Second eco-dye reveal from November, 2015

Back on November 27, I revealed some eco-dyed fabric.  At that time, I also created another batch.  You can see the entire post here.

Both pieces had been unsuccessfully dyed in the past, this one snow dyed.  I was hoping this time I would have fabric I could work with. 

This piece had been rust dyed in the past, but, for some reason, there was very little rust after the reveal.


This time, instead of other forms of dyeing, like those mentioned above, I put the fabric in a jar of alum water and set the jar in a sunny window in my office, since I was tired of seeing this jar in my kitchen window. 

I allowed these two pieces to sit longer, mainly because there had been practically no sun for several weeks.

I washed these in baking soda water (while wearing disposable gloves) because I had added a couple of rusty tin can lids to each fabric.  These pieces were still wet when I took the photo.  These photos were actually taken a week ago Friday (December 11), the last day it was warm and beautiful.  This was the first chance I've had to share the results.

I still don't like the results I got from the fabric on the right.  I guess it's partly because of the fabric I used.  But I can definitely work with the fabric on the left.  What really impressed me were the marks that were made on both fabrics from the rubber bands.

I really like this technique because there's no cooking or heating the fabric like there is in traditional eco-dyeing.  I also like it because the actual "mess," if you consider a jar of alum water a mess, is contained in a jar of your choice for as many days as you have patience.  There is no chance of mold, because the water covers the fabric, and the alum seems to keep mold away.  I also like this technique because the different types of flowers and leaves produce different effects and rust turns gray, rather than brown from the alum.  This is a great technique for people who live in apartments where they can't leave a pot of leaves and flowers cooking for several hours due to the smell.  I recommend this over traditional eco-dyeing, especially in the event you want to start small.

Thanks for the visit and your continued support of my art and dyeing attempts.