After watching a DMTV show on dyeing in bags using complementary colours, I decided I should have a go.  I usually tray dye if I want more than one colour.  The result can be reasonably controlled.  Dyeing in a bag with two colours tends to do its own thing.

The theory is that you make up three primary colours and then use those to make up the complementary colours. So I started with magenta, golden yellow and turquoise.  I already had the magenta and turquoise made up and decided that acid yellow would be too cowardly when mixed with the magenta.  Next you mix the complementaries. I aimed for the purple to be plummy and the green to be sludgy. Testing with kitchen paper, the colours looked good.

Here are the results of my first session – of course I carried on!  From the left, yellow and plum, red and green, (the red overpowered the blues in the green) and orange and blue.  The last piece used up some of the extra plum and blue.

I then tried using primaries and charcoal.  Charcoal splits if not very carefully handled – so I didn’t carefully handle it as I wanted it to split. The results were yummy.

And lastly, a lovely picture of sticky cinnamon sticks from a marmalade sauce which went with poached pears.