Color Study - Tangerine, Strongest Red, Deep Navy

I learned new skills at Carol Soderlund’s "True Colors" workshop last year which apply to my grant.   A color palette developed from ProChemical& Dye’s tangerine, strongest red and deep navy MX reaction dyes will help to unify my series of surface design pieces.   Mixing only 3 dye stocks also means working more efficiently.   It sounds limiting, but look at all the colors I get to use!   Each of the colors can be further expanded by doing a value study.      

Primary Colors

Secondary Colors

                                     

Dyeing the palette took patience, but I liked the colors as much as I’d hoped.   Unfortunately, the mystery sample fabric from my stash was lousy.   The fabric biased wickedly, oily stains showed up and I kept getting pokey ends despite repeated trimming with the rotary cutter.   Now I know why there was a partial bolt of white fabric still hiding out in my stash.  The samples look pretty shabby compared to Carol Soderlund’s pristine color reference books.   Lesson learned!   I ordered 60 meters of M419 (mercerized cotton broadcloth) from TestFabrics, Inc. to use from here on out.

"True Colors" gave me better insight into my color preferences.   I created a notebook of my artwork and other items with favorite colors as part of the class preparation.   I realized that I truly do gravitate to particular areas on the color wheel.  I found myself staring at Carol at the personal consultation saying "but I don't like orange...”, but there it was…   Now I know that I don't use large gobs of it, but it's my go-to accent color.   There are about 14 “pure” MX reaction dye colors.   The rest of the dye colors you get are blends of those fourteen.   Now that I know which pure dyes contribute to the colors I enjoy, I can create successful color palettes more intentionally.

I can't wait for October to attend Carol’s "The New Color Mixing for Dyers Part 1” at ProChemical & Dye.   I will join other color obsessed artists who also crave their own color reference binders.  
Carol's classes are well organized, fun and informative.  ProChemical has wonderful facilities and an even more fabulous staff.   I highly recommend them both.