development in the dye lab

Last  week I focussed on  adding a variety of silk fabrics to two dye baths: red and black. I had expected these samples to be the same tone since they were all silk, but  found they all had variations of tone and colour, with some fabrics picking up a deep red, or black whilst others took on a more pink or teal appearance.

Nonetheless the colours worked for me, suddenly midnight blue became more of a seductive mood and atmoshphere than that of a hard black.  

 This is a before and after sample. The top sample  was placed into a black dye bath, then hand printed using discharge paste before finally being placed into the red dye bath. I prefer the final sample myself, it has a historical feel almost vampirish.