I received some great ideas and inspiration about dyeing my quilt during a live coworking session for our Diary Quilting class, and when I started researching the options, I came across a paint that I had heard about before, but never tried, called Dye Na Flow. It works in a similar way to dye, but seemed very easy and approachable for someone with very little dyeing experience.
One of the things we talked about on the call was the idea of protecting different aspects of the water and the quilt. I wasn't sure if it would work, but I used rubber bands to protect two parts of the quilt top:
Then I wet the entire quilt top, which felt very significant with the water theme:
Then my daughter and I sprayed the Dye Na Flow with a spray bottle generously all over the quilt top:
I didn't want the surface to be flat, I was happy that it was kind of wrinkled and messy as we sprayed. I'm curious what might have happened if we had sprayed a little less, but it was fun and we enjoyed it, and it did turn out pretty interesting!! We also added large sea salt crystals across the quilt - she sprinkled them all over - because I had read that you can get an interesting starburst effect with the paint if you add sea salt…
Here is the quilt top the day after dyeing and drying:
I love the thought that water has become an active participant in the making of this quilt - the way the water flowed and got stopped and got transformed by the salt are all captured on the quilt’s surface now, and I love that feeling of energetically collaborating with water to make the quilt.