Hello, I do love to play! Last fall, I started to experiment/play, painting my wool with dye, and trying dye resists etc... I am intrigued with the look of batik, etc..
Maybe you have seen the articles in RHM about painting wool? The top 2 photos are my "paintings."
I wondered if I could paint a simple picture and then hook it for an abstract look, etc... First, your dyes need to be VERY color intense, then your not quite sure what your colors look like until it is rinsed/washed out. As you can see in the tree line, one tree is pink, an accident..lol.. Your image shrinks a lot when you hook it...lol. That is after you cut each strip, keep, and hook it in the right order. It was time consuming and messy, but I always find every process to be a learning experience. In RHM, the wools were used mostly for landscape rugs, which was perfect for this process. Now in the top right I made what I call a "simulated plaid." It was wonderful for my hooked Indian Corn. So, it does work well for a specific motif or subject.
Now, I feel I had better success with the dye resist. These are the 3rd and 4th photos, the last photo is each resist hooked as a background for my pottery hearts. I did use some resists in my painting. I tried several glues as my resist. I had heard that blue galactic glitter glue was great as a dye resist. If you are dyeing blue that is fine, but it stains blue and a bit of the glitter remains. I tried tacky glue, but it didn't want to wash out of my wool. So, what I liked the best was Aleene's Clear Tacky Glue. It was perfect, and a fun way to make shapes etc. on your wool. Just apply it, let it dry, and dye away. I think it is a fun effect and just something to consider.
Please let me know what you think? If you have ever tried this or anything like it, please do tell.
