dye technique layering

In bellydance we talk a lot about layering. Generally, we mean performing more than 1 isolation movements at the same time, particularly in regard to a shimmy. For example, a hip circle layered over a hip shimmy, or an undulation layered over a shimmy.

Sometimes when I am working on a dyeing project I forget about layering dye techniques one over the other, even when it's obvious. For example, in most of my shibori dyeing I've been doing a vat or tub dye technique, then binding the fabric shibori-style and redyeing. This isn't baffling... it's just something I don't think about.

So over the weekend I needed to dye another Big Cotton Skirt. This one, thankfully, was not so poofy as the last skirt, but it was very, very full. I swore that next time I needed to do one of these I would spread it out and direct-apply. Uhh... except I didn't have the space to do so... so I couldn't! My brain then wandered on this track: I want multiple shadings of colors... that's low water immersion... but I don't want white areas... that's a vat dye... aha! So... I dyed it solid turquoise first, and then squashed it into a bucket and poured on jade, peacock, and electric blue dyes. I let it sit about an hour and a half, and voila! It was pretty cool. (Picture soon.) My customer was very pleased with it, as she wants to swing it around with great verve to "Rompi, Rompi". It also has the virtue (I think) of not being just another solid-colored skirt.

Thinking about this process leads me to more interesting layering ideas:

Arashi shibori over low water immersion...
Tie dye over a vat-dyed solid...
Capped and bound shibori over direct application...

Too many ideas! I'll never chase them all down.

MOO - hoo! Flickr cards

Just a brief note here about the MOO mini cards available through Flickr! MOO.com is a printing company based in the UK. They've made an alliance with Flickr so that you can easily choose images in your Flickr account to appear on postcards, mini cards, or stickers.

I've been kind of unhappy with my free Vista Print business cards, partially because the email address on them is out of date, and partially because, well, seeing my silk is what sparks interest in it. I really wanted some photo cards. The MOO/Flickr setup lets you choose any of your images and crop them to mini-card size, and I ordered 100 of them in five different images. Wow, do they look good! On the back I put my info and the URL for this blog. They even came in a cool little plastic box. Of course they are not standard-business-card size... they are 28 by 70 mm... but they are a really nice stiff card stock.

If you're looking for photo cards... consider MOO!

livewire hung vertically

livewire hung vertically
Originally uploaded by tigerb.

This was my experiment with doing several tight wrappings on the pole, skipping several inches, and wrapping again. This piece is actually four yards long; here you see it hung vertically by the midpoint. I also put the silk on the pole at a diagonal, and I did not fold it. Instead I scrunched it together to fit the width around the 4" PVC pipe.

While I like how this turned out, I am frustrated with the color. The overdye bath lasted an hour and was done in an extra-strength dark brown solution. No, really. Dark brown! oh well...