What is a dyebath ?
A dyebath is a container filled with dye used to dye textiles. Dyebaths comes in wide varieties of sizes and shapes, and they can be used in different textiles, from synthetic to some wools. Most crafters prefer to work with dyebaths for it gives them more control in the color of their products and it allows them to customize the color for special requests.
Dyeing textiles have been practiced for thousands of years, using different varieties of pigment materials. Some of the pigments’ sources were incredibly unique, like purple, Romans find it very challenging, that is why only prominent people were allowed to wear them. Dyes can come from different plants and other products, ranging from mushrooms to seashells. Modern dyebaths can take natural dye or synthetics, since many companies create a plethore of synthetic products that are extremely colorfast.
You can use any sort of container as a dyebath, such as metal vats or plastic tubes, depending on the kind of dye you are using. Crafters usually prepare the materials that need to be dyed first before dyebaths. For example, for wools, you can card or comb a wool into hanks and in some cases, spun raw wool is used. Next, preparing the dye, if you are using a commercial dye, you can mix it with water or other substances as directed but natural dyes usually takes time to prepare.
Once the dyebath is ready, you can soak the product into it. Textile materials usually take longer soaking time in the dyebath, depending on the desired color saturation and the kind of textile involve. It is also common to stir textile for even color distribution. Once completed, textile is hung and dry or if desired, run through a fixer bath.
Some people enjoy creating their own dye using natural product they collect, but for beginners, wide varieties of commercial dyes can be purchased. As you become more experienced, you can experiment with different patterns and other tricks in dyeing. dyed product is a great gift and a large market for such product.
December 2nd, 2011 at 2:24 pm
Nice first part!
There’s some of the stuff I don’t agree with, but I’m totally biased (being an Umbraco fan boy and everything) 😛
I’ll comment on this once all the parts are posted.
One thing though: It seems like Sitecore is trying hard to be/include more that one thing: Being a CMS, Marketing Platform and Analytics package. Umbraco will never do this (according to the founder), but only do one thing (good): Being a CMS and a content framework.
So with these two totally different approaches, one will always have more stuff/features than the other. And in my experience, that’s not necessarily a good thing.
But keep up the good work! Looking very much forward to the next parts, hoping they are equally well written