2 days ago I decided that I could make one or two indigo dyed pillows to add to my booth at the show this weekend, and I wanted to feature mokume – wood grain effect you can get by stitched a resist pattern on the fabric (in my case linen) before dyeing. So I spend the evening stitching a vertical line and a circle on two pieces of linen, and indigo dyed them after teaching.
Here they are oxidizing after just one dip in my indigo vat (which was very strong, I’m using the one my students made and I do believe somebody added too much indigo crystals….):
and then after 3 dips:
and then, after they’d been washed and dried:
Sad trombone! the pattern is just too subtle for what I wanted (and easier to see in the picture than in real life). Between the strength of the bath and the fact that i squeezed the stitched resist areas often while dyeing, the indigo just penetrated the stitched areas too well.
I had one more piece of prewashed linen, so I spent last night stitching, and got up and did 3 short, non squeezed dips before work this morning:
And I left for work not knowing whether or not I’d get what I want! Torture!!!! Today is the last day of Mother Earth Chemistry, hooray! And as soon as I’m done, I’ll rush home to uncut those threads and see what I’ve got!!!!!
One Response
Hi!
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I am having a sewing `log cabin` built in my garden in the next few weeks. My room in the house,not large, doubled as spare bedroom,dolls house miniatures workroom et al. I am now trying to sort out the interior. Great fun but sometimes frustrating!
Look forward to your newsletters
I live on he border of Kent and London,town if I need it and lots of open countryside and green space at the end of my road!