Monday, July 9, 2012

Hand-dyed Velvet Ribbon

The sheen on this velvet ribbon simply speaks "Victorian". I dyed the ribbon yesterday along with some silk ribbon, using RibbonSmyth Rainbow Dyes. The velvet is Japanese rayon single-face velvet. Velvet instantly grabs the dye. I will keep some yardage for a metal card deck we will be creating next week. And the rest of the yardage will be sold on my Etsy site. The colors are used straight out of the bottle using Victorian Rose, with Olivine and touches of Antique Gold and applied with a pipette. I dye fibers outdoors and let the ribbons air-dry. Then they are heat-set with an iron. I think dyeing ribbon and fibers is intuitive and blissfully relaxing! I'm keeping the spool of ribbon in a basket next to my office computer, that is surrounded with my favorite things, and protected by a 24"x32" photograph of Paul McCartney! A photographer friend sent me the print from a 2003 photo shoot in New York, and "Paul" lives in my office!

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