Moisture Variations in Dye Painting

Chapter 4 of Ann Johnston’s Color by Design is my favorite so far in our Dyeing Support Group. My favorite is the organic quality you get from painting on soda-soaked wet fabric and applying pressure to plastic over the top.

Thin Paste on Wet Fabric with Primary Colors - I like that you get secondary colors as the dyes bleed into each other; especially after pressing the plastic on top.

2nd sample of Thin on Wet Primary Colors

My Favorite - I love the surprise organic lines and shapes of the thin paste on wet soda-soaked fabric

Thin on Wet Secondary Colors and neutral created by adding the secondary colors together.

2nd Sample of Thin on Wet Secondary Colors

Textured Objects placed underneath wet soda-soaked fabric and thin dye painted with brush - I enjoyed this technique

Thin Paste on Dry Fabric is my least favorite. I can see circumstances where you would want less bleeding until the edges to keep some white or light areas. Maybe I would prefer it if I tried different shapes and colors.

Thick Dye painted on wet soda-soaked fabric

Print Paste painted on fabric before adding medium thickness dye painted on with sponge brushes. This was nice and evenly blended and then I decided to add additional colors with a dryer sponge brush. I don’t really like sponge brushes but they have their purpose. I much prefer using paintbrushes.

Combination of thick and thin colors painted on dry fabric

I was surprised how much more I enjoyed the exercises on wet soda-soaked fabric over the dry fabric. The fluid organic lines and intermixing of colors had interesting results. I will definitely spend more time with the same techniques and additional colors with varying thicknesses of print paste.

On My Bookshelf

I am a Library Fanatic. I read extremely fast and often; multiple books a week. I love cozy mysteries, FBI/Forensics/Serial Killer Mysteries, Sherlock Holmes, Gardening, Cookbooks, and many of the books from High School or College Reading Lists. I have to read books of a series in order. So, I maintain a spreadsheet sorted by the author with the last book I have read in each series. Sadly, I have checked out and returned so many art books over the years that I have not kept track of which were good, bad, or just ok. I have found, however, that I am an art book snob. Most instructional art books you find in bookstores are written for the beginner in every form of art or are projects to complete. The library shelves are the best place to find Specialty Topics, Intermediate, and Advanced Level books. I detest dusting, so I only purchase a few books for my personal reference collection. Generally, I buy art books that I have already checked out multiple times from the library or ones that I can’t get from the library. Welcome to my bookshelf.

HIGHLIGHTS

Dyeing:

Color by Accident - Ann Johnston

Color By Design - Ann Johnston

Fabric Dyer’s Dictionary - Linda Johansen (I bought the e-book version. It is a pain to flip through to look for a specific color on my IPAD. I need to buy a used copy as it is out of print)

Surface Design:

Art Cloth - Jane Dunnewold

The Surface Designer’s Handbook - Holly Brackmann

Visual Texture on Fabric - Lisa Kerpoe (Resist Technique Options)

The Painted Quilt - Linda & Laura Kemshall (Short Overview of Techniques but visually appealing for an older book)

Digital Fiber Art - Wen Redmond

Quilt Related or 3D Fiber:

Disclaimer: I have never been a traditional quilter so have a few just to flip through or loan out

Journey to Inspired Art Quilting - Jean Wells

Visual Guide to Working in a Series - Elizabeth Barton

The Uncommon Quilter - Jeanne Williamson

Exploring Dimensional Quilt Art - C. June Barnes

Stitch, Fibre, Metal & Mixed Media - Alysn Midgelow-Marsden

Three - Dimensional Embroidery - Janey Edmonds

Stitching:

The Intentional Thread - Susan Brandeis (Written by my college professor so I may be biased, but I learn something every time I pick it back up)

Connecting Design to Stitch - Sandra Meech

Drawn to Stitch - Gwen Hedley

The Geometry of Hand-Sewing - Natalie Chanin (Variety of stitches shown; images are not annoyingly cutesy or crafty like most embroidery related books)

Poetic Cloth - Hannah Lamb (I’m not sure I learned anything new from this book, but I like flipping through it. It is visually soothing, like visiting the spa.)

Chapter 3 Exercises

I am behind on posting images for the Dye Support Group. Life seems too busy some days to take the time to blog about my life. Rewind a couple of weeks to my first attempts at exercises from Chapter Three of Ann Johnston’s Color By Design. I learned a lot from each exercise and need to revisit several at a later date to get accurate results. I enjoyed working for my sketchbook only and had some happy accidents along the way even when I missed the mark.

Paint a Color Wheel - My first and second attempts. I need to go back and try a third time especially in the red variations.

For green, I started with an equal amount of yellow and blue and then added yellow incrementally. I approached the exercise mathematically. I thought if I started with equal amounts, I would get a base color to work from. In the future, I think I should start with yellow and add blue in small increments. The blue was dominant and it required much more yellow than I anticipated.

Lessons learned - pay better attention to painting straight so as not to overlap lines next time. I added blue to yellow this time but only in 1/4 tsp increments. I need to start on a larger piece of fabric or adjust my increments so I can get from yellow to blue.

I need better lighting in my laundry room. When wet, it appeared I was achieving black. Once dry and in better lighting, it was obvious that I need to try again. Or, stick with using the premixed black dye powders I generally use until I can try this exercise again. I really like a lot of the colors though so am keeping these pages for future reference.

I really should have started over and done all of these another time. However, I’m impatient and wanted to get to the next Chapter. So, I am working out some of the issues I had here while working on future Chapters.

Dyeing Support Group

Do you feel quarantined, lonely, and still experience a desire to dye? If so, some of my friends and I are starting a Dyeing Support Group. I love to read art books, grab a couple of tips from each, but fail to ever complete the exercises. I am challenging myself to work through all the exercises in Color By Design by Ann Johnston. My friends and I are going to work at our own pace, as we all have other things going on even if we stay in our pajamas all day. All of those 1950’s photos of women wearing heels and a dress in the kitchen were obviously staged. Through zoom and email, we will cheer, curse, and share our experiences with each other. The book is our guide and as long as we all work in the order of the exercises we should be able to support each other. We have to get creative to find ways to stay creative and motivated to reach new goals.

Day 1

Dye Mixed and in the Fridge: Warning Sign for Kids that hang out in my basement

**My Studio Assistant, Indie**

It looks like she didn’t read the sign, but I promise she didn’t drink the dye.

Amanda Snavely

Blog