Dyeing: Some Discsoveries

Amount woven yesterday: 7"
Amount woven to date: 3 yards + 26"

Yesterday I dyed a second run of orange to blue. This orange, however, I made less red than the original orange. In the dye pot this orange looked to be very distinctly yellow-orange rather than orange or red-orange. But when I took it out of the dye pot and let it dry, it was definitely orange, non yellow-orange. I definitely cannot trust the color I see in the dye pot!

Then I compared this orange silk with the earlier orange silk, which had seemed so red-orange. To my eye, there was only the slightest of differences. It seemed hardly worth the effort to go through this second dye run.

But then I compared the total of the two dye runs. Each time I added more blue to the respective oranges, the differences between the colors widened. As the colors moved towards the browns, there was no trace of the reds that appeared in the first dye run. It gives me two gorgeous browns. One is a rich goldeny oranged brown, warmer than the equivalent more reddish brown of the first sampling. The other is a deep neutral brown, more grayed than the equivalent neutral brown of the first dye run. And gray appeared at the 50/50 equation this time instead of at the 60B/40O equation of the first dye run.

I also did some value gradations with two neutral I had obtained. Each neutral was dyed at 2% depth of shade, a 1 % DOS, and a 0.5% DOS. The one group produced lovely silvery grays. These were done with the gray I had gotten by commbining orange and blue the first time, where the orange was really a red-orange. Looking at the colors developing in the dye pots I was sure I had gotten it wrong. I was getting blues. They were lovely. But they were definitely blues. But, after removing from the dye pot and letting dry, it was a new thing.


The other value gradation was of the golden brown I had obtained in the RedViolet + YellowGreen dye run. Here, as well as with the grays, I learned that there was no way I could tell what the color was by simply looking at the individual threads. I had to wind them onto my cardboard to get a solid batch of color. The I could see. And these too were beautiful.


I am so amazed that I had hit the jackpot with these combinations. I have never tried dyeing neutrals before. However, since I used 0.1% solutions instead of 0.01% solutions, I question my ability to accurately reproduce them with a bigger batch of yarn. I have figured out how I might increase my chances of getting what I want in the final project. I will make all the dye solutions I plan to use. I will make them in my usual 1% solutions. But then for the neutrals, I will take out enough from the colors I am using to create 0.01% solutions and test dye some small skeins. If the color comes out right with them, I can be a little more assured that the color will come out right in the big dye pot. I hope!

Work

Amount woven yesterday: 1.5"
Amount woven to date: 3 yards + 19"

Recently I subscribed to an email newsletter put out by fiber artist Virginia Spiegel. In the archives, I found a newsletter in which she asked the following questions, questions that I am trying to take to heart in terms of my weaving. Her words are excerpted from the Fall #1 2005 issue:

"...Are we, as artists, stubborn enough in our studios? Do we show up at our studio at the appointed time, every time? Are we 100% committed to sweat out the tough times, laugh at the disasters, be immune to what others might think and work, work, work? Are we stubborn enough to know that our early efforts don't count, that it is the being there and the doing that will pay off in the end?"

These are tough words to hear.

Virginia has collected her essays into an E-book which is about to be published. The book is called Art, Nature, Creativity, Life. Anyone interested in learning more about the book can go here.

Dye Stock Solutions

When I dye I always use dye stock solutions. I never dye enough yarn to work just with the dye powder. And I want as little exposure to dye powder as possible.

Because I dye relatively small amounts of yarn I make 1% solutions. I use these solutions to mix the colors I am going to use for a project. The mixed colors are also 1% solutions. But it is very easy to make 4% solutions from these mixes. It is 4% mixed solutions that I use most often.

When I am dyeing small samples, however, I dye using 0.1% solutions. It is much easier to get reproducible colors when I do this.

I am not going to explain all this because Karren Brito has just done an absolutely marvelous job on her blog, Entwinements. On this post, she gives you all you need to know about concentration levels in dye stock solutions. She talks about what circumstances would lead you to use anywhere from 0.01% concentrations to 2.0% concentrations. And she explains in language that even I can understand the concept of margins of error. She also explains when it is better just to use the dye powder.

