wringing between each rinse, then machine washed in hot water and Synthrapol), I mixed my dye solutions and hand painted the fabric.
For hand painting, I use liquid solutions of dye mixed with urea water. To achieve the proper thickness for hand painting, sodium alginate (seaweed) is added to the dye solution. (Use a blender to mix the sodium alginate with water. A little goes a long way, and this can be a gummy mess.) When I'm ready to paint, I get out an old ice cube tray, add a solution of soda ash and water to the dye solution, thickened with the sodium alginate. The solution will keep for about 4 hours after the soda ash (the fixer) is added.
I will heat set the fabric after I've completed adding all of the design elements.
The first image is a shot of the fabric after hand painting and with freezer paper stencils cut and ironed on.
The next step is applying dye over the stencilled area. That I'll do this evening and you can see the results tomorrow, right here.
This is amazing!
ReplyDeleteWould this be a comment from the Fabio or the Curtis?
ReplyDeleteThank you.