Colorway Chronicles: Gold Dust Woman

This colorway scares me half to death every time I make it, only because it's one of those combinations that initially looks awful, but somehow magic happens and the colors become something so much more than the parts.

"Gold Dust Woman" is exactly that... worth much more than the glittery powder she's made from.

To make this sock blank, I utilize a couple of techniques. First I work controlled wall pours in my roasting pan with bright teal and orange dyes and carefully tilt the pans to allow these colors to swirl and bleed together. This bleeding together patinas the teal and tones down the vibrancy of the orange, turning it to a pretty copper. This copper always amazes me. I've never been able to replicate that color by any other method, and it is hard to control.

Once I'm happy with the way the colors have blended (stopping short of making mud) I bake it off to heat set the dyes. The blank then gets a wash and spin dry before heading off to my airbrush table. I then airbrush in reds and navys to accent the southwest feel of these colors, whilst making use of the voids and adding some unexpected features to the piece.

These processes worked together allow me to offer a blank richly saturated in color, with the whimsy of applied imagery. I'm currently addicted to this process and filling my shop with a bunch of one of a kind pieces.