The book I rely on for my dyeing is Ann Milner's The Ashford Book of Dyeing. Milner deals with all different types of dyes and many different types of dyeing. It is Milner's book that taught me how to use the metric system. Karren's post fleshes out what Milner has to say about stock solutions and is definitely a keeper.

Karren herself has written an excellent book on shibori called Shibori: Creating Color and Texture on Silk. The book is not just about shibori. It is also about the acid dyeing of silk. I have found much there of value for my own dyeing technique.

Green Plus Red-Violet

Amount woven yesterday: 4"
Amount woven to date: 3 yards + 17.5"

It's a little hard to tell from this picture, but it looks like there are two possible browns here. On the far right is a slightly reddish brown. To the left of it is what seems to be a very neutral brown.

Dye sampling can be very addictive. Sometimes the only thing that really forces me to bring it to an end is the amount of time I need to be on my feet. That's not as easy as it used to be! But I figure that it is also good for me. After the first ten minutes I am not just standing but moving around. I do little things like put the dishes away, make a note of something, make the bed, all things that take little time and allow me to go back frequently to check the time and temperature.

Dye sampling is addictive because it is just so much fun to see the colors. Not just the final colors but the colors as they develop in the dye pot.

Last night I looked at a quilting book which focuses on color. It is by Joen Wolfrom and is called Visual Coloring. For those who feel insecure about using color, she has an interesting suggetion. Get together a bunch of magazines and flip through them. When you see a picture whose colors appeal to you, stop but don't think. Just cut it out. Keep doing that. Don't analyze. Be quick and intuitive in your choices. Save them.

These pictures will give you a clue about the colors that really speak to you. When you are ready to begin a project, come back to these pictures you cut out. Flip through them. Pick the one that speaks to you and begin your designing with those colors. Those are the colors that, at that moment, speak to you the most.

I think this is a really good way to begin. It is very much how I begin. I begin with the colors that really speak to me.

If I could avoid it, I would absolutely not weave with colors I don't like. And since I weave for myself alone, I have that freedom of choice. But it seems that all colors speak to me. Whatever colors I am currently working on tend to be my current favorites. Well, there are some I do dislike. Baby pinks and blues, except on babies. Gray them a bit and I like them. I actually did buy a light blue shirt and a pink shirt. I love them. I get lots of compliments on them, primarily, I think, because people are so surprised to see me wearing such colors. And they really are grayed just a bit. I dislike neon colors. They have their place but not in my work!

I tend to live in khaki pants and shorts and pair them with various colored tee shirts. Right now I am in black phase with tee shirts. But I have lots of warm colors. Reds, oranges, yellows. I realized my lack of cool colors as I was knitting a pair of deep teal socks. I am going to remedy that in my tee shirts. I definitely need some blues. I don't care for violet on me. I don't know why, especially since I do love the color. Pure green I tend not to like. But blue greens, yellow greens, grayed greens, they are all wonderful. All that green needs is a tiny bit of blue to take the green edge off and then a tiny bit of its opposite and I am happy. Though even in silk pure unadulterated green is beautiful. What can I say? I really do love colors. I especially love colors in silk

Where Do Ideas Come From?

Dorothy had this to say on how creative ideas come to here. This is from her comment on my post, "More on Resistance:"

"I find a lot of creative ideas pop up when I've stopped looking for them, when I'm doing one of those steady methodical tasks, like tying up treadles, threading heddles, or often enough, washing the dishes! So, for me, Leigh's "work" time is my time to let my mind wander off, and to see what it finds. I know lots of people don't like washing dishes, for me it's a useful time to just let my mind do it's own thing, things get resolved, I get relaxed, ideas happen."

This is very true for me as well. In a recent post I talked about my "spinning mind." The way I used the phrase implied a kind of separation from my body, something operating outside of thre boundaries of my body. And I talked about that "spinning mind" while throwing the shuttle. Certainly throwing a shuttle qualifies as a "steady methodical task."

It is very energizing to find ideas coming somewhere from those subconscious depths with no apparent effort on my part. But then it is also frustrating. I feel the urgent need, when this happens, to stop immediately whatever it is I am doing and write it down. The other alternative is to try hard to hold it in memory. All this is especially difficult during those moments when idea after idea seems to roll out. These are usually not different ideas, but continuations of the original idea that just popped up.

