Colorhue dyes vrs Jaquard dyes

Colorhue dyes on the left; Blue on the right is Jaquard.

I've been experimenting with dyes and with a shibori technique called Itajime. Well, the Jaquard dyes don't work for itajime! No matter how tightly I screw down the clamps, the dye follows the silk threads under the block, and no pattern emerges. I do like the Jaquard for a lot of applications; I can get smooth transitions of color, painting on the dyes with a brush, while the colorhue dyes always want to show the brush strokes. Or I can get some wonderful effects when I let one Jaquard color dry before applying the next.

detail of "Maple Leaves"

Soy wax makes an excellent resist for Colorhue dyes; the Jaquard dyes tend to jump over the soy wax. "Maple Leaves" was done with Colorhue dyes; the background was done with itajime technique.

"Maple leaves" scarf