Dyeing Day 2011 - pictures!

Well, dum-dum me forgot to take a camera to dyeing day. That's okay because the day was really full. The temp was in the high 80s/low 90s, but we had awnings to stand under. For lunch we seven piled into two cars and drove up the road a piece to a nice diner where they were kind to a half dozen middle-aged ladies (and a kid in her 20s) who had odd colors on their skin and clothes - thank heavens for vinyl seat covers! When we were mostly done and deep into the clean up, our hostess brought out home made strawberry gelato!! Wow!!

The day started off with me crawling around on the ground (these 50+ year-old knees do not like the ground!) painting dye onto the folded-over backing for the Cone Nebula quilt. Within a few minutes, I was seriously considering just scrunching the whole thing and pouring dyes on to it every which way; but I persisted and ended up with something I'm not terribly wild about.

I think it's a little bright and a little wild - very much primary colors - but when I showed it to Hubby Dearest and said that I was thinking about overdyeing it with aquamarine (figuring that would tone down the yellow a bit and brighten the blue and do who-knows-what to the red), he said he rather liked these colors and that I should keep this as is. Okay!

While I was working on this project, our hostess was giving basic dyeing lessons to the three newbies in our midst - all of whom were also working on their own projects. When I got done with the backing, I set up bowls on a table so that I could do five-step value runs of each of three colors (I go into these days with such specific goals, really, I do!). I pulled a bench over and set on it the tub with the 120 or so bandanas. One by one, each of the newbies got interested in the project.

Basically, we picked up a folded bandana, dipped corners or ends or sides or whatever into one, two, three, or more colors, snipped the binding threads open, unfolded the cloth to see what we had, and laid it on the grass to dry. In some cases where there were large white areas, we consulted with one another about adding color or not. We used paint brushes, plastic syringes, and our gloved hands to apply color. We had some plastic trays on the table that served as wringing areas - one that was for mostly purple, one for mostly green, and one for mostly orange - and when a tray would get enough liquid, someone would put an undyed bandana on the tray and turn it over, making sure that all of the dye had been absorbed. It was SO much fun, and we all enjoyed just playing. Here's what we got from all of our play:

Do you want to see some closeups? Of course you do!

I had each of the gals pick out her favorite piece to take home, and those aren't shown here. I haven't yet picked my favorite - okay, I have, but I'm not telling.

So, there you go, another dyeing day in the books.