Experiments in Ombre Part 1

Been noticing ombre everywhere lately, it is Very Trendy.
I've never tried making it before but I understand the theory:
Hang fabric with one edge in dye and allow the color to wick into the fabric creating a gradient.
Easy Peasy right?
I figure I will try some variations on it...
To begin I pleated my fabric into a long strip then cross pleated it in a staggered design, each pleat a little shorter than the one before

I clamped it using some bits of plastic cut out of a takeout container and squeezy clamps.

Next I suspended the edge with the largest cross pleats into activated dye

Uh oh, this is what it looked like when I took it out the next morning. Maybe I left it in too long, it looks as though I completely lost the white.

Wrong! it looks cool!

The clamping and folding have distorted the eveness with which the dye soaked into the fabric

creating the spikes.

I did get the gradient to work and the pleating made each band of dye narrower as planned.

It is creating an illusion of moving back into the horizon...

On to the next experiment!