Careless Dyeing

Imagine me the first time I dyed anything with Procion dyes. Omigod. Anal-retentive, OCD, working with permanent dye and chemicals:  it was exactly like the first time I dyed my hair, except I wasn’t nekkid.
I read the instructions. Not once! Several times! I had all the tools and supplies. I measured everything. I timed everything.
Now? Oh, darlin’s—when I dye my hair now, I mix up half as much, put that stuff on, and set the timer to some randomly general time that’s about twice as long as it’s supposed to be.
And dyeing fabric? It’s what I’ve been doing all morning, and I don’t even know where the stopwatch is. It’s not lost; I just didn’t go get it. Everything here is an experiment today:  long ago, someone sent me a bunch of new dye colors to try out. They weren’t colors I particularly like—pearl grey, burgundy, bronze—and so I never did anything with them. They’ve been out in the FE for years.
So, in going through still more stuff out there, I decided to use up all those little bottles this morning, doing bucket dyeing, four batches at a time. Careless measuring, no timing, just seeing what happens. Using up the random pieces of white cotton fabric. And, in the process, throwing some away:  years ago, I bought a bolt of cheapo muslin from JoAnn’s Fabric in Lubbock. I thought this was a fabulous idea and imagined all sorts of adventures with it—it was right after we’d been to Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World in New Orleans, and they’d talked about using scenery muslin as the base for the floats, and I think I had all these Big Ideas for wall pieces.
Or something. But it turns out, after dyeing a bunch of that stuff, I found out I hate it. It’s rough and cheap-feeling (duh) and just ugly. I’m taking it all to Goodwill, where maybe someone with Big Ideas will snatch it up.

But:  the dyeing. Here’s what I discovered:  when I was being all anal about dyeing, the results were just what you’d expect:  even, smooth color. No surprises.
As soon as the novelty of Making Things Different Colors wore off, it was boring as hell. What I like, I discovered, is the stuff that comes out mottled, spotted, maybe paler on one part—the stuff I didn’t stir very well or that got splashed directly with the soda ash. Or got wadded up on the bottom. That’s the stuff that interests me.
So today I didn’t stir. Oh, I stirred a little when I added the soda ash, to make sure nothing fades out later, but I mostly let stuff sit, wadded up.
And I didn’t mix the dyes with hot water—I put salt in the bottom of the bucket (is it just me, or do y’all always first type “fucket,” too?) and dumped in the dye and then squirted it with the hose. Very messy, but so cool:  did you know that the burgundy dye powder, when it’s dry, is chartreuse? Amazing. And the bronze has bits of blue and red and flecks of every other color—or was that the grey? It’s amazing to me—I love to pick out the colors that went into another color. Like when I’m in the store and look at clothes and think, “That green needs a little more yellow,” or “That purple has way too much blue.” I would have guessed that burgundy was made of red and brown, and perhaps it is:  but what do they make brown out of? Their mixing colors are lemon yellow, fuchsia, and cyan. I try to get the colors I want using those, but it’s tough, and I’m lazy, and I’m not comfortable with blue—so I also have grape and deep purple, and bright green.  I need to work more with blue so I can mix my own greens and purples. Eh.
Anyway, so everything’s a mess here, with wet fabric in odd colors on every surface. Right now there’s a big batch of golden yellow in the washing machine, where it’s been soaking for a couple hours—I put in the fabric I wanted that color plus the fabric I want to overdye plus some already-dyed fabric that needed brightening up. Outside is the burgundy, a rose brown (which I’ll probably toss, if it’s as butt-ugly as I think it’s going to be), a rust orange, and a tangerine. I dumped in a LOT of tangerine dye, and it’s looking like a really bright orange with just a hint of pink undertone, which I think I’m going to like.
In each bucket, I put bleached muslin, unbleached muslin, and tea-dyed muslin. Plus whatever else I had that I wanted to try out.

This is fun for me, but this is also the way you learn something new. When you’re learning something, you have to experiment. Don’t take someone else’s word for how things work. Don’t be afraid to screw it up. And, above all, work with it. If you’re using color, learn how to mix your own, whether it’s paint or layers of colored pencil or dye, or whatever. Work with it. Study it. Experiment. If you want to master it, you’re going to make a mess and create some really ugly stuff. That’s OK. It’s how you learn.

Back to work--

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