Thursday, 27 May 2010

A Day Spent Dying

I made up a new batch of KEMTEX Orange acid dye and dyed two silk skeins. First I wound a 75 gm skein of Uppingham's two-ply pure merino and dyed it lemon yellow. This is for a devore project. The yarn is lovely but causes havoc if used for a warp. So I am using TEXERE's two-ply wool in the warp. It has come out a wonderful colour.

















This is a piece of sanded sycamore left from doing the book covers for Michael's enamels. Three different methods of applying dye have been used.
1) Procion MX (green + rust-brown)
2) Acid Dye Emerald
3) DEKA Silk Paint Green

All the samples were all painted in a rectangular shape. The DEKA Silk Paint has only crept a very little, the acid dye has crept more (look at the irregular edges) and

the Procion MX has invaded  everywhere. The Acid dye has separated as well leaving  a blue edge to the sample.
The lower photo was taken after ironing the piece of sycamore (with a parchment separator). When it had been ironed for several minutes, I took a damp cloth and rubbed each patch of dye. You can see where I did this on the Procion MX and Acid dye patches and the damp cloth picked up a lot of colour. When I did this to the DEKA Silk paint patch, there was no colour on the damp cloth and no change to the appearance of the patch. So it is safe to use DEKA Silk Paints.

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About Me

I am weaver and - -. I dye my yarns with acid dyes, I paint my warps, put fabric collages and stencils on my weaving. I have three looms, a 12 inch wide, 12 shaft Meyer for demos and courses, a 30 inch Louet Kombo which is nominally portable but has a stand, two extra beams and a home-made device containing a fan reed. And last a 32 shaft Louet Megado which is computer controlled, has a sectional warp and a second warp beam and I am the proud owner of an AVL warping wheel which I love to bits and started by drilling holes in. I inserted a device for putting a cross in. I have just acquired an inkle loom and had a lesson from an expert so I can watch TV and weave at the same time. I am interested in weaving with silk mostly 60/2 although I do quite a bit with 90/2 silk. I also count myself as a bookbinder with a special interest in Coptic binding.