Results From a Day to Dye

By the time I finished rinsing off all the bottles and buckets and stuff that I use to dye, the weather had turned cold, windy, and rainy. I left everything outside on the front porch to batch overnight (my neighbors just love me), but it was too cold. In order for the dyes to fix, they need to batch (a fancy term for damp and left alone so that the dyes can bond with the fibers) and the temperature generally needs to be 70 degrees or above.

Some colors are more particular than others, with the blues needing the most heat. Because the temp had dropped so precipitously, I dragged the whole mess inside Monday afternoon and let it sit in the front hall overnight. I rinsed and washed Tuesday night and this is what I got:

I'm really happy with the two "sky dyes" -- above and below--

But I'm not as happy with the "tree dyes" below -- there's too much pink and not enough blue. Maybe because of the drop in temperature while they were batching...?

But there is no bad hand dyed fabric, just some that is more challenging!

These are the light greens, a darker green striped with turquoise and an orangy pink piece. It's had to tell in the picture, but the greens are all very different. And the orange is lighter than it looks in the picture.

This last is the shibori (pole) dyed piece that I need for something I am in the middle of creating.
It is much lighter than I expected, but it will be just fine for the use I had intended. The thing I don't get is: what happened to the green? I don't see it anywhere. The brown dye had been sitting around in the bottle, so I wasn't surprised that it was light, but the green was freshly mixed. And there is not a trace of it. Maybe because of the temperature? Hmmmm....

And for the record: no, I don't iron any of my fabrics until I am ready to use them. Unless it's something that needs to be heat set. Like paint. Or ink.