Dye Works: Part Two

Better late than never!

Dye Works: Part One

A large part of yesterday afternoon was spent on the balcony.

 

 

Any ideas?

 

 

How about now? 

 

Pretty obvious right?

The end result, I hope, will be some new necklace designs. For now they'll be one off's for the open section of an exhibition at Arts Hub 47 opening this week. The cotton cord, when it's not bound in Tana Lawn as mine usually is, has a really nice drape to it, so I experimented with a few shapes to best highlight this.

 

 

 

  

First off, I cut the cord to length, and bundled it up so I knew which lengths were for which style. Then it was into a bowl of water to soak through ready to take up the dye...

 ...assisted, as ever, by Catsby. Next up was mixing the colours I wanted. Clothes dye isn't the easiest stuff to mix, it doesn't always do what you expect it to, and it's hard to tell what colour you'll end up with once it's dry. I had Bahama Blue, Sunflower Yellow and Rosewood Red, which I muddled well enough to get a tealy green, an orangey red and a warm yellow.

 

 

Some of the cord went right in to get an all over solid colour, and some of it I half immersed to get an ombre effect along the length, pulling it a bit further out every 5-10 minutes to get the gradient. For one of the designs I did a two colour ombre, starting from either end, like so...

  

I left it all soaking for about an hour then rinsed in cold water, taking care not to bleed the different colours, and then washed in warm water to get the last of the dye out.

 

 

 

 Whilst they were drying I threw a bit of silk habotai in to see what would happen.

In the teal, scrunched into a ball and tied with elastic bands.

And in the red, concertina pleated along the length, then again in the other direction before being tied.

I will show you the finished necklaces very soon, but in the meantime, here are the dried habotai pieces.

 

 

 

Any suggestions for what I should do with them?

Etsy Picks: Twin Peaks

There's no series quite like Twin Peaks, and I don't think there's another TV show that's inspired so many Etsians. With all it's bizarre characters, quotable lines and retro styling David Lynch's creation is a goldmine for designers and artists. I'm nearing the very end of the two seasons (my second attempt) and I don't know what to expect, it just keeps getting weirder.
For now, here are some of my favourite Twin Peaks treasures.

Twin Peaks Brooch - 'Diane' by kateslittlestore (the sheriff badge is also pretty fantastic)

Twin Peaks poster by WilliamHenryDesign

Twin Peaks Patches by JennisPrints

 Coffee and Pie iPhone case by YakawonisQuilling

 The Owls Are Not What They Seem tote bag by BRANDED

Great Northern Key Chain by piediddy

Twin Peaks travel poster by (my absolute favourites) JazzberryBlue

A Damn Fine Cup of Coffee mug by SilverSpider

My Weisdale Tam

I don't want to seem pessimistic, but I've just finished knitting a lovely, warm Fair Isle hat. I don't expect to be able to wear it any time soon, but you never know.

It's from a pattern called Weisdale Tam by Catherine Vardy, and I got it as a kit from my parents for Christmas, so all the yarns I needed were included. It's a Jamieson and Smith kit, so it's 100% Shetland wool, and the design uses traditional Fair Isle motifs and colours to make a very traditional Scottish tam shape.

The thing about Fair Isle knitting is it's incredibly warm. Each row switches between two colours, with the unused colour running across the back between stitches.

 So in effect you've got two layers of fabric, making for a very toasty knit.

  

If you want to know more about Fair Isle knitting there's a brilliant book by Alice Starmore that covers everything; from the history of Fair Isle traditions, to comprehensive charts of motifs, patterns for garments, instruction on technique and colour studies for creating your own Fair Isle designs. I got mine in a charity shop, but it should be pretty widely available in book stores.
Another great resource is the blog of Kate Davies, one of my favourite contemporary knitwear designers.

 I'll leave you with this none too brilliant hat selfie. Spice rack included.