Welcome to part three of my This vs That series, where I compare different aspects of natural dyeing.
Last time we explored rolling versus folding our bundles, and today we’re going to look at different ways of rolling – the soft roll and the hard roll. AKA rolling around nothing (below left) versus rolling around a stick (below right).
The soft roll
The soft roll is actually more like a fold, because we don’t want to start rolling very tightly from the edge – this will cause lots of crinkles in the eco-prints near the edge! Instead, you need to cover your fabric with dyestuff, then fold over a few cms / an inch or two from the edge. Keep folding/ rolling up until all of your fabric is inside the bundle.
Your soft rolled bundle will feel quite loose and floppy at this stage. So, to make it firmer (which helps to get clearer prints), you need to fold it in half/ in thirds lengthwise. It can be helpful to just fold a small section, hold it in place with string, then move along to folding and tying the next section, until the whole roll is tied up. This is easier to explain in a video, and you can find one by clicking here! This video is an extract of a lesson from my Intro to Cotton ecourse – out of all of my courses this is the one that goes most deeply into my rolling methods.
Benefits of the soft roll
- The soft roll is the simplest roll – all you need is your fabric, your dyestuff and some string
- The flexibility of the soft roll means it is easy to fit into different sized pots
Downsides of the soft roll
- Often you get cracks where you start the soft roll, if you are trying to roll tightly. As I said above, start off with a fold instead of a tight roll, in order to avoid this.\
- Some people say that a soft roll leads to more cracks than rolling around something hard. But this doesn’t have to be the case! If you wrap very carefully, a soft roll can result in very clear leaf prints. This baby onesie is evidence:
The hard roll
For the hard roll, cover your fabric with dyestuff and then put a stick/length of wooden dowel/piece of metal pipe at one end, and roll the fabric up around the stick.
Benefits of the hard roll
- Some people find they can get smoother prints with less cracks than with the soft roll, because the stick gives you something to pull the fabric taut against as you roll
- You can also do a hard roll around a rusty can, which will add a mordanting effect and some rust detail to the fabric. I rarely do a hard roll, but I do like wrapping around a rusty can and cooking in a dye bath, to get beautiful results like these:
Downsides of the hard roll
- Because the hard roll is not flexible, you’ll need to use a much larger pot than for the soft roll. If the stick is beyond the top of the pot, you won’t be able to put a lid on.
- Sometimes the stick leaves a mark from the tannins in it, or the metal pipe may also leave marks. If you aren’t expecting this it can be a downside, but you can also make use of it as an interesting feature.
So are you team soft roll, team hard roll, or do you do a mix?
