Clamp-dye tecnique on silk scarves

Clamp dying is perhaps as ancient a technique as indigo dying and batik work would be. Clamp essentially is a technique where you fold a piece of cloth in as many folds as you want and then tie/sandwich the cloth between clamps of your choice.These Clamps could be sticks, wooden blocks, coins etc anything really, let your imagination run wild.
How you fold the fabric, which,in this case is silk scarves, deduces the final dyed pattern on the silk after dying. You can fold the scarf in to a small /large square, rectangle, triangle or just random bunched up form tied with a thread (jute, or any yarn) between two clamps tightly and then immerse it in to a prepared dye bath. Silk can be both hot and cold dyed, depending on the dyes you are using.

I did cold dyeing. Anyways, if you have done clamp dying as many a times I have, you would want to explore options of clamps (I always try to find things that are available at home) it just makes things more easy and the entire process less expensive and fun.
 As a mother of two toddlers as usual when I looked  around to find clamps I got my hands on girl's
Lego pieces and their rectangle building blocks, although the girls objected initially  to letting mommy use their precious toys, but then graciously gave them up because they were fascinated by the process (or so I would like to think)

Below are the pictures of how I clamped the fabric between clamps.



 
The Lego clamp dyeing silk scarf final result.
 


 
 
 
The wooden building blocks results
 
 
 
 
 



 
 
Try them out , its not only instant gratification but if you are a mother you finally get to enjoy the toys you spend hours collecting and cleaning up everyday! (at least for me it was)
 

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