dreaming@echonyc.com

here are the things i worked on yesterday. i was intrigued by the possibility of dyeing white-on-white and black-on-white fabrics instead of the plain old solid whites i'd been doing. theoretically the inks used should provide a kind of resist, allowing the dye to settle in only on the unprinted areas.

so into each color i put three pieces: a plain white one, a white-on-white, and a black-on-white. i did a color wheel, two pieces for each color (high intensity and low).

here's the color wheel on just plain white fabric:

...and here it is on the white-on-white, which was printed with tiny bubbles:

...and here it is on the black-and-white, my new favorite fabric, printed with random scraps of calligraphy:

a closeup of the writing:

there's such a difference in value between the plain, the white-on-white, and the black-on-white, though they were all in the same dye bath. on the left are the pieces from the dark blue bath; on the right, from the light:

the effect was even more striking when i interleaved the blues in value order rather than according to which bath they came from:

although i did a purple run, i'm leaving those out of the photos because they're truly vomitrocious. i think i've invented a new color: bruise.

finally, this piece is fairly ugly, but it serves as proof-of-concept: you can also dye white-on-black. i'll be going back for more of this fabric for sure.