Photo courtesy of dawnkristal
Kristal had some hand-dye kits that yielded 30 fat eighths each. There are several stages in the process, but most of them are not active stages. Mostly, after mixing and applying the dye, there is a lot of waiting around. At the end of the process-- spread over two days-- we had 60 fat eighths of beautiful fabric plus a few pieces that we experimented on.
I think my favorite are the reds and pinks, but the purples are not bad either. They are all so vibrant! Some of the pieces are more mottled-- those cups were not stirred as vigorously, and therefore the dye did not saturate evenly. Others are fairly solid with natural variations one can expect from a hand dye.
Photo courtesy of dawnkristal
The dye process is not very intuitive for me, but I did enjoy the experiment. Now that I have learned the underlying process to hand dyeing, I'm interested to experiment with mixing different colors of dye baths and dyeing yardage, as well. I'm not fully comfortable with the process-- I'd like to master a few color recipes before trying anything too crazy-- and I'd like to do more hands on experimentation.
Once I'm comfortable with the general process of mixing dye baths and dyeing the fabrics, I'm going to start experimenting with wax resist techniques. I have several patterns that I want to try and many color combinations, as well. It may take a while to get there, but I'm okay with that. I've got time.
Most of what I know about this process comes from Kristal, but I've also watched Malka's Quilting Arts DVD and read her book, Color Your Cloth. If you're interested in the topic, I highly suggest you start there!
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