Last September, when I joined the Irish Patchwork Society,
the Mid-Western branch announced they would be running a fabric dyeing
workshop, given by art teacher Paula Rafferty. As well as those from the
Mid-Western branch, Mogs McDonnell from the Western branch joined us on the
day. It was tons of fun! We had to wear old clothes, bring an apron and a
plastic bucket with scraps. Paula provided the materials and instructions and a
homemade lunch.
On arrival, we were greeted with freshly baked scones, had homemade soup with
fresh bread for lunch and some of the ladies brought fruit and yoghurt and
almond cake for dessert. The theme of the day was how do we get Paula to run
another workshop so we can come back for second helpings?
In addition to the food, we did learn quite a bit! The dyes
we used were Procion fabric dyes. They work with plant based fabrics like
cotton really well and react with the fibres in the material to develop colour
inside the fibres rather than just on the surface. This is supposed to give the
best light fastness and wash fastness. To use with protein based fabrics like
Silk you need to use an acid like vinegar. We did a test and not a good result
on silk without the acid. We worked with cotton throughout the day.
Paula had the fabric pre-soaked in Soda Ash which acts as a fixative and the
powdered dyes were mixed up for us in 3 colours. We had a yellow, red and blue
base of primary colours from which to mix other colours. We had a warm and cool
yellow (golden & lemon), blue (ultramarine & turquoise) and a magenta
colour to work with. We worked in groups of two with some using the cool
colours and some using the warm colours.
The dye mix was measured and poured into plastic bags (we
had variations of yellow/red, blue/red etc. to make all the rainbow colours.).
The pre-soaked fabric was put in the bag and squeezed in the bag to absorb the
dye. Everybody enjoyed this bit! We had 2 pieces of fabric for every colour and
Paula gave us a recipe booklet and how to instructions for mixing the colours
to take away for later.
After lunch, we learned all about Batik making and wax
resistance methods. Paula showed us some of her teaching samples and projects
and explained the process of consecutive dyeing using wax to mask off the areas
not to be dyed at each and every stage. Her samples were brilliant for
demonstrating working from light to dark and building up the wax base as you go
along.
Then of course we had to have a try! We used brushes dipped
in the hot wax to make big marks and blobs and used Tjanting tools which have a
wooden handle with a metal nib to give fine lines and better control for
detailed work.
Paula explained in addition to these tools, stamps in all sorts of detail and
sizes can be used to add a wax pattern to the fabric before dyeing. The wax
itself can be scrunched to make it crack in places and allow dye to settle in
wiggly lines and fun patterns.
Finally, we got to use up the last of the dye with our
scraps by just experimenting on the fabric in plastic containers. Milk cartons
were perfect for this.
We got all sorts of wonderful colours and patterns just by
playing! On Sunday, the not so fun part to finish the process at home, was the
rinsing - it takes a bit of time!
Still look at all those lovely vibrant colours. I'm planning
a mini-quilt of the colour wheel out of mine as soon as it is all rinsed, dried
and ironed. That'll be a while yet!
If you want to try for yourself the dyes are available online
in Ireland at
Cork Art Supplies and in
the US
at
Dharma Trading. It was a really fun day and Paula looked
after us so well. Thank you Paula and thank you ladies for a great workshop!
Ruth Bourke
