Dyeing Paris

First pics are of the birthday cake I made for Tashi on the weekend. Heaps of chocolate.

There she is, sweet 15. Best friend of Brianna.
AAAANNNNNND, how I worked out the Paris colourway.


So here is the photo I love on the ipad. I've looked and decided that the most striking, or dominant colours are silver, blue, pale terracotta and stone. I asked Dean what he thought were the most significant colours and he basically said the same. Though he called the blue -grey!

Once I've worked that out, it's about selecting which dye colour I have that most resembles the colours I want. Then I mix, dilute, saturate and play with them until I get it right. I usually do this on silk yarn or wool fibre.

This grey is too dark, it's in the picture, but is too dominant and needs paling down. The first blue wasn't right either- which is why it's followed by a subtly different blue- so subtle you probably can't see the difference.

Trying it out on mulberry silk. It's the same dark grey but it comes out different on fibre.

Better blue and grey on the right.


Once I'm kind of happy, I set it in the microwave and check it when it is dry. Luckily it's a hot day. It can look so different when it's dry. I don't dare dye a big batch until I have checked it dry.


Yarns are silk, they wont get the cream colour that I set into the wool and slushie. There is only so much room on one hank. if I try and cram too many colours on, it becomes all about the secondary colours that are created at each transition.


The real test for me of whether a colourway works or not is when I twist it into a spiral.


So here is the slushie,

and here is the mulberry silk. Did I get Paris? I am thinking I wont know that answer until I visit in the flesh. What do you think?