I hope you will be as pleasantly surprised with the results of the avocado dyeing experiments I did last week. You can see the results below. After soaking overnight in the dye bath, I laundered the fabric and the result was a beautifully soft dusty pink (it is the fabric in the centre). The other wonderful thing is the fabric had the most lovely smell - a slightly perfumed citrussy freshness. I wish I could bottle it!
I think the 3 fabrics below look beautiful together don't you? - The original white, the avo dyed fabric and then the walnut dyed fabric I made a few months ago. Adding the iron after mordant
If you have ever tried working with indigo or wode then you will know about the magic that happens once the fabric comes out of the vat - well, a similar thing happens with avocado dyed fabric once it hits the iron after mordant. It is like magic!
I think the best way I can show you what happens is in pictures.............. I decided to try a folding technique and dip the dyed fabric into the iron after mordant to see what would happen. I folded the fabric following the instructions in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTaAl4us8aY Once it was folded I poured the iron after mordant I made last week into a bowl and briefly dipped the edges of the fabric into it. As soon as I took the fabric out and the air hit the fabric it began to change colour. The whole reaction takes place in a matter of seconds, and the more of the iron mordant you add the darker the fabric becomes. I had not realised quite how strong or quick the reaction would be, and unfortunately on this occasion I think I rather overdid the dip! Still - it was a great learning experience, and next time I will be much more light handed. I have also experimented with other methods of applying the iron water by painting lines and dripping it onto the fabric. There is a lot of opportunity to experiment here.
Sadly the lovely smell is now gone, replaced instead with that curious metallic smell which reminds me of blood (that'll be the iron!) Still, it turned into a pretty interesting piece of fabric.
And to my friend k3n - you are absolutely right - 'saddened' is a very good adjective! (see the comment k3n left at the end of last weeks post) I Hope you have fun if you have a try. Thanks for reading!
k3n
2/5/2016 01:27:14 pm
I like the new, sad colour very much and the painting and dripping the postmordant on is a good idea too, will have to try that xx
Claire
4/5/2016 12:55:34 am
Glad you like it - not sure what to do with it yet though. Do you want it? Comments are closed.
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