Remember the Sunrise blog series, photographs, linen napkins, and cotton quilted placemats: July 4-19, 2020? The linen napkins were very popular, I only have two left!! I was asked if I could make 8 more just like those in my Etsy shop SusettesHandDyedArt. Confidently, I responded yes!
I had previously made linen Sunrise napkins and the cotton Sunrise placemats on two different days and they came out very similar in appearance. The cotton quilted placemats were more orange than pink, though, whereas the linen napkins were more pink and lighter in general (Photo 1).
Photo 1.. Ice-dyed cotton for placemats (left) and linen (right) from first Sunrise dyeing sessions.
That the colors might come out differently was not a surprise to me for several reasons. The first is that ice dyeing is a bit imprecise, and I didn’t even measure, I only approximated the amounts and positions on the ice covering the cloth.
In addition, the same dye on two different fabrics can give different results (Photo 1). I dyed two different fabrics, a stretchy rayon knit for the lower portion for the dress, and a heavier cotton knit for the top part of the dress in the same dye bath (granny apple from Dharma (PR158)). The cotton knit came out blue-green and the stretchy rayon knit more granny apple green. A reason for this difference between the two fabrics, is at least partially that I used a fold resist method for the cotton knit pattern. In this case, the dye diffused toward the center between the plexiglass squares; the turquoise dye migrated through the cloth at a faster rate (see folded method in Photo 2). I used a a tied resist method for the stretchy rayon knit, thus, the majority of the fabric was exposed directly to the dye bath. The color was uniformly taken up except where the dye was excluded at the tied portions. The rayon fabric was finished using a leaf stamp and heat set pigment. So the overall dress appearance is quite a bit more appealing because of the differences in method of resist and uptake of the dye into the fabric. Of course in this case I was surprised but delighted by the differences it being the first experiment of this kind.
Photo 2. Dress made from hand dyed fabric.
Photo 3. Preparation for dyeing rayon (tied) and cotton knit (folded).
Coming back to the linen napkins and more recent experiments on color combinations, I have dyed 5 different lots of linen since the first lot using folding resist and ice dyeing techniques.
With each new color combination and folding experiment, the joy of ice-dyeing comes from the beautiful color combinations as well as surprise and delight felt upon seeing the outcome: the unveiling! The Christmas present or birthday unwrapping feeling, particularly when you are a child. Ice dyeing can give both subtle or bright, bold results based on a number of factors. These factors determine reproducibility (the ability to precisely repeat the results). It helps to be a scientist to know the detailed recording of steps is required for in duplicating experiments, but that isn’t sufficient. To understand the dyeing process thoroughly, one should have training in physics and chemistry to understand diffusion rates and dye chemistry. I think about dyeing fabric as a playful enterprise and not necessarily striving to reproduce a previous result, although the latter requires careful note taking in order to fill an order on my Etsy shop if someone requests more of a particular color lot.
The results of a few dyeing sessions are shown in Photos 4-5.
Photo 4. A Sunrise linen napkin against linen dyed with a different dye combination.
Photo 5. A Sunrise linen napkin (Bottom), a pinker linen napkin using different dyes (Top), both against linen dyed using ice dyeing then overdying using ice dyeing but with a different set of starting colors.
Check out my Etsy shop for the latest in ice-dyed heavy linen napkins!
