Pink Silk

Just those 2 words alone are drool worthy. Pink Silk. mmm. You'll notice a theme with me, I like Pink...and I like silk...But anyway...This time I'm sharing my adventure with the Didymos Pink Silk Mille. A gorgeous, soft pale peachy pink cotton and silk blend wrap. I had owned this colorway a while back, and always loved it, but let it go to fund something else. I purchased another pink silk mille a little while back and was pondering a make over for it. Not a fan of peach...

so into the pot it went...and its transformation had me eagerly anticipating...so much you can do with silk. Acid dyes, procion dyes used as acid dyes...a combination of both...and the colors...I've seen PSM blue, and green and gray...Gorgeous every time...

well, it wasn't peach any longer...

 Here it was hanging to dry after a combination of acid and procion dyes. Eep!

And the finished wrap! This beauty just made its way to OZ...

I will definitely be experimenting with procion on silk again! 

Rainbows, part 2 on Bebina Natur ala Snow Rainbow

Ok, a sneak peak for you...Bebina Natur is in the wash with synthrapol again...The yellow is perfect, need to add another layer of orange...and a deeper red. This rainbow is inspired by my pal who created Snow Rainbow.

So here we go, a few days later, a few more layers of color...Its really beginning to look like a rainbow! 

more to come in the next few days!

Being the Virgo perfectionist I am, its very hard for me to say ok its done...But I've continued to work on this rainbow for the past few days, adding layers of color...At this point, its about as perfect as its going to get...or is it...

 Its a little stripier than I'd like...still working on perfecting my technique. But honestly, the stripes don't show while being worn, and some people don't even mind a stripey look...

 Haha my ds always wants to participate...

So here it is, in its colorful goodness. 

Dreaming of Rainbows

For the past few weeks I had been trying to trouble shoot a rainbow grad on a long piece of cloth...I've read the tutorials, talked to other dye artists, but it was all so nebulous...most techniques I read about seem this way to me at first...I see the words on the page, but until I actually attempt it myself, it reads like gobbledygook...A language I was never particularly fond of anyway...
So I got my hands on a lovely natty wrap, a Bebina Natur. Wow. One word: Awesome. The only Bebina I had tried in the past was the purple honeycomb, and I didn't care for it. But this...I can't wait to show you some pics...

In the meantime, I can share the first rainbow I did. It was a Didymos Natty Silk Indio, version 1 (which I didn't realize until I started dyeing it, oops), slingified by Kalea Baby. I used Jacquard Acid Dyes on this particular wrap, on my stove top. It was quite an adventure. Not a perfect rainbow, but I was really pleased with my first attempt.
Some pics. I had forgotten to take pictures while applying the yellow, blue and green, but here you can see the results...

 Applying the red

 adding the purple

Wow...it almost resembles a rainbow... 

All in all, I love it! Again, its not perfect, at least, not to my perfectionist eye. But its amazing for my first attempt. Stay tuned for pics of the next rainbow on Bebina Natur...

Natural Silk Indio, V2, dyed with Logwood

I had a ringsling piece of NSI laying around waiting for inspiration. I was waiting for my order of natural dyes from Aurora Silk to arrive and meanwhile perused the internet looking for something...anything, offering up a morsel of inspiration...

And why Natural dyes? Here's a good article, grab your reading glasses... http://www.aurorasilk.com/tutorials_articles_faqs/natural_dyes/article_why_naturaldyes.html

I usually practice on silk scarves... 

gorgeous isn't it? so I practiced on some scraps...

so into the bath, it goes for 24 hours. You can see the steam rising...

 hanging next to another natty silk indio...

Hanging to dry. Its amazing.

 Here it is in natural day light.

I'm really thrilled with this, now I just need to decide which shoulder style I want so I can have it slingified! 

Natty Linen Indio 3.1 Pink to Gray

I just mailed off a gorgeous Natty Linen Indio to a friend, she had given me a steal of a deal on it, and asked for gentle dibs should I sell. Of course I wanted to dye that bad boy...giggle, so I asked her what colors were inspiring her lately...She said pinks and grays...I looked around the net for inspiration of my own, and meanwhile worked on a few other projects...

One site I really enjoy browsing is Design Seeds. Have a looksie...I'll wait...

So NLI...I ended up doing this one twice. The first time, I felt that it was too stripey, so back into the tub it went. And by tub, I mean rubbermaid tote ;) 

I am really pleased with it. 

I hope she loves it! She said it is her first grad! It wasn't a custom per se, but I knew it would make its way back to her; we have a funny way of trading wraps back and forth.