Rekindling a passion

It's said that you never forget how to ride a bicycle, and I doubt that I would ever forget how to sew no matter how much time went by. Alas, I found that the same was not true of printing with dye on fabric.

I certainly never meant to abandon doing it. From the beginning I found it a delight. With each piece I created, I was eager to learn more, to try out new techniques. And then? Well, other projects, other interests, life... I cleaned the bottles of aging dye concentrates out of the little fridge I had bought just for them, put away the silk screens Mr C had made for me, folded up the table I worked upon, but I always planned to start again, soon.

And finally, later rather than sooner, I have. For this first project, I decided to adapt a design I had used on a couple of scarves to a tank top, so I could concentrate on the process rather than the design. I did a mock-up in Photoshop with the dye colors I planned to use. Then I relied on Color by Design: Paint and Print with Dye by Ann Johnston, which has been my guide for past efforts.

Because some of my dye powders were past their average shelf life, I tested the colors I intended to use; thankfully all were fine.

 The fabric is a sturdy cotton jersey from Dharma. The stencils I already had from the scarf project. The passion flower is an Art Nouveau design by E.A. Seguy from an old Dover Book. I adapted a leaf for an additional stencil. The background design is a motif from Dover Books Chinese Stencil Designs. First I stenciled on the leaves in green and the petals in resist so that they would stay white. Next I stenciled the stamens of the flowers in a dark purple. I also used that color on the stencil of the little sprinkles, some of which I also stenciled with resist.

Next I brushed on the overall color diluted with a thin print paste. Here, in order to make the color pale, I made it too liquid with the addition of urea water which dissolved some of the resist I had put on in the previous step. Finally I silk-screened the Chinese motif randomly over the front and back using a stronger version of the base color. Fortunately the resist that kept the petals white did not completely dissolve as I had feared, but it wasn't as crisp and clear as it should have been. I tried to remedy this by going over the petals with white Lumière paint, but it was difficult to align the stencil perfectly the second time. 

All in all, I'm pleased with the result. These tanks tops are what I wear around the house during our sweltering Texas summers, and I'm glad to have another one to add to my collection. I've already begun working on a design for my next one, even as summer is slowly slipping away. I'm hoping to keep some sort of dyeing project going from now on.  Time will tell...