Customer Reviews

Fabric Dyer's Dictionary: 900+ Colors, Specialty Techiniques, The Only Dyeing Book You'll Ever Need!

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is an excellent guide for creating specific colors and color ranges with procion mx fiber reactive dyes. The book begins with a very brief outline of precautions, tools, how to mix the dyes and some general dye instructions and then moves right into the formulas for mixing colors. Formulas are calculated for dyeing fat quarters in 1 quart bags or 1 yard pieces in 1 gallon bags so if you work in different sizes than that you'll need to adjust the formulas accordingly. Chapters are broken down by colors; yellows, oranges, reds, purples, blues, greens and blacks and each chapter outlines how to dye clear and muted colors with ranges from dark to light and complementary cross. There's also a chapter on dyeing rainbows in clear dark/light and muted dark/light as well as some information on specialty techniques such as dyeing obre, twisting, layering and pleating and dipping.

If you're working with cold water procion mx type fiber reactive dye and you want to be able to produce consistent color results then you'll find this book an invaluable reference.

especially if what you want is recipes for color, not an understanding of color as it applies to dyes. There is enough information about the process to get you started, but no discussion of the chemistry of dyeing that can help you move beyond recipes. And, there is no discussion of color theory and how it applies to using dyes. There are also gaps in the recipes- there are value gradations, and gradations between complementary colors, but nothing else. For my money, Joyce Mori's book is still the best resource to actually learn the process. The exercises she takes you through are more comprehensive, and she has more information about the process and the chemistry than any other beginner's text I've encountered. If you want a dye cookbook, this one will probably work fine for you. If you want to become a dyeing chef, get the Mori book, and Ann Johnston's books.

There are a lot of excellent books on fabric dyeing, and I wasn't sure about the need for yet another new title. After reading it, I was pleasantly surprised and can easily recommend it, especially to a newbie. The book is what the title says it is -- a fabric dyers dictionary with the recipes for some 900+ colors created using Procion MX dyes. The first chapter covers the basics. The meat of the book is color swatches and the recipes to make each color. All are made from some variation of three clear primaries, three muted primaries, three secondary colors, and a black. The recipes are for creating 1/4 yard or 1 yard pieces using zip lock baggies (with some math you can create more yardage). And while the use of baggies is not a new technique, it's a perfect way to get started and lends itself very well for creating an extensive palette of colors without the need for buckets and the like. The book concludes with a brief overview of some specialty techniques such as rope dyeing and painting with thickened dyes. If you're toying with the idea of learning to dye fabric, this book will not disappoint. It could be the only book some may need on the topic, but it's also a handy reference for those with more experience.

I love the layout of this book and the printed swatches in the book.
This one will stay in my dye book collection and I know I will use it often.
I have added 4 (readable) images of the content pages.

This is a new book that arrived today from C&T Publishing. Despite the fact the the author, Linda Johansen, and I share a last name -I don't know her. Ratz! My favorite dyeing books have always been Anne Johnston's and Elin Noble's. I started dyeing cloth by using them and always refer back to them. This book, however, will definitely have a new place next to these others in my library. This is a book that I really, really like. It is written clearly, concisely and is exceptionally well illustrated. The book is laid out well. The basics are, of course, covered in the beginning of the book with detailed handling and mixing instructions. She also goes over the importance of record keeping - something that I was never very good at doing. I just always loved the kismet of the process - I liked never knowing what would happen. She compares the clear, muted and black colors offered by both ProChem and Dharma Trading. It's a handy little table. Each page details instructions for using fat quarters, half yards and yards of fabrics. This is a nice, handy way to present the needed information.he pages below are for creating a rainbow. She delineates the process for clear, muted and dark rainbow colors. Clear, concise and easy to understand. The end of the book is devote to some specialty techniques; tie dying, rolling, patterning, layering, using dye powders and pleating and dipping

Linda Johansen has had 5 books, I think it is, published through C&T Publishing. I am so pleased to have this as an addition to my dyeing library. I think it's a book that will please anyone who has an interest in hand dyeing their own fabrics.

I am an experienced dyer, and I own many other books on dyeing. This particular book is wonderfully useful and much needed. Why the low rating? The printing of the color swatches is abysmal. There is no excuse for having such poor quality of printed color in a book that is all about color. The color quality is so poor that "clear red" looks like muted purple. I literally can not tell which end of the spectrum is suppose to be the "clear green" and which is suppose to be the "muted green." A very big disappointment. The author has done a wonderful job of producing a fine book; her publisher has let her, and her readers, down.

I have read many books on dyeing, I love colour. Apart from giving the basics of the process and preparation, this book gives wonderful 'recipes' for dyeing cloth in fabulous shades of colour. None of my other dyeing books do this. So I think this book is tops. In addition it has information on speciality techniques such as soda ash to get texture into the dye, layering and much more. Highly recommended for dyers. This review first appeared on Karen Platt's book review website.

This book was recommended to me by a very experienced fabric artist and dyer. Well, I used it this past week to dye some fabric and it was just a great reference. I'm wanting to purchase some more dye, and this book has helped me narrow down the colors I will need to purchase because it gives me all the information I need to mix custom colors rather than purchasing them. I highly recommend this book.

This book is a great reference for anyone working with ProMX dyes. The colors are well documented with pictures. My only complaint is that the formulas are based on her "stock solutions" which she based on tablespoons and teaspoons, instead of weight. However, you can convert her measurements to percentages easily enough. I highly recommend!

tHIS IS A GREAT BOOK. I've been dyeing for a while now, but I admit I am just past the beginning stage and this book has the formulas for mixing colors, all colors, will be my standard from now on.