Dyeing continues, and yesterday I did a bit of discharge as well. The first two pieces are cottons processed in a jar of various dye colors.
The third piece is black cotton flannel, discharged. It has a kind of pale aqua tone that's very appealing.
The last two pieces are silks. The first one was dyed a few years ago, discharged yesterday.
And the last piece was underdyed a few days ago and discharged yesterday.
With all the dyeing and discharging I've done over the last several years, I confess that in my mind I am always seeking "rules," as it were -- in an effort to have some sense of control over the outcome now and in future. For example, Which fabric works best with each different technique or process? Which fabrics don't work well with one process or another? And by "work well" I mean get the result I'd hoped for. It's also in large part due to my investigative mind that I seek answers -- I need to know how and why things work to create order out of chaos.
I think as the years go by and I continue on with the work, some of those rules are becoming obvious through experience. And I need to qualify that as MY experience. Because everybody seems to have different results often with the exact same fabric and dye. So I can't say that what I'm finding would necessarily be so for someone else.
I suppose this whole train of thought is just more of my seeming to like others' work more than my own, dyeing included. Sometimes that fact immobilizes me. Lately, I'm glad to say, it's making me want to carry on, to do more, to keep working it.
You win some, you lose some. Some finished fabrics are spectacular; some aren't so hot. Just like life itself.
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