Sihouette dyes - fabric method - so fun and creative (and stores a sunny day in an interesting way!)

Posting this activity I did after I first left my full-time city job - on a hot summer morning in 2017 (February).  I posted it on my fb page, but not on my  (public) blog.  I really want to share this for the record?

Last year I tried Silhouette dyes from CCG Industries (we had been in the shop to get materials for our  terracotta style firepit).  The man in the shop told me they use it in Rarotonga - they lay out fabric in the hot sun, and place stencils on the fabric, which leave silhouettes; "sun masks".

I had to try it.  Then I realised I could place even leaves on the fabric and it would leave outlines of the leaves.

I shared this activity with children, but they were more involved in the dye process in general than the sun masking.

Finally shared it with the right folks, an group of adult creative women (Sharron Erbacher's local quilting group).  They had fun, I had fun.  They will be able to harness this method's full potential!

http://www.ccg.co.nz/shop/FABRIC+PAINTING++DYES/Silhouette+Dyes.html

A butterfly landed on the fabric while sun was processing it. 

Now if he had stayed, he too would have left a silhouette.

Fun with silhouette fabric dyes (often used in Rarotonga)

After helping Phoebe dye her sheet - I experimented with the Silhouette dyes myself - they are a heatset dye that they use in Rarotonga - where the sun is hot (and here). You can place something on the fabric and it will be lighter where the object outine was - as the sun will help the dye take up more.

I placed branches and an outline of a branch was left -(my favourite) - even as the shadow moved along.

I placed leaves and the outline was left. The hands I did also dryb...rush around a hand stencil to make the outline stronger (I used a stencil as a child would not want to hold their hands still for hours) but the top leaf outline in the photo shows the effect of sun alone. Also some material I had scrunched up and left have wrinkle effects.

It was so fun!

The photos show the dyeing process (after this for Phoebe we cut out a P from upholstery fabric to create a P after the sheet was saturated), and the squares are for a quilted toybox cover I am making from the dyed cotton fabric.

Very cool to make hand stencils from your child hands and date it - I did this for Troy, Phoebe and Georgie.