Blues

I dyed blues on Monday and took a picture today. Even though I’m not happy with the picture, you can still get the idea. The ones I dyed are on the right, but in real life, the skeins are a really deep, rich blue. Usually, the standard is to mix a 1% solution for dyeing the yarn. In the picture above, the blues are, left to right, 1/2 of 1%, 1%, and 2%. My plan is to use the 2% yarn for an ikat project. After the pattern is wrapped, the overdye process will bring the unwrapped yarn to around 4%. I hope that won’t be too dark, but there are some things that just can’t be totally planned out in advance. I always think I can weigh my yarn in advance, wrap the ikat pattern, then weigh any remaining yarn, estimate the percentage of the yarn that is covered in ikat tape, and dye accordingly. So far, this has not been an exact science! But I keep trying…

I ran across this blog which has an article about Interactive Textiles. And then I read Lynne Bruning’s Weavezine article about clasped weft weaving with conductive thread and LEDs. Lynne is truly a “textile enchantress” and very generous with her help. She put me in contact with another weaver, Marie. All of this brings me to a new Weavolution group: eTextiles. I want to do some LED lights on a small piece on the Mirrix. Next week I will begin to search the resources and order some materials. Time, time, time!While poking around on Weavolution, I also discovered a dyeing group that will be using the Munsell Student Color Set to train the eye to see colors and combine that with dyeing. At Convergence 2000, I took a master dye class with Michele Wipplinger of Earthues.

The first part of the class was combined with Karren Brito (of Shibori fame) for the general discussion of color. We used the Munsell sheets to place the colors in the correct location. I learned that I can definitely use some practice in that area! The large group then broke up into two groups. I was in Michele’s natural dyeing group. After that workshop, I bought the student color set, but have yet to work with it. There is no answer key, but when I asked about that, Karren very wisely suggested that I place the color chips to the best of my ability, then come back the next day and check it, rearrange if necessary, before gluing down. I probably will get re-positional glue, if there is such a critter.

All in all, I’ve got a busy rest of the summer laid out!

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