Reverse Tie Dye: Bleach and Over Dye Project!

I learned about reverse tie dye or bleach discharge a few years ago. There isn't alot on-line about the process so I posted a short blog post about my experiments. I've made several tee shirts and a few hoodies and bandanas. The next step in my reverse tie dye exploration is reverse tie dyeing and over dyeing. Typically I am cautious,make lists and plan a project out fully before attempting to complete it for blogging purposes or just my amusement. Well this time I was asked to make and sell a custom hoodie and without any thought to how I was going to make it happen said,"YES!" Then I immediately got the BG's. The bubble guts. I knew I could reverse tie dye the hoodie but over dye it? Probably. I really don't like losing. Failure was not an option! So I decided I wouldn't and proceeded to teach myself how to overdye a garment that has been bleach tie dyed or reverse tie dyed. The first step was to figure out how much bleach I could use on the black hoodie and keep the fabric sturdy enough to take on more punishment or dye.
I kept my mixture pretty light on the bleach and just added more in slow increments. After soaking the  hoodies in just plain warm water( to make them easier to handle) I folded them into patterns and rubber banded them. I applied the diluted bleach solution pretty liberally and waited. I dyed them one at a time so that my bleach stop solution would only have one hoodie soaking in it at a time.
After the hoodie acheived the bleached out look

(pale orange or tan) that I wanted I immediately removed the rubber bands and soaked it in bleach stop,stirring for several minutes before soaking the hoodies in soapy water. After all the hoodies were bleached and rung out I took them to the laundromat to wash them with  regular detergent in a standard washing machine. I dried them fully to make sure the color contrast was what I desired and then proceeded to mix more dyes for the over dyeing process.
I truly underestimated how much dye it would take to cover light orange as well as the problem of losing the design or pattern outline once I started applying the over dye color. It took a couple of attempts but I finally was able to dye the light orange areas of the hoodie a rustic olive green. Olive green or bright green were the requested dye colors. I've since packaged up the sweatshirt and mailed it out to my customer but I was super happy that I was able to successfully over dye a bleach tie dye garment. Here are a few photos of the reverse tie dye process and over dye project! Enjoy!
Oh and as always you may purchase similar items from my etsy shop or request a custom tee shirt or hoodie for your loved ones or yourself!
One light! One love!

Tie Dye Tapestry GiveAway WINNER!!!!

We have a winner! The Winner of the giveaway is Kat Eldred!
Thank you to all that entered,commented and I'm grateful for new followers and new likes here and on facebook! If you have liked me on FB be sure to do that as well as suggest my page to your friends lists!
https://www.facebook.com/StormoneOriginals

Thanks again!

Color Ground Studies

Since the last time I posted I went shopping. Art supply shopping. Of course I had to buy the brightly colored Canson Mi-Tientes paper that I'd been coveting. I sort of see these portrait studies as a challenge. I've been so used to manipulating various media  to create the watercolor,gouache,ink and prismacolor pencil portraits that I forgot how to let the natural ground show through and render light in this manner. Using the surface of the paper as a color and not  using  pigments is a very different way to approach my paintings or  drawings.  It's a fun exploration. I get so excited by how to solve these creative quandaries. It is literally like flipping a map over and trying to find the same destination. The neutral ground studies lent themselves to a selective palette but the color ground studies screamed add more color! Initially I thought to keep them simple as well but got bored. I quickly learned simple is better after experimenting with more color. I will continue these studies but definitely with a limited color palette until I feel more familiar with how the colored paper blends with the prismacolor pencil. I've enjoyed flailing around being unsure of how to achieve certain effects with this paper as well as pleasantly surprised by how well my color and light class from college has informed my technical sense of color.
Here are a couple of photos of my latest efforts.
More to come soon.

Drawing on Toned Ground

I go to Utrecht Art Supply very often as it is only a block or so from my office. I've been passing by a set of Canson Mi-Tientes paper for over 6 months now tempted to stop and peruse and maybe even buy some. I finally gave in to this urge earlier this month and even though I had it in the back of my mind that this paper is cheap and not high enough quality for me to work on(something an old college professor said no doubt), I was drawn in by all the colors and textures.
I could not help it, the paper size (8.5x11)  was intriguing(I normally buy larger sheets and tear them down to size) and the rough texture of it got to me and I had to buy some. I was not as adventurous as I'd like to have been and only bought the grey and the white but what I soon discovered was I need to play around and experiment more. I will be back to purchase the pink and orange and maybe even teal colors.
Ah...I can see myself going hog wild in this store on payday. I shutter to think. I'll have to bring someone along to monitor me and curb my spending...seriously folks I'm like a kid in a candy store in art supply places. I usually work on white or off white Arches or Strathmore watercolor paper and generally it's cold press so it's kind of rough but no real great texture to the surface of the paper. Just enough gaps and dips to hold copious amounts of water media and take a beating as I cross-hatch it to death with an ink pen.
It is a challenge to begin a painting or a drawing with grey or neutral tone paper especially if you are exploring light or shadows because half of the battle has been decided for you. Most paintings or drawings mood or atmosphere are determined by the mid tones or the most prominent undertones in the composition. It is difficult to navigate a preexisting toned surface if you've been used to painting one in yourself such as I have been  the last few years. I feel so out of practice drawing on toned ground,it's been a nice departure from the stuff I normally create and it's nice to be forced to "look" or "see" a persons face in this tri-tone range of light,dark and mid-tone ground.
Here are a few photos of my most recent efforts and I'll update with more studies soon.

New Tapestry Designs

Just thought I'd post a couple of photos of new tie dye tapestries!
Remember to share with your friends the give away!
The chance to enter ends February 15th!
The Winner will be announced on February 23rd so stay tuned!
Don't forget to like my facebook page!
https://www.facebook.com/StormoneOriginals

Tie Dye Tapestry Give Away!

Pink Raspberry

Hey it's that time of year again! Tie dye tapestry give away time! I've been having fun exploring tie dyeing larger pieces of fabric called tapestries. At some point I'll go really big but for now they measure 42x45 Inches and I'm using a rather light weight cotton fabric. As stated at Dharma Trading company," Not exactly gauze, more like a Hankie weight fabric." It is easy to fold and tie as well as soaks up the color,remains bright and the saturation is brilliant. I'm learning just how far to push the dye process before the design bleeds and floods over not allowing for the pattern to be crisp and lines sharp. If I taught a workshop this is the fabric I would start beginners off with, it's just that easy to dye. So to participate in my give away just make sure to like me on facebook StormOne Originals  and leave your e-mail HERE on my blog so that I can contact you if you win! The winner will receive a free custom design tapestry!

Make sure to tell your facebook friends or twitter friends too!
Here are a couple of photographs of my favorite tapestry designs.
You can see more on my flickr page too! 

Electric Star

Olmec Sunrise

Cucumber Ice

Rainbow Swirl

Nubula Sky

Finally,Simply Black and White

Okay I went back and checked and it's been a minute since I first drew Giana's portrait. I attempted to draw a simple black and grey version using pen and ink in October but was unhappy with the result. As I drew the initial rough pencil sketch I tweaked the outline and made modifications to her mouth and as a result the final inking was a bit off. I did not second guess myself this time and for the most part keep it very straightforward and I think the energy and mood of the drawing reminds me of Gi-Gi.
Here are a couple in-progress pics and a pic of the final version.