I have learned something interesting, however. Recently I decided that if the idea was important enough, I would remember it. And so I have found myself to be perfectly capable of holding the idea or ideas in my memory until an appropriate stopping point comes. What is more, I am able to do the same thing when these ideas come to me suddenly in the middle of the night. I used to get up and write them down. But now I tell myself, if it is worth while, it will be there waiting for me in the morning. And so I just go back to sleep and find the idea still there when I wake up, ready to be written down.

I do not really think, however, that these ideas come from nowhere. I think they come because some necessary work has already been done. Some kind of groundwork has been laid.

But besides writing down these unanticipated ideas, what am I to do with them? Richard Box, in his book Color and Design in Embroidery, suggests a process that must then follow these flashes of insight:

"This illumination then requires confirmation and realisation which in itself may take time, cause changes and developments before eventual completion." (page 1)

Indeed, it is my experience that many or maybe even most of these "brilliant" ideas are never confirmed but instead dissolve into nothingness upon examination. But even if they do so dissolve, their coming into existence is of value. Their erupting into the consciousness brings me pleasure, and they may in some unknown way contribute to other ideas that will prove valuable to me.

Yellow + Violet

Amount woven yesterday: 5"
Amount woven to date: 3 yards + 13.5"


The image is a bit blurry but the colors reproduction is not bad. The colors I used for this dye run are Sabraset/Lanaset Sun Yellow and Sabraset/Lanaset Violet. Earlier I did a similar dye run, using the Sun Yellow but created a mix for the Violet rather than the Sabraset Violet. The mix consisted of 95% SAB Violet plus 5% SAB Scarlet. The two dye runs are almost identical. Clearly the little bit of SAB Scarlet I added did not affect the dye run perceptibly, though I think I like the composed violet a little better. In any case, I will doubtless use the simpler combination in working out the neutrals.

Possibilities

No weaving accomplished Friday. But today it feels good to get back to the weaving.

Once I got started, my head started spinning with ideas. At first they were ideas having to do with my next silk warp. The ideas focussed mainly on possibilities of ikat and dip dyeing, and colors I wanted to use. But then my spinning mind returned to the fabric in front of me. I was looking forward to finishing this up. Finishing it up is going to come sooner than planned.

The end is coming before the total amount of planned yardage is woven because I am running out of the brown cotton. I ordered more. When they told me it was on backorder I started to worry. I was worried mostly because often back orders of pearl cotton take a long long time. I could see a warp just sitting there waiting for? Well, I didn't know how long the loom would just sit there.........

Actually it turned out that I was worried about the wrong thing. The yarn did arrive. On non-weaving Friday, by the way. It was obvious even to my color insensitive husband that this new yarn was a totally different dye lot from the old yarn. The color numbers were the same and there are no dye lot numbers. But it was a totally different brown.

Actually, that difference in color didn't really make me as unhappy as it might have a week or so earlier. I had already thought about weaving another yard with a different weft design which I would use as trim. There would be no brown in this next piece. So at first I was actually unhappy when I saw the package. That meant that I could just finish the yardage as planned and there would be no risk taking. I would not longer be forced into trying an experiment of sorts. When I opened the package and saw the color, in a moment I was actually happy. I was forced into plan B!

Anyway, returning to sitting at the loom with my spinning mind reacting to the fabric beneath my nose. My original plan had involved making the finished yardage into a jacket with only a few pieces. I wanted to break up the design of the fabric as little as possible. But my mind started to spin another way. Early on in the design process I had rejected the notion of anything with princess seams precisely because these garment design elements would break up the fabric design. But my spinning mind began to question the validity of that logic. By the time I was ready to stop weaving this morning, I had done a turnaround. I was convinced that actually in the case of this fabric, breaking it up with something like princess seaming would be a very good idea!

I also looked through my latest Vogue Pattern Magazine and found the cutest short jacket with seams than break up the fabric. It requires so little fabric I could actually stop weaving now. But I'm not sure what I would wear it with, and I think it would probably look best on a size 8 young woman. It's a little too "cute" for me. But I am going to check out the Chanel type jacket patterns.

Then I found in my pattern stash a Vogue pattern that uses trim along the front and the sleeve edges. And the trim requires only 3/4 yards of fabric, so one yard of the accessory fabric I planned to weave would be fine.

Possibilities. Possibilities are so wonderful and yet so frustrating.