SUNY New Paltz's 2021 production of Romeo and Juliette featured a collection of scarves, in a range of colors from yellow to red. The colors meant to symbolize the tug of war between the two sides, and thus characters wore either red, yellow, or orange depending on their allegiance. My job was to dye these scarves using the colors requested and a combination of different resist dyeing techniques to achieve different patterns. I started by dyeing several samples, and learning the acid dyes I would be working with. I then provided a list of techniques and a range of colors to the designer, and they assigned them to characters and I dyed a yard of fabric per character. I then cut the scarves to size, and hemmed them on an industrial sewing machine with a bandroll, producing a very fine hem. The scarves were styled differently depending on the characters, and helped to indicate character status in the limited capacity we were allowed during the pandemic.
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These scarves were my first delve into dyeing beyond solid colors, and I really came to love the variety of textures and patterns you can get with resist techniques. All photos of actors were provided by the SUNY New Paltz School of Fine and Performing Arts. Production photo credit to Sierra Ford. |