Dying Organza Silk

I haven't dropped off of the face of the planet, although since my last post was so long ago one might think that. I blame it on the speed of time...it just goes faster and faster! I did manage to find some time to take a fun dying class.

These two pieces were created by simply dipping the silk organza into a soda ash solution and then putting them into ziplock bags and adding a little bit of dye. I sealed the ziplocks and then left them for a couple of days before rinsing.

This one was dipped into soda ash then softly tucked into a container. Small drops of different dyes were added in different places. The silk was then dried on a drying rack.

On this piece of silk (previously wetted in the soda ash) I held one corner while drawing my other hand down the length to pleat it. Then the silk was placed into a container and dye was dropped on the cloth.

This soda ash dampened piece was accordion folded, placed in a container and dye dropped on.

This cloth was screen printed. The cloth was ironed to a piece of freezer paper and then pinned to a rubber mat. The dye was mixed with soda ash and printing paste and then pulled over a screen. The screen was moved around the cloth and different dyes were squeegeed through.

To create these a white cotton cloth was pinned onto a rubber mat and then silk organza was pinned on top of that. I used a sponge and an edge of a scraper to apply different dyes that had soda ash and printing paste mixed in.

This silk organza was made with another screen and dyes.

All of the pieces were hung on drying racks and then rinsed out in cold water. Following the cold water rinse they were put into a pot of water that was brought to boiling. Then the pot was drained and the cloth pieces were put into the washer on a rinse and spin cycle. Finally when I pulled them from the washer I ironed them to do the final set of color. At this point they should all be color fast. This process was so much fun that I want to explore using dyes more. The organzas all came out so lovely. The colors and designs are original and unique. I will be using these in my art quilts.