Saturday, October 9, 2010

Alien "adult toys" and dying wool

Another sculpture with an alien twist . You can decide for yourself if it is a plant, animal or sex toy for aliens . It can be a piece of art to put on a shelf or a functional object (to hang bracelets on or other uses should you happen to be intimately involved with an alien .) For me, I just like the colors, shapes and texture .
This is one of the first large pieces I have done with my own dyed fiber and there is some satisfaction in having dyed it myself . I was pretty interested to see all the different hues that came out of a few colors as they blended together in the dye pot .
I found out that the name of the type of dying I am doing is called Immersion dying . I think that adding the vinegar directly to the fiber as well as the dye solution helps the dye "stick" to the fiber as I pour it on and then the liquid dyes mix in the pot and over dye the white and colored areas .


The result is almost a tye dyed effect which has been really fun to work with although I have yet to use it for wet felting . There are a few small white spots and some color contrasts that I don't like but they are easy to pull out as I'm felting and just use as core fiber .

Some of the fibers were dyed in a rice cooker (immersion) and others were wrapped in plastic and paper and steamed in a large vintage roast pan . As far as I can tell, they both worked equally well though the rice cooker was easier .

You can see the basic process in my other post about dying and the only difference is that I used the new dyes from Dharma and I really do like them...they go along way . I dyed about 6 pds this week so have a lot of fiber to play with in the coming weeks .



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2 comments:

  1. I'm very impressed with your dyeing, lately!!!
    (I'm such a baby about this, but I did buy some acid dye at the S&W a few weeks back and I'm determined to have another go!!)
    Good projects, too...had to laugh at your 'alien sex toy'!!
    Do you have an inexpensive supplier for white merino roving in bulk that you like and wouldn't mind sharing?
    XXO-

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  2. Hi Heather,,,it will take me awhile but I will try and organize a list of the best places I have found to buy the white merino and do a blog about it this week....(right now I am in the midst of my 80 hour work week but that should be over Wednesday . )

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