Two Photos, Same Veil (Both Not Great)

Here's the other veil I dyed. Colors are bronze, khaki, golden yellow, deep yellow and avocado. It's not a lousy photo, because it does show the brightness of the colors, but none of the detail in the spirals (of which there are many). Taken with flash:

Here's the exact same veil, in the same room, same camera, more or less same position on the same chair, but without flash, only natural morning sunshine from an east-facing window:

You can see more of the detail, but the colors are washed out. They will have to do until I can work out something better.

This one looked very much all brown when it was still wet from the vinegar steam bath. It wasn't until it was washed and dried that the detail appeared. This was done by taking a silk veil, folded into eighths, and twisting many spirals into the fabric (damp with a soda ash solution) and rubber banding it loosely for stability in getting it off the floor where I was working on the spirals.

I'll try to get a better photo...

Silk Dyeing

I don't have a picture of the one I did for myself yet, but here's the one I did for Mom.

This is what the folded, rolled and tied silk looked like before it got dyed. And this is what it looked like once it came out of the vinegar sauna:

Because there was a fair amount of white still in it, this was then overdyed with a diluted pink. Washed and dried, the colors aren't so bright, but you can see the pattern clearly. The rose window center is very nicely defined.

I love dyeing silk. It's messy, yes, but very satisfying. 

Dyeing Silk Veils

A veil can be a bellydancer's best friend, but whether she dances with one or not, I don't think anyone could argue how much fun it is to dye the silk yourself. Tonight I'm dyeing two more silk veils, but only one of them's for me. Mom wants one; she plans to wear it as a scarf/shawl.

My dance teacher's having a dye party, and the dye and processing is all done there, so I get to have all the fun without all the mess. Whee! I'll post pics probably Monday or Tuesday.

Here's an older photo I took of my teacher performing at a restaurant, with a hand-dyed silk veil. Nothing beats silk!