You might try looking in books, etc. that deal with patchwork quilts. There was quite the fad there for a while to use fabrics that looked aged, tea-dyed, etc. I know you said you didn't want to use tea as an overdye, but some of those books might offer suggestions. You might also be able to ask some people (like Dharma Trading?) directly, through their websites. Oh, oops....looks like you've hit them up already. <laughs>.... I've never done anything like that (either with clothing or cloth for quilts--brownish colors being generally not to my taste), so I don't know if my ideas are actually viable, but who knows? They might be.... --Sue, waiting for it to drop at least into the mid-80s in her apartment, so she can go to sleep.....although a sleeping bag on the front porch is starting to sound *real* good....
----- Original Message ----- From: "Lavolta Press" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 4:16 PM Subject: [h-cost] Overdyeing with tan > OK, so I'm almost finished dyeing stuff, but, I've dyed a bunch of > cotton shirts in some colors that are a bit too bright for my taste. > They are all oranges, yellows, peaches, or pinks. The ones that were > totally blecherous, I've already redyed in different, much darker > colors. These are ones that almost work from my point of view; but I'd > like to tone them down a little, to more earthy shades of the same > thing, rather than making them a completely different color. > > I've just read a very interesting book on historic costuming for film. > It contains almost no information on how to design or make clothing, but > a great deal on how to organize the process of obtaining enormous > quantities of garments, keeping track of them, and interacting with the > many other people involved in film making. The author does mention that > pure white often looks too bright on camera, and so he overdyes with a > weak solution of Rit tan to make it a shade that "looks" white, or just > off-white, when filmed. There is a hint that he may use this process to > "soften" other colors, but I'm not sure that can be done without making > the color look "dirty," an effect he sometimes consciously strives for > to "age" clothing. He doesn't go into details on the process. And an > aged or dirty look is not what I'm striving for. Just less bright. > > So, does anyone know if a weak overdye of tan will soften a strong > yellow, orange, peach, or pink without making it look dirty, or turning > it into a very different color? And, is there a Procion dye they can > recommend for this, since Rit is not very fast? If so, what strength > should be used? > > (I'm not thrilled about the idea of using tea because of the tannin, and > I suspect tea [and coffee] is not all that fast either.) > > I already have some Procion MX ecru from Dharma Trading, which when used > in the strength directed produces a pleasant light beige on a pure white > shirt. Will that do? If so should be it be made a little weaker? If > not, is there another color I should buy? > > Thanks for any info. > > Fran > Lavolta Press > http://www.lavoltapress.com > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
