Indigo Unwrapped

Remember the wrapped and tied pieces we showed in yesterday's post?  Here's what they look like after rinsing and washing.

This is Elizabeth's clothesline.  The 2 on the left were accordion pleated and banded - one horizontally and one vertically.  The next was pole wrapped on a very small diameter pole, so the dye didn't penetrate very far.  Fourth from the left had various sizes of round wooden discs and glass marbles.  The pieces with circles was folded and clamped between wooden circles.  Second from the right was simply folded and clamped. The piece on the far right was done with whiffle balls rubber banded into the fabric.  Below are some close-ups of the whiffle ball piece.

 Isn't it cool how the holes in the ball create the darker dots at the center of the circles?

This is Sue's clothesline.  On the left is a sleeveless t-shirt.  Next is the green piece that was banded with marbles, then the purple piece that was pole wrapped.  Last is a piece that was folded and clamped with 2 wooden rectangles as the resist.  Below are some close-ups.

If you look closely at this shirt, you can see a pattern of small rectangles.  What Sue did first on this shirt was screen print it with a product called Color Magnet, which is a dye attractant. The rectangles are a slightly darker blue than the rest for some additional subtle patterning.  Adding the bands for the white striping was a last minute decision that turned out well, since the whole thing was just an experiment.  The screen she used is called Rectangle Rows and is available in our Etsy shop.

While indigo is typically done with white fabric, producing the distinctive blue & white patterning, Sue wanted to see what would happen if she over-dyed some colored pieces from previous dyeing sessions.  Above is the green piece where Sue used buttons in the banded areas. Some of the green is still visible around the circles and you can also see where the button holes were on the buttons.

This purple piece was pole wrapped, and while the indigo did not penetrate all the way to the center, there is some very cool patterning along the left and bottom edge of the fabric.

Stay tuned for more adventures with indigo dyeing!