Sunday, July 20, 2014

DISCHARGE DYEING RESULTS - CONTINUED

I wish I could report that after 24 hours of reflection, my pieces now thrill me....NOT!  It was a fun day, but it's doubtful I'll be repeating this exercise.
In addition to the more traditional cottons, I enjoy testing what results can be achieved with wool. 
 Using a foam brush, small stencils, and Soft Scrub.....the process begins.
 Unfortunately this is the only photo that turned out.....just at the beginning of stenciling motifs.  NOW....if you refer to photo #1.....you can see the results after drying, pressing, and washing out the Soft Scrub.  NOTHING...zip, zero.....
 On a small piece of dark grey hand-dyed cotton, this beautiful motif (thank you Judy) was stenciled using DeColourant.  Once dried the image is fairly invisible....as one presses with steam....it comes to life.
I was so happy with the color...a lovely pale blue.  BUT WAIT.....after I brought it home, wash and dried it.....the leaves are now gold!  Sorry I should have included a photo of the new look....so much to do....so little time!
Apparently not all fabrics will discharge...and black is reported to be one of the more difficult colors to work with.  I was actually doing a bit of a happy dance with this one.  
 The crazy 'line' pattern was created using a cut foam brush.  I can't take credit for this idea.....and sadly can't remember where I saw it to give proper credit.  I found it during my research on the Internet.
       
Yet again....I was disappointed.  This is how the piece looked about 20 mins. after it was steam pressed.  Unbelievably, the images faded!

And here's how it looked after I washed and dried it at home.  This photo is actually very close in color to the real thing.  Boo hoo....
Pitiful isn't it??
Here's a peak at the only one that turned out.....the images were blue after steam pressing, but turned purple after I washed and dried it at home.  

Of course I realize really wonderful results can be achieved using these methods.  However, for me....it's not worth the effort or the need to work with chemicals I'd rather avoid.

We already have our subject for our Aug. Fiber Junkie's play date......  I'm confident it will be another fun and informative day......as this one was....whether or not I come home with piles of interesting fabric.  The novelty of the process is the reward.

4 comments:

Nancy said...

Yes, this is a "live and learn" moment. It's a little how I feel about the process. If I'm going to go through all that mess and chemical stuff, I'm looking for "wowser" results. I've seen other people get them, but I haven't. Maybe I'll stick to rusting fabrics. Have you tried that on wool? By the way, I'm near Ocala, FL, where Robbie goes for the winter months. Boca Raton is quite a ways from here. Fingers crossed your August meeting will give you more satisfying fabric results!

Linda M said...

I learned to always test my fabrics first before spending all the time and ending up with not so good results. When it works it can be magical.

Robbie said...

yea ago i happened upon a black fabric that bleached to white...it was called something like Cinderella??? I bought it at Walmart...but haven't been able to find it anywhere...your white bleached on black turned out great. Normally, you get this orange or brown look, which I don't care for. What brand fabric did you use??

The Inside Stori said...

Robbie asked what brand of fabric did I use......honestly, I don't have a clue! I was using leftover bits and pieces of blacks I had in my stash.....