Paper Dyeing - an Explosion of Color

I'm in another one of those stages right now where I can't yet share any of current bead work, so I thought I'd share a little side project - dyeing paper.

Why dye paper?  Well, originally I used it in my design work.  Now, I mostly use it to wrap my Etsy packages.  But more than that, I dye paper because I love the chance to play with color in such a direct fashion.  Using the resulting papers for wrapping is a lovely way to use the papers so that I can dye more down the road without burrying my studio in the stuff.  :)

So, here we go:

I fold a dozen or so papers a day until my tray is full

My dye workspace mid process - even the cleanup paper towels end up pretty

I dye the folded papers one at a time and place them on my cafeteria tray

Then move them to plastic and open them up a little to dry - my studio is awash in plastic!

turns out there was a leak in one of my gloves. 

After scrubbing.  The dye really shows up the damage from my beading needle

Time to unfold the dried papers - I gather them in bundles first like streamers of color

I stack the unfolded papers to await ironing

Then it's time to iron each sheet of paper - one by one

the ironing makes the designs more visible

Stacking the dyed papers on my main work table

I had to roll one of the stacks because I love this cross section shot

some of the papers fanned out on my work table.  I dyed 102 sheet in total

My first Etsy package wrapped using my newly dyed papers -with one of my little cards

So there it is!  Several days and weeks worth of intermittent work in a series of fifteen photos.

Right now I wrap all of the items from each Etsy purchase up together as they fit better that way in the packing envelope.  But going into the holiday season, I will offer to wrap them individually, and include blank versions of my little gift cards (right now the cards are little thank you notes from me).

Coming Down to the Wire

Staging area and supplies

It's coming down to the wire for the Uptown Art Stroll and I put in a 10 hour day at the studio yesterday continuing to try to get stuff done. 

Last week, I was still trying to clean up after myself as I went along, but that meant I'd put things away just to have to drag them back out again the next day or even an hour later.  This week I've decided that my cutting table is my staging area.

It's actually a sort of organized chaos, with separate areas for wireworking tools, glazing cabochons, resin work, packing, and bead sorting.

I definitely need to rethink my bead storage.  My large plastic containers are great for storage, but it's a pain to keep hauling them out when I'm working on a number of smaller beading projects, with differing color schemes all at once.

I've ended up simply sorting the beads I've used by color group on top of my cutting table.  That way I can grab what I need for a particular project.  When I'm done, they get sorted back into the rainbow.  It's working surprisingly well.

As part of the Uptown Art Stroll, all of the artists are supposed to be actively creating a piece of work throughout the day.  The organizer, bless him, agreed that I could bring a work in progress.

Since there is going to be a judging, I wanted to do something more than little beaded rings, but there'd be no chance of finishing a larger piece in the time allotted.  So here's my jump-start.  This is two full days worth of beading - I'm thinking I might need to do a little more beforehand to insure that I can indeed finish the darned necklace on Saturday.

Starting to unfold the papers

And since my beading is so slow, and my hands needed a break, I dyed another batch of papers yesterday.

This entails folding each sheet of acid-free tissue paper into little tiny logs or triangles, then dipping them into little batches of dye.   I don't have any photos of these stages - note to self - take process photos.  The thing is, it's really messy; even with gloves several of my fingers ended up dyed a deep rosy color.  I hate to think what I could do to my camera with my hands coated with dye solution!

In this first photo, the papers have dried enough that I could start to unfold them.

The latest in studio floor coverings

The unfolding is one of the trickiest parts.  If I try to unfold them while they're still too wet, I rip the papers.  But if I wait until they're completely dry, then the dye seems to fuse the layers together and I rip the paper as I try to unfold it. Kind of a catch 22.

The key is to unfold them when they are at just the right stage of damp.  And I can't unfold them all the way at once.  Unfold one or two layers and the paper's too wet to unfold further.  So my studio became a giant drying rack as I slowly unfolded each sheet from my latest batch.

Ironing and sorting the dyed papers

Once they were unfolded and dry, it was time to iron them.  Each sheet had to be ironed individually.  Well, I suppose I didn't HAVE to, but the designs really pop out once the pages are ironed.

As I ironed, I sorted the papers into two stacks.  The second, thankfully smaller, stack was of those papers that tore during the process.  I'll have both available for sale on Saturday.

Ready and waiting for Saturday to arrive