Distant Stitch Diploma, Module 1, Chapter 6 - Colouring of Materials

I chose Option 1 and used Procion dyes.

For my colour trials, I used calico, faux silk, muslin, cotton drill and cotton lawn. All are natural fibres except for the faux silk. I have used faux silk in a lot of stitching and it handles like a natural fabric so although it is synthetic, I was interested to see if it would take a dye. The answer is no!

Page 89

Page 90

I mixed dyes together to try and match the colours in my strip from the last chapter. I found it very difficult to create a soft pinky red. The sample on the right is not a good match as it is far too vibrant. As is plain to see, faux silk will not take a dye!

Page 91

 I dyed onto cotton drill, cotton lawn and muslin. Some pieces were totally immersed, I painted and dabbed the dyes onto other pieces. I managed to tone down the bright red from the first sample strip to a more salmon pink as shown in the fifth sample from the left.

Page 92

I have stored sample strips of fabric in my sketchbook. As I hadn't used silk in my experiments and having discarded the dyes, I decided to see if Brusho inks would penetrate and match the colours I had created with the Procion dyes.  The results are fairly pale, but are sympathetic with the other pieces.

Page 93

My notes in my sketchbook, relating to page 92.

I would like to use transfer dyes in a future project. The results will be less random, which might be an advantage. I found this chapter quite challenging but was pleased with the results.

I also painted some Bondaweb and Tyvek in acrylic paints to match my colour palette for future use.

By chance I dried the silk, painted with Brusho inks surrounded with kitchen paper. The colours bled into the paper with some delightful results. Hopefully I'll be able to make use of this later on.