June - Pairing

6" x 6" (15cm x 15cm)  oil on board

6" x 6" (15cm x 15cm) paper

Dyeing for Blue

I ordered some yarn on-line. My delight when it arrived turned to astonishment - in a bad way - when I opened the package and found beige. There is nothing inherently wrong with beige, besides the colour -- and how really bad it looks on me. I walked around it for a few days trying to find some love. There was none. Instead of paying for postage to return it, I bought some Rit dye. I wanted this a simple as possible. Here is the story about the process. The movie is better but I could not download it.

  

1. The yarn, called "natural". I was expecting white to off white. 

2. Pre-soak in water with vinegar and a little dish soap. I used vinegar because the yarn is 65% merino, 35% linen. Had it been the other way around, I would have added salt to the water.

3. Twenty minutes later, ready for the next step. The dye bath is prepared: hot but not boiling water, water, dye, vinegar, dish soap.

4. Thirty minutes in the vat, fervently hoping that I was not making felt.

5. Rinsing time. 

6. Rinsed, squeezed and ready to roll in a towel to absorb more moisture. It is clear by now that the beige is history.

7. Outside to dry. 

This is a better representation of the colour.

8. Winding the balls. Two happy things: 1) while sometimes the threads were a wee bit attached to each other, I did not have a felted disaster on my hands, and 2) my hands were not blue at all after winding 4 balls. I hope that speaks well for colour fastness.

 

 

Flowery - Tiling Pattern: In Colour

Flowery - Tiling Pattern

It took me several attempts to get to this. Still short of perfection, but closer. I am thinking about what to do about a colour version.

Showing my work:

A bit cleaned up:

Yesterday I had a tablecloth. Today I have market/project bags.

Directions found here. 

Two

Heavenly City Diagram

Two variations. Not perfect.