August 24, 2014 – Indigo Dye Summer Meeting

We had a wonderful indigo dye day today. Frank Mikulastic and Sandra Kupper had items to dye. We have been experimenting with shibori folding techniques and tried some new ideas today.

IMG_0473Frank started with white cotton fabric. He folded the fabric in the long direction and then folded it into a triangle bundle. He then wrapped rubber bands around the outside to hold it together in the dye bath.

WP_20140824_004

 

 

He dipped it into the dye bath 5-6 times and the fabric got darker with each dip into the indigo. (With indigo, the best way to get a darkly dyed fabric is to do multiple dips, not with stronger dye.)

WP_20140824_013Sandy wrapped her fabric around a pvc pipe and tied it with string then dip dyed it about 3 times for a fantastic looking diagonal stripe.

WP_20140824_006WP_20140824_017WP_20140824_007WP_20140824_009WP_20140824_002WP_20140824_003

She also dyed socks and a t-shirt – both had been unsuccessfully dyed once before with procion type dyes. Both items dyed beautifully this time.IMG_0472