After reading Breakdown Printing by Claire Benn & Leslie Morgan I've started to soak the fabric in soda ash and water before screening. In the past I've added soda ash and baking soda to the thickened dye mixture but it greatly reduces the shelf life of the dye. With this system I can keep the thickened dye around for days allowing me time to complete more projects without remixing. I'm not sure how long the shelf life is but I plan to experiment and find out!
Here are a couple of pieces I did this past week... lots of fun to free motion screen!
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| I started by creating yellow vertical lines with the thickened dye. Next I laid the screen on top and pulled red and blue across the surface. I repositioned the screen moving it around until the surface was covered. |
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| Detail: 100% Cotton, 36.5" X 44", $25 |
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| For this piece I used yellow and blue thickened dyes. A lovely green meanders through the design as the colors mixed. Overall it a soft bright look. |
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| Detail: 100% Cotton, 36.5" X 44", $25 |
If any piece needs to be in your stash please contact me by email and let me know!
If you have a fridge in your studio, you can keep the dyes for quite awhile. I have one in the garage, and in the winter I don't even have it turned on... still stays cold inside. I label my dyes with color name and date mixed, that way I know how old they are. You'd be surprised how long most colors will stay strong enough to use. The only thing about the thickened dyes is the sodium alginate might start to get a little gamey after awhile.
ReplyDeleteAwesome suggestions Judy! thanks:)
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