More Fabric Dye Test Results

I've been testing more of the old dyes that were donated to me.  In each colour group, the colour of the dye solution when made up is in the top photograph, and the fabric, after it is rinsed and dried, is in the bottom photograph.  In this set, from top left going clockwise, is reddish navy, purple, fuchsia and eggplant.

Not a bad result at all.  And no, I haven't upped the saturation, fuchsia is just so pink that it almost hurts your eyes.

Again, from top left clockwise: golden, orange, rosebud and bright yellow.  The orange has washed out significantly but the rest are pretty good.

Here we have jade green, intense blue, grass green and brightest green.  I don't know who's idea of jade that jade green was, but it's not what I'd call jade.  And intense blue washed out to a nice summer sky blue.  

None of them are as bad as the blue I first trialled.  They all still have enough potency to be usable.  But I've taken snippets of these test fabrics and pasted them in my dye book for record keeping purposes.  I've also taken snippets and glued them onto the tops of the dye powder jars so I'll remember at a glance that some of these are not what they seem from the name.

Results of using old fibre reactive dyes with vinegar on silk fabric

I recently posted about testing some old fibre reactive dyes on cotton fabric.  The results were dismal, but instead of throwing the dye out, I decided to test something I had read somewhere about using old fibre reactive dyes with vinegar (turning them into acid dyes) and using them on silk.

Before and after rinsing photographs when the dye was used on cotton.

I have never used acid dyes on silk before so I had to look around for information on how to go about it.  The companies that sell dyes have pretty good information on their websites and if you google your question you'll come up with lots of opinions.

The general consensus seemed to be that acid dyes need heat to work.  So I soaked my silk scarf in vinegar (apple cider just because it was what I had around, but I'd probably recommend just using white vinegar!) I squeezed it out and poured on the dye solution, which I'd previously made up to my normal strength recipe with water.

Then I put the whole container in the microwave, loosely covered to avoid splashes and buzzed it on high for three minutes until it was boiling, let it rest for a few minutes and then buzzed it again for another two minutes.  I let it sit for a couple of hours and then began to rinse it.

And rinse it.

     and rinse it

        and rinse it.....

This photograph is after several days of rinsing, soaking overnight and rinsing again.  The water was still not clear after the last night of soaking but it was a lot better than it had been (and I'd lost patience by then).  The colour is deep and vibrant.

So, in conclusion:

• old, exhausted, fibre reactive dyes that no longer work on cotton fabric will work as acid dyes on silk fabric, but,
• the resulting colour does not appear to be as colourfast as fibre reactive dyes used with soda ash on silk (I use that combination on silk frequently with great results).

Now, I have only conducted one experiment on this so I'm no great expert.  I think I need to conduct some further trials with some of the other old dyes that I've been given, particularly trialling different colours as they can behave quite differently.

For further resources on dyeing fabrics, try:

Dharma Trading http://www.dharmatrading.com/home/information-you-can-use-from-dharma-trading-co.html

Paula Burch http://www.pburch.net/dyeing.shtml

And, as Brenda suggested in the comments on my last dyeing post, Carol Soderlund is a bit of a dyeing legend and has great resources on her blog http://www.carolsoderlund.com

Last week

Last week seemed a busy one.  All my weeks seem busy at the moment - and I don't necessarily believe this is a good thing.  I don't subscribe to the 'busyness' ideal that seems to pervade our lives.  I like to have time to be slow, to enjoy, to watch and listen.  But that doesn't seem to be happening much lately.  Maybe I have to make time.

But at least I've been busy doing things I enjoy.  Well, mostly.  Housework will never go away, no matter how busy or un-busy I am.

I've been free-motion quilting this little wall hanging.  I even got most of the binding on too (let's not talk about the hanging sleeve shall we?).

I got to spend some time at the beach watching these two little loonies.  Love that expression on her face - her big brother just landed in the hole next to her after taking a flying leap.

I took a walk while they dug and snapped this pic.  We live in a truly beautiful place.  I hope I never get too busy to notice.

I spent some time appliquéing this piece of work.  I also spent quite a few hours auditioning fabrics for sky, placement of elements, thread colours etc.  But I'm glad it's finally coming together.  Once I start sewing, I can make an ever decreasing number of changes and it becomes easier to just accept it how it is, not what it could potentially be.

The dye studio has been calling my name again and I've been dyeing some skeins of thread.  These four colours got two dyeings.  The first time around I forgot to untie the loose knots I use to keep the skeins tidy, and even though they were loose, they made a stripey look - unintentional shibori.  But over dyeing worked and I managed to get my colours very close to the original ones I had.  

We were busy celebrating a birthday too.  I'm the Mum of an 11 year old!  The cake was made with almond-meal and a little coconut flour so my Hubby, who is starch-free (no grains, legumes, root vegetables etc) could eat it.  And it was delicious!  Might have been the chocolate ganache that it was smothered in...

And then I was busy tooting my horn!  New Zealand Quilter, the only New Zealand based quilting mag available, published an interview with me!  Stoked!  

It's a great issue - also featuring my good friend Mathea Daunheimer with an article on her viewer's choice winning quilt, a write up about my local quilting club, the featured blog was the blog of another quilting friend, Leeann, and there were lots of other interesting articles and pretty pictures as per usual.  Thanks NZ Quilter, and Norma Slabbert, who wrote interesting questions for me to think about.

Next week promises to be busy too.  But I'm going to be mindful of spending a few hours not worrying about what I should be doing next, just sitting and enjoying, and feeling grateful for all I have.

The Siren Song of Colour

These photos make my heart very, very happy.

I rolled up my sleeves on Monday and got stuck into some dyeing.  I wanted some smaller items for sale in Opua Arts gallery and so some of my dyeing was on ready made silk scarves.  

These are habotai silk that shimmer and gleam and float in the breeze and generally just look gorgeous!  I hung them up this morning after popping next door to the marine chandlery for some smooth white rope.  What do you think of my display system?

I also did some more embroidery threads.

These are a silk cotton blend, unstranded and similar to a light-weight perle cotton.

I'm going to change my dyeing habits a little.  A full day of dyeing (4-6 hours) ends up in sore feet and a sore back and another full day of rinsing, washing and pressing - phew!  Instead I aim to dye a little every day.  And I'll be posting a images of my dyeing over on Instagram with the hashtag #dyealittleeveryday.  Click on the camera over on my left sidebar to follow me on Instagram and see what I'm up to.