Thursday, July 19, 2012

Sun Infused Color

Remember this row of Mason Jars from yesterday filled with fabric and dye baking in the 100 sun?
Watch what happened! I can't believe the variety of color that came out of the mixes. 
The hot weather (100+) has been wiping us out around here but I've found a good use for it.  It's perfect for baking sun infused color into fabric with dye. Using the summer's heat was one of the things I learned at Judy Gula's  dye day and I placed my filled mason jars out in the sun for a day. I kept checking on them outside and loved the feeling of the hot glass with the promise of liquid color inside turning to gold like alchemy. Some of the results were quite surprising. Judy's method is from the book titled "Color by Accident" and there were many happy accidents. The distressed pieces are especially surprising and I am planning on a dye session mainly using cloths that will fray. Burlap and a particular type of cotton did this well.




These pieces  tangled up a lot in the wash, but they are worth it.
I carefully pulled and cut them apart. It was the best surprise of the lot
as I love the disintegrated effect they have. Of course, I had to
 save the tangled cut off pieces too because they were pretty too.
It was a fair amount of work rinsing out the dye and running the fabric through the wash twice, untangling the pieces and ironing them out. It gave me time to imagine what I might do with the fabric. Lot's of ideas are forming for collage work and I am toying with the idea of putting some of the pieces up for sale because I know I'll end up with more than I can use. For now, they hang on a rack, full of possibilities, reminding me of the feeling of this summer sun.

Which is your favorite? 

 


This is a piece of Jacquard Cotton that I printed numbers. I used an
inkjet printer and they held up surprisingly well. I thought for sure the
inkjet would run and muddy, but it didn't.

An old piece of lace.

I used many different textures.


The velveteen on the left is great but the purple/green floral piece
is not my favorite. I will definitely dye more white cotton velveteen.

The old chenille bedspread was found in a thrift store.

A purple/green combo that works better than the one above.
The blue cheesecloth on the right is heavenly.

10 comments:

~*~Patty S said...

impossible to pick a favorite ... altho you know me and blues ;)

they all have their charms

thank you for sharing your rainbow of textures and colors Theresa

and for reminding me that there IS something good about our heatwave!

way to celebrate summer!
oxo

sharon said...

These are stunning! Love!

Anonymous said...

The polka-dotted chenille is my favorite. And I love your positive outlook too...having fun with the extra sun (there's usually a good side to things if we look deep enough right)?

bohemiannie! art said...

There's no way I can pick a favorite. I ABSOLUTELY love them all! Great job. I'll look for this book when I go to the States...for sure!

Artistic Artifacts said...

Theresa, your fabrics are wonderful! let everyone know that Artistic Artifacts has the color by Accident book- for anyone who can't come to our dye days at the Annex. and when you are ready for more dye colors we have that also!
www.ArtisticArtifacts.com
I am so glad that you enjoyed the class!

theresa martin said...

Judy, I added a link in the story to the book in your shop.

Frieda Oxenham said...

Oh, wonderful results. Love the fact you've used fabrics with different textures. You've got a real treasure trove there, and now for the projects!

Emily Shepardson said...

These are really cool. I love the one with the printed numbers.

Emily Shepardson said...

These are really cool. I love the one with the printed numbers.

Sugar Lump Studios said...

Gorgeous texture and colors!