a life of felt

I decided to try doing some dyeing in the microwave and got out my equipment with a light heart. As usual with me and dyeing it didn’t go quite to plan. I had to put one piece through a second time because it was too pale and the scarlet dye didn’t dissolve properly leading to spotting on the silk. However, I was in too good a mood to let this bother me and carried on, although I was tiring and was happy to see I was reaching the end.

That was when it happened. I’d mixed up a dye, caught the edge of the bowl with my hand and sent it spinning through the air to land on top of the cat’s food bowl by the wall. It splashed up the wall, on the door, into the kitchen and began to run across the floor. Why is it that liquid always seems ten times more when spilt?

At least I had the presence of mind to mop some of it up with a piece of silk. It was running down the wall, staining the paint and creeping across the floor to me. And the colour? Red of course. It looked like a scene from a massacre. As it ran down the wall it appeared to be staining the wall so I cleared it up as quickly as possible. On hearing about it my husband quipped, “shot silk” and so you have todays title. He seemed surprised that I hadn’t taken a photo but I would have had to step in the dye to get to a camera!

Don’t they look lovely and bright? I thought I’d try a few bits of lace in the yellow/green and see what happened. They weren’t soaked first, I just put them in dry and watched. Interesting that they’re mainly the same colour as the silk except for the one which has taken more blue and is distinctly green. A good way to use up dye and they’ll no doubt appear in a piece of felt later.