Fabric dye experimentation

Having bought 4 Dylon dyes - Burlesque Red, Tulip Red, Flamingo Pink and Velvet black - I started to experiment to find the right mix for the shade of pink I need. Knowing that Habotai takes in dye at an incredible rate I put sample pieces in bowls of dye for ranges of time from 30 seconds to 10 minutes to test the shade and vibrancy of colour (all of which are documented in my note and sketchbook)

After having found a mix that worked (to what I thought was the right depth and shade) I dyed a large square of the habotai in the pink, then dip dyed the centre of the square with a strong mix of the black. When I washed and dried the fabric though it came out far too light!

Thanks to this I have also found that dip dying to a graduated edge with a large section of fabric is something that I cannot achieve - it folded over on itself in places making a streaky, sun burst effect of black on the pink, which, while an incredibly interesting and lovely effect is not the one that I need.

I tried to fix this by using a mister (as in the spray bottles that create a fine mist usually used for plants or cosmetics) to spray black over the streaks to try and create a more graduated effect, and in a way it has worked, but not to the degree I wanted it to.

Having tried this I plan to use a stronger concentration of the dylon dye for a longer period of time, and to try using the mister from the start to get the graduated effect that I want.