Glorious Prints with Pat Pauly (the prints): Part Two

As promised, today I am sharing some photos of the fabrics I made in Pat Pauly's "Glorious Prints" class. 

I didn't have the space to take photos of the big pieces of fabric, so these are all close ups of the details:

You can see many of the same shapes and motifs repeated over and over again with slight variations.  Lots of x's and o's.






And here are some photos of just some of the fabric, folded up and laid out:

Some observations about working with dye:

• Dye is more like watercolor paint than like acrylic paint.  It's transparent.  There is no white.
• The dye is less "crisp" than paint.  For example, Thermofax prints are slightly more blurred.
• The dye colors are rich and vibrant.
• All of the rules of color mixing hold true with dyes -- with the exception of tinting....sort of.  To tint a color I would normally add white.  With dye, I have to use more thickener and less pigment because there is no white.
• You can't achieve an opaque color.
• The color of the fabric you start with always effects the outcome because the dyes are transparent.
• You must wear gloves because the dye stains your skin for days...ask me how I know.
• There is more prep work in preparing fabrics to be dyed than in painting fabrics.  There is also more work in the laundry/washing out phase.
• The dyed fabric feels just as soft and lovely as the fabric did the day I bought it. 
• There is no dimensional aspect to the dye.  It isn't raised off the surface in any way, as paint often is.
• Dye is not as complicated as I thought.  A little bit of know how goes a long way.  

If you'd like to learn more about working with fabric and dye:

• Pat Pauly's website
• ProChem's workshops
• Procion Dyes (the ones we used in class) -- this is a nice kit for less than $20.
• Carol Soderlund: Queen of Dyes
• Playful Fabric Printing book

Can't wait to use my new fabrics! Thanks for stopping by!