community of dyers

Hmmm - good idea (but I think may be time consuming) so would I have to pole wrap dye, then rinse, wash and dry it first? Or could I light tie dye it - then do it the traditional way - wouldn't I have to at least rinse it so the traditional second dye wouldn't be flowing into the light dye and vice-versa?

Thank you for your response. Karen

It depends on what you're using and how. I use a modified pole wrap for dying silk dance veils. I do not fix the dye in between colors. The procedure is slightly different for the different dyes/paints.

For Dynaflow paint, I wet the silk with plain water. I wrap it, paint it and let it dry almost completely. Then I unwrap the silk, dampen it, rewrap it, and apply the next color.

For Procion MX, I dampen the silk with soda ash or dye activator water, wrap it, and apply the first color. I let it sit for a few hours, until I can handle it without getting covered in dye. The fabric will still be damp. I unwrap it, then rewrap it before applying more soda water, then more dye. After the last color, I unwrap it, then wrap it up in plastic and let it set overnight.

I thought of maybe placing hearts or other shapesmade from sticky paper so that when I take the sticky paper away, a white heart may appear, but I think the dye will probably come through the paper.

Sticky paper won't work if you immerse the fabric in dye. The dye will creep in from the back and from the edges of the paper, even if the sticky stuff doesn't lose its stick.

What works best for shapes, when you're going to be immersing the fabric in dye, is batik wax. Traditional batik wax, made by melting together beeswax and paraffin, will endure a lot of soaking. Soy wax will endure some immersion, but not as much.

You can do a lot more with shibori if you want to. It can get pretty complicated. I strongly recommend that you read Wada's first shibori book if you haven't already, Shibori: The Inventive Art of Japanese Shaped Resist Dyeing. Check the local public library to see if you can request it there.

Problems with string and rubber bands could be caused by not tying tightly enough, but there's also the huge interesting challenge of how the different folds interact together.

With eperry's suggestion of layering the dye, I think it would be a good idea to fully wash out and unwrap after the first round of shibori dyeing, then start over on the same piece with a second round of shibori, perhaps at a different angle, or in a different fold.

Another idea would be to dye with a dye that's known to discharge well, then use Rit Color Remover or another discharge agent to reverse-shibori dye it. Discharge agents other than chlorine bleach require some heating, but not necessarily to boiling. See my page, Which Procion MX dyes discharge the best? Which are good at resisting chlorine bleach?, to help choose a dischargeable dye.

-Paula

I strongly agree with the suggestion about the Shibori book by Wada. It has so much useful information. There are some other techniques that would work with binding also. Perhaps Maki-age?

Kim Barron
BaronessColor.Blogspot.com

Your ideas and how to do it and what works and doesn't work are soooo helpful!