Virtual Retreat Aug thru Dec 2015 Info on first post

[wendy w.]

Wait till the rest get processed and the 'giant' color wheel can be seen. Then there's this triangular setup that shows the interaction of all the colors. It'll be worth the wait.

I still need to figure out if I will sell these as individual fat quarters, layer cakes, charms, strips, etc etc.
Anyone have a suggestion?

Luann

[wendy w.]

Wow Luann I am I am and I'm dribbling looking at your fabrics they are so intense, well done.

I long to do indigo Terrie especially after seeing Maureen's work when we went to Scotland.

[wendy w.]

Wow Wendy and Luann!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE the fabrics and the scarf!!! Can't wait to get going on more dyeing...sooo much fun!!!
Dorothy

[wendy w.]

Judith,
It's another lesson learned, actually. I just assume I've got a working ice maker and less than a mile down the road I can get 16# bags, or 20# loose, into a cooler. So I don't really stress about it. It's just a pain to take a break midstream to go for ice. So, I've learned my lesson. I'm presently making ice chunks in some ziploc bags. I'll use them and if they spring a leak, it's ok! I was thinking about those freezeable pouches that you can pick up at the store, but the contents are some sort of chemical and if they'd leak it could be worse than a red rug!!
So, what is this?? Lesson umpteenth!! Still LOL, AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO.

Luann

[wendy w.]

Just got a call from the repairman. He can swing by yet this afternoon!! Yeah. I'm keeping a positive attitude.
Luann

[Judith A.]

Luann and Wendy,
Georgeous fabrics!!! Absolutely scruptous!

Luann,
I suggest selling them as a group. Someone will really appreciate the collection as a whole and will make wonderful use of it. This is a case where "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts."

[Judith A.]

There are 7 fat quarters batching for making a purse for a friend. We'll see if I actually get lavender, light grey, grey, and dark grey!!







Tomorrow I can start rinsing these next ones out and put them into their first ice water soak,


And that's all for tonight.
Luann

[wendy w.]

Wow do you sleep :blink:

[wendy w.]

Wendy,
I do sleep, some. However, this morning I woke up at 3!!!
I had a dream of how to finish quilting the background areas on the quilt that's been on my longarm for a week now. It has squares of deconstructed screen printed fabric surrounded by a lot of various sizes of white strips.



I have very unique designs inside each of the blocks, but I was baffled when it came to all that white, and it's WHITE! So all the stitching is going to show. Well my dream solved the puzzle, I actually have a 'vision' of what it should look like when done. This has never happened to me before, so quite a unique adventure. I believe I can utilize my ProStitcher to do this. It's going to take a lot of time, but I think it will be so worth it in the end.
And with the hubby resting peacefully I'm going to wait to get started.
I came out to my screen porch. It's now 4 am, 74 F, and 94% humidity. Its been raining but the Lightning has subsided.
I just looked at those 7 tubs of fabric for Jennifer's purse. And the liquid in most of them is almost clear. I'm going to make a note of how much dye stock to water ratio I used on those! Usually I mix at a DOS of 4. The lilac was .06% so it should not turn out purple, just a light lavender. Time will tell.
Luann

[ANNE E.]

Luaan,
Where do you get your energy? what ever your on could you bottle it and send me some. :lol:
Love your fabric colours.
Wendy your scarf in gorgeous.
Happy weekend to all my TQS friends.
Anne

[ANNE E.]

Usually I mix at a DOS of 4. The lilac was .06% so it should not turn out purple, just a light lavender. Time will tell.
Luann
Ok..have to ask..what does DOS mean? I have learned sooo much from you Luann!!!! Can't wait to see the quilt with your vision quilted on it :cheer: I so wish I had a long arm...I have quilted 3 quilts on one, and loved it, but just have no room to put one
Dorothy

[ANNE E.]

Anne,
If my energy came from a bottle I'd share. My mind won't rest when it has thoughts running through it. I'm probably low on melatonin or some other supplement!! For now, I'll just take a nap if I need one.

Dorothy,
DOS means depth of shade. Sometimes you will see WOG, which means weight of goods. Basically it's 'how strong' you are making your dye stock. I weigh mine, as there is so much difference if you dry measure the powders. When you get dye powder the company will put it in the smallest, yet adequate, size of container. Golden Yellow is very 'airy' so it actually needs a larger one. This picture shows 2 containers, each holds 2oz of its named dye.




So, if you are measuring the dry powder by teaspoon or tablespoon, you most likely are not getting all of your colors to the same depth of shade. This is not a big deal, but anything over the 4% tends to waste dye and the washouts take a lot longer. I started out this way, but since taking Candy Glendenning's classes I have gotten more structured with my dyeing. I still find that I like doing serendipitous dyeing too. That would be methods like ice dyeing, thickened dye painting, marbling, etc etc. When doing these it's just too unpredictable to try to figure out exact amounts of dye for size of fabric.
Now for how this actually work so:
5 grams of dye powder in 240 ml of hot water, this used on 1yard of P&B Dyer's Muslin, and left to batch for 24 hours in a very warm environment resulted in these




I hope this is helping you and not confusing. Many dyers don't measure the powder by weight, in fact Candy is the only one, that I remember, that did. Don't stress about it, but if your rinsing out is taking a lot of time, try using less dye powder in your solution, keep things very warm, and try to batch for 24-48 hours.

Have a great day,
Luann

[ANNE E.]

Luann What do you use to thicken your dye so you can paint with it? I tried dye painting one piece, but I didn't thicken it, and it didn't turn out to well :blush: I really want to be able to do that too
Dorothy

[ANNE E.]

Dorothy, years ago I was making an Andy Pandy costume for a school play/sketch and it needed to be wide blue and white stripes. So starting off with the usual white sheet, my parents bought me some dylon cold water dye and wallpaper paste (Mum is a chemist and so knows about these things). I made up the dye and then thickened it with the wallpaper paste. Apart from adding too much paste, which made it go lumpy, it worked really well. Alternatively you could try corn starch, like when you are thickening gravy. Failing that I am sure there are posh (expensive) specially designed for dyeing, packets of thickening agents available.

[ANNE E.]

Luann What do you use to thicken your dye so you can paint with it? I tried dye painting one piece, but I didn't thicken it, and it didn't turn out to well :blush: I really want to be able to do that too
Dorothy

Dorothy,
There are a lot of thickeners out there. I've used sodium alginate, made some too thick and another batch too thin! If you use a product that you can add the dye powder directly to you just need to be sure it isn't too runny for what you want to do with it.
I've wondered if you could use aloe Vera gel, the clear stuff. Perhaps even liquid starch, or school glue could be used. The idea is that it just needs to get it thick enough for you to work with and stay where you put it for 24 hours to batch up. Remember that you may want to make sure the humidity stays high enough so it doesn't dry out. That would stop the batching process and skew your results. Let us know what you decide to try.
My washer is sitting with hot water, dawn soap, and 50 fat 1/8ths, and 7 fat 1/4ths in it. Tomorrow at 5 am I can drain, rinse and spin. Then start on the next hot water soaking!! I really got some scrumptious colors on those 1/8th yard pieces.
Have a great day,
Luann
Maybe I should put together a 'real' retreat for dyeing cloth. We would have so much fun. Hmmm??