Colour on Cloth - Ruth Issett

I bought Ruth Issett's inspirational book "A Passion for Colour"  when I was at the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show and I was lucky enough to receive her "Colour on Cloth" for Christmas.  The book gives a very comprehensive, easy to follow, series of practical exercises and techniques to enable both the beginner and the more experienced to extend their knowledge of cold water dyes.

It's a shame that I'm coming to the end of Part 2 because the book would have been invaluable as it covers direct dying, using thickener, resists, bleaching and discharge.  If I'd read the advice on getting started earlier I wouldn't have chosen the Selectacine route; I'd have gone straight to Procion dyes.  As it is I've got the colour range Ruth suggests but in a mixture of Selectacine and Procion.

Ruth suggests a basic colour selection of acid yellow, golden yellow, scarlet, magenta, ultramarine and turquoise.  From this she says that hundreds of colours can be mixed.  On page 12 she helpfully lists mixes to try and this is a task I've set myself to try.  Until my three new colours come from George Weil I'll see if I can work with the Selectacine - the two dyes seemed to work together when I mixed them before.

I sorted out the suggested colours; I have three Procion and three Selectacine.  I put samples of each colour into my sketchbook:

Procion at the top and Selectacine at the bottom

Painting these samples has highlighted how different these dyes are.  Although I still plan to give mixing a try just looking at the result it looks like putting chalk with cheese. The Procion colours are translucent whilst the others are dense.  This is evident even on the photo.

Colour on Cloth has been an eye opener from the technique point of view.  Ruth uses immersion dyeing rarely preferring to spray or paint her cloth using brushes, sponges and rollers. This is something else she has inspired me to try.  Just as with her embroidered textile work Ruth uses layer upon layer of colour to create beautiful and unusual colour effects.  I could well spend the next few weeks experimenting.  This approach would have Ruth's approval she says

the only real way to learn about colour is to use it.

Ruth's sketchbooks (I saw them at Harrogate) show how she uses them to record her own experiments and this is something I really need to try to build up - to make my sketchbooks a real resource for all the topics I'm covering.





Issett, Ruth, 2004, Colour on Cloth.  Batsford, London
Issett, Ruth, 2013, A Passion for Colour.  Search Press, Tunbridge Wells.