Experiments With Dyeing #2

Ever since I was a kid, I've wanted to try sun printing. I love the blue color and how the images seem to appear magically! Recently,  I had been looking online for photo reactive dye but then my friend Kristie told me that they sell some at Joann's. They sell packets and full size bottles of Inkodye in several colors. I was only interested in the blue, but this kit contains full size bottles of red and blue dye and a bottle of detergent, which was a much better deal with a coupon! I also bought the roller cap that attaches to the bottle. 

I had to wait a day for the sun to come out, but here's what I've made so far! 

I didn't fully read the instructions and went ahead and put the dye on the fabric, full strength. The dye is stinky, it smells like hair dye. For my image, I used feathers. The dye turned out streaky and the feathers needed to be pressed down more, I think. Still kinda neat. 

On my second attempt,  I diluted the dye and really pressed the ferns down. This image turned out really sharp!

Then I thought I'd get fancy and make a stencil. This is freezer paper, which I thought would stick to the fabric enough but I wasn't sure. 

The result isn't horrible, although, I don't like that it bled underneath. 

Since I already had those letters cut out, I thought I'd try using them, too. 

The letters did not want to stick down, the fabric was too wet. But isn't it cute? Ha! I'm wondering if the fabric can be prepared with the dye and then dried before it's developed? Or maybe I need a piece of glass to hold everything down ? Hmm. I'll have to investigate.

The places where the leaves really stuck down around the edges came out great. I'm disappointed that the words did not come out clearer. 

Look how awesome the back came out though! Maybe next time I should try to lay out the words backwards? 

I'm really having fun with this sun printing. There's lots of possibilities, can't wait to try again. If you have any advice for me on this technique I'd love to hear it! 

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