Seasons Greetings

I don't do much in the way of Christmas trimmings, although I enjoy what other people do. My attempt above wraps some of my art tools in Christmas decorations. All the very best to everyone for the festive season and the New Year - may 2011 be an extraordinarily creative one for you all.

And just a wee bit more on precision dyeing of fabrics.

5. Once the dyes required are selected and weighed, paste them with hot water from the tap, add some more and stir well to dissolve all the powders. Some dyes are notoriously hard to totally dissolve, so after giving the dye water some extra time to dissolve any difficult powders, I then strain it through the toe of a pantihose. Any undissolved residue is then discarded. The worst colours for leaving undissolved powder are anything containing reds ie browns, purples, navy and of course any of the reds. If straining is not done, the undissolved powders will 'spot' any dyed fabric.

Dye water being strained through the toe of a pantihose.

6. Fabric awaiting dyeing must be thoroughly washed to remove any manufacturing dressings. This is essential with the plant fibres eg cottons, linens etc, but oddly enough silks do not need to be pre-washed although I give them a good soaking before dyeing. All fabrics need to be wetted out before starting the dyeing process.

That is all I will write on this topic at this time. More in the New Year. I hope you are finding this useful. Even though you may not be into precision dyeing, perhaps some of what I write is new to you.

I will blog on and off during the holidays, with things befitting to the season.