Color by Accident: Low-Water Immersion Dyeing [Spiral-bound]

Ann Johnston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1997

"Color by Accident" is designed to be used as a workbook and reference manual for the adventuresome. Beginning and experienced dyers will find "Color By Accident" to be an inspiring guide for creating one-of-a-kind fabrics not available commercially. It includes Five Variations on a versatile method and 54 tested recipes. NOT required are expensive equipment, dangerous chemicals or specialized studio space. Other books teach how to repeat a method and reproduce colors. This book points the way to exploring new color combinations and to achieving fabric that will be unique and visually complex. But be warned! As one of Ann's contemporaries reports, this process can be addictive.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A wonderful textbook reflecting years of practice and experimentation! Clear. Concise. Well thought out...and easy to understand. The recipes have been tried over and over again until they have proven to give great results. Readers will begin to see the enormous flexibility in all of these approaches to dyeing while at the same time gaining a much deeper understanding of the nature of dyeing.

"This book will become a classic for anyone wanting to create their own vocabulary of fabrics."--Nancy Crow, Baltimore, Ohio

"Ann has changed the face of quiltmaking with her innovative combinations of painting and piecing. In her new book, 'Color By Accident,' she explores an exciting and unpredictable approach to immersion dyeing in which colors move and blend and are always a revelation to the artist."--Jean Ray Laury, Clovis, California

"Ann Johnston's 'Color By Accident' is worth every penny! It offers a rare opportunity to discover the hard-earned color dye bath secrets of an artist who is a leading force in the newly emerging surface design movement in contemporary quilts. Each of her color recipes is presented in detailed, easy-to-follow steps. For the price of the book you get Ann teaching you your own personal workshop. If you've ever wondered how to add a rich new dimension to your quiltmaking, you should read this book."--Penny McMorris, Bowling Green, Ohio

"Be sure to have dye and fabric on hand when you read 'Color By Accident.' I began reading in bed at 11 pm and if there had been naked fabric in the house I would have gotten up and started dyeing it.

"It was easy! It was fast! And the texture! But the clincher is the results--the colors break into their component parts and all this marvelous subtlety emerges.

"I had to let you know what fun I had today using your recipes. I dyed this morning, then had company for dinner, and after my company left I raced up to the studio to iron my new fabric. It takes real fortitude not to excuse yourself from dinner conversation with the excuse you must go iron!"--Cynthia Corbin, Woodinville, Washington -- Publisher Comments

About the Author

Ann Johnston brings her expertise as a dyer, quilter, teacher, and author to "Color By Accident." Her award-wining quilts and hand dyed fabric are in public and private collections in England, France, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan and the US. She wrote her first book "Dye Painting!" to illustrate an easy, no steam, no resist dyeing technique for surface design on fabric. She has been a contributing author to fiber magazines including "Threads," "Surface Design Journal," and "American Quilter Magazine." She teaches and lectures on dyeing techniques, and quilt and fabric design, including the use of computer paint programs. Her third book, "The Quilter's Design Book" is due out in October, 1999.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 94 pages
• Publisher: Ann Johnston (1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965677605
• ISBN-13: 978-0965677608
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #534,916 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A well organized guide to achieving excellent color styles, September 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Color by Accident: Low-Water Immersion Dyeing (Spiral-bound)

This little monograph is in a ring binder with well reproduced color illustrations of attractive color styles and color combinations. These dyeings have been achieved with cold dyeing Procion MX dyes (BASF - originally invented by ICI) now supplied by three recommended small volume suppliers. The dyeing procedures are simple and easy to use at home, achieving lovely effects on approx 30in x 30in mercerized cotton woven fabric prepared for Printing (Dyeing). It is amazing what lovely fast dyed effects can be achieved at home by a cold dyeing method. Ann Johnston has given the craft trade a gem, particularly intersting for the quilter.

55 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Color by Accident: Low-Water Immersion Dyeing, January 21, 2006

By 

McKenzie Curtis "art quilter" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Color by Accident: Low-Water Immersion Dyeing (Spiral-bound)

As a quilter, who dyes her own fabric, I was disappointed in this book. First, I think her recipe for stock dyes uses a LOT of dye. Procion dyes are not inexpensive and she recommends 2 Tablespoons of dye/cup of water. In most receipes I have used, the yellows use 1 T of dye in 1 cup of water, blues use 2 teaspoons, and reds 1 teaspoon. The author makes no differentiation between colors of dye in her measurements even though the dye companies and all of the other books I have used, do. I think 2 T/cup is overkill and wasteful.

Second, I don't understand her process for adding Soda Ash. I don't think it works well and felt that a lot of the color washed out of the fabrics as a result. Most of the books I've worked with recommend pre-soaking the fabric and this seems to work much better. (They use a lot less dye in their stocks and the colors are brighter.)

Finally, I tried some of her recipes in the book and was disappointed with the results. The colors on the top of the value parfait were too weak and none of the fabrics in that batch had the texture of fabrics dyed by the processes recommended in Dyeing for Quilters, Fabric Dyeing for Beginners, and Robbi Eklow's new book. I ended up over-dyeing them to salvage the fabric. They are the first pieces I've dyed in 6 months that I didn't like.

However, for individuals who want a simple approach to fabric dyeing this book may work well. It simplifies the dye formulas (by using large quantities of dye and omitting salt) and reduces the steps involved in dyeing value runs and color runs. If you don't mind spending the money on dyes, her approach is easy to follow and can yield decent results. I would recommend more agitation and squeezing in the value parfaits to get adequate dye and soda ash into the center of the fabric.

For folks, who don't mind a few more steps, I think the books mentioned above cover the subject of fabric dyeing much more extensively.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for quilters, April 12, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Color by Accident: Low-Water Immersion Dyeing (Spiral-bound)

The author introduces her technique of dyeing with little water. She provides everything a complete beginner needs: from materials, to tools, to step-by-step instructions. It's a great book if you dye small pieces or if you like the patterned effect her technique creates on larger pieces. If you want a uniform color on your clothes, however, her technique may not work. So, it's a wonderful book for quilters who want to create unique pieces but need not reproduce them exactly at a later point. In fact, the book cover itself shows beautifully the results of her technique.