Next Time Dye It? Another new scarf in white

[zebrina]

Thanks for the dye info. I think I will order some colors and give it a try.

[Shepherdess]

I use vinegar all the time to dye silk and it does nothing to the luster. if you over heat silk it will loose its luster. Dharma Trading has great instructions for diferant ways to dye wool and silk. acid dyes do both silk and wool and fibre reactive dyes for silk and plant fibers. silk is the only one that will work with either method. you can do some interesting things with over dyeing a silk and wool scarf with the fiber reactive dyes to get a diferant colour on the silk without affecting the colour of the wool. you do have to be careful as the high ph can be harmful to the wool.
another good place is Paula birches site. she explains what all the diferant mordant and auxiliaries do. and she has alot of questoins and answers.

Ann

[annsa]

You can dye wool with Procion MX dyes using either vinegar or citric acid. Can paint the yarn, fleece and do in microwave or steamer or cook up in a pot. Have used both ways for wool and have used the microwave method for dyeing silk throwsters waste for my daughter GCSE textile exam piece. Has been very successful and easy to do. You can use sodium alginate (Manutex) as a thickener for the dyes if you are painting on. However you need to let the alginate sit for a day at least for it to dissolve properly - unless you have a proper lab stirrer and even so it takes a while for it not to be a bit gritty ( I am a Biology lab tech and use alginate for some experiments). The alginate will keep for a while if you put it in the fridge - can't think how long but probably at least a week.
You can also dye cotton and other cellulose fibres with Procion MX dyes but you need to use soda ash as the fixer and there is no need to heat

Regards,

Ann

[summerset]

Parvana, Thanks for that detailed account!!

[koffipot]

A fish kettle is good for steaming. Used in batik work and in felted work, I roll my fabric in plastic film and/or lining paper, depending upon the project, the paper is just the right width to hook it onto the 'handles'
in the fish kettle. Will perhaps have to post photos.

NB I bought the fish kettle many years ago to cook whole salmon and now the family have grown up and left home, a whole salmon is too much, so now the fish kettle is redundant for cooking, it has been given a new lease of life :0)