Back in 1997 I was absolutely stunned at a contemporary art quilt show at the Dairy Barn in Athens, Ohio. (dairybarn.org ) I said to myself, "I can do that"-- and I have been ever since. Having been educated in painting, printmaking, and ceramics back in college, I see that these disciplines have found their way into fabric dyeing and the process of piecing fabric together to make a composition. With initial instruction from Ann Johnston at Quilt Surface Design Symposium (qsds.com ) (Ann’s books are in the Dharma Catalogue) on dyeing, I have developed my own techniques and a huge variety of work..

Whether on silk or on cotton, I often use a stenciling/painting process using silk ferns and leaves with foam rollers. I also make my own foam stamps for making large striped areas. I first treat the fabric with soda ash fixer, and let it dry. I use Procion MX dyes that have been thickened with sodium alginate thickener so that it holds a hard edge, and then use the dyes thinned with urea for painting in a water color effect. I generally mix my own pallette from just red, yellow, blue, and black dyes, although, as the Dharma Catalogue will tell you, there are some colors that you just can’t get by mixing! Synthrapol is essential for washing the dyes out, so the loose dye doesn’t attach itself to the white areas.

I love what the dyes do on silk, especially the silk charmeuse scarves. (You can see some on my web site.) Dharma has everything I need for supplies, a helpful staff, and a great web site.

Carol Phillips Whitt
www.carolphillipswhitt.com
phillipswhitt@hotmail.com