First Results

The initial results were a little disappointing. The colors on the one and two color scrumbles seem washed out, and there is little blending. With the other pieces, the colors are more intense, but there is still little blending and there is a lot of white space. There are several possible reasons: the dye was old, the fabric may not have all been PFD, I may not have used enough dye solution. I think I took low-water immersion too far and just dribbled the dye on so there wasn't enough to migrate through the fabric. Still, there is potential there for over-dyeing later.

Before I did the rinsing and wash outs of the first group of fabrics, I had to decide what to do with the leftover dyes. I added just a little fuchsia and yellow to the turquoise, to murk it up, and then added plain water to dilute it. In spite of the dilution, I got a deeper, richer color. I think this was because I put a larger volume of dye solution into the container.

Then I mixed some fuchsia with all the remaining yellow (about 1:3 or 1:4 ratio) and added a few drops of turquoise to tone it down. Again I put all the remaining dye into the container with a yard of scrumbled up fabric. This was my favorite of all the initial results. I definitely see advantages to mixing colors as opposed to using the pure colors (at least the tie dye colors). I've ordered more dyes and hope to do more of this in the coming weeks.