dye, then twist

This method of dyeing found me once when I wanted to dye a bedsheet, much too large to fit on my 4' x 8' table. I splashed several splashes of dye on the (activated, and still wet) sheet, and then to spread the dye around, I rolled the whole thing into a long sausage-shape and twisted really hard ! I've found that this technique works very nicely when I leave some white on the cloth; the colors fill in the white spaces, and the resulting cloth often has an airiness that I find appealing.

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On the left is a piece of fabric whose intensity took me totally by surprise.  I had been dyeing other things, and had a bunch of dyes left, but they were all blues and yellows.  I just threw them on a 4 yard piece of cotton sateen I had lying around, rolled the whole thing up (from bottom to top) and twisted.  I honestly didn't think it would be particularly interesting, but it turned out to be one of my favorite pieces of cloth!  Something about the particular shades of color and the way they mingle, as well as the size and proportions of the piece, seemed very special to me.

I kept the cloth intact for several years until I found someone (with a 2 story foyer) who wanted a piece large enough for me to use it. Waterside was the result, and you can see it here.

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