COLOR: Learn all you can about a NEW Ice Dye Color

So I’ve been involved in new teaching for me: Color Wheel Creativity. Gradient weaving and dyeing are something I have learned to enjoy and it began with combining a method of low-water immersion dyeing and then ice. Two-color gradients using two fiber reactive Procion dye colors to give subtle changes on yarn that yielded similar values was what I was after. Sometimes it is heavily influenced by the color you pick! For example lemon yellow and yellow in general is inherently light in value as a color all by itself. The use of Dye Over Ice and a third dye color that splits heavily can introduce different colors on fabric and yarn.

Photo: Phoenix Flame to Robin Egg Blue Gradient using low-water immersion on Tencel yarn and Washi papers

Cosmic Energy was added to the gravity ice dyed warps and Washi papers to build a color palette

I ordered a lot of Sapphire Opal from Dalula Dye and Company. Will miss this dyer because she is closing up shop. Using multiple methods to dye with this dye has been a way to explore the splits of this dye.

Photo: Washi Paper Orchid to Sapphire Opal Gradient

Next came the dyeing of fabric! I love stitching simple resists to explore the splits. 100% cotton and linen fabrics with Sapphire Opal applied over the ice, yarn is an 8/2 PFD cotton. Some fabric had been previously rusted and copper printed.

Upper left fabric also had a little bit of Rust Blue - also from Dalula Dye and Company

After these experiments on washi paper and fabric, I was ready for the low water immersion and ice dyeing session for a Michigan League of Handweavers 3-day zoom workshop. My goal on Day 1 was to dye solid skeins in a gradient of Orchid to Sapphire Opal. These skeins can be used as warp or weft. It is also used to dye linen napkins. Alchemist was used over ice on top of the linen napkins (honeycomb shibori) to produce a secondary dye color. The cotton 10” x 10” fabric and Tencel skeins gave me some subtle changes.

Day 2 ice dyeing used Tencel warps (4.5 yards) layed flat in a tub to create a repeat of the following dyes: Sapphire Opal, Robin Egg Blue, Blue Rust, and Orchid. DOI was applied. The Blue Rust shows up as a beautiful rust color with sections of blues and greens.

In building a palette, Black Cherry, Sapphire Opal, a touch of Robin Egg Blue and Sweet Pea were used to dye one warp and overdye some unusued skeins from a previous project.

Day 3 will introduce participants to using a rack and the method of gravity to create different values and force the splits. I’m currently setting up a gravity dyed skein that uses only Blue Rust and only Blue Sapphire to learn all I can about that Dye Color.