community of dyers

I am new to hand dyeing and my goal is to dye yarn for sweaters, i.e. fairly large batches of one color. I am using Lanaset dyes which are wonderfully rich and strong—a little goes along way… I would like any advice about how to get good leveling in making paler shades. So far, I have just used Glauber Salt, but will be adding Albegal SET as soon as it arrives in my mailbox. I have also been having some problems with light spots where I tie the skeins, even when the tie is very loose. Again, it is the lighter shades where this happens.

So, I look forward to hearing from anyone else who is working with these dyes. I need to knit a pale pink sweater for my younger daughter before she goes off to college… Many thanks in advance for your thoughts--

Hello! I've very new to hand-dying, so I'm happy to have found this forum! As my first project, I've dyed a bunch of wool a rust colour with a weak acid dye. It turned out a little brighter than I would have liked. What's the best way to darken it a bit? I was thinking of dying it again with a brown dye, but I don't want to completely change the colour. Can I just mix a weaker concentration? Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Almost everyone says that the French silk dyes used for silk painting, including Dupont, Pebeo Soie, Sennelier Tinfix, and Kniazeff, contain acid dyes. The Ashford Book of Dyeing said in 1992 that Sennelier and Tinfix, apparently then still two distinct brands of dye, contained basic dyes, like Aljo's Alcohol/water dyes that they sell for silk painting. There is very little other information available about these dyes, however.

Today I noticed in some MSDS information that one of the Pebeo Soie dyes actually contains a fiber reactive dye!

My latest project was to dye silk scarves with unsweetened Kool-Aid, and only a few colors are rinsing well. Mostly the pastel Pink Lemonade and Blue Berry. The bright reds (Black Cherry, Tropical Punch) are bleeding profusely, and the Orange is not doing so well, either. And the Lemonade yellow was pathetically pale, barely recognizible. Is this normal, or beyond normal?

I'm wondering whether I got the silk hot enough, long enough, or whether all the flavors had enough acid. I used the microwave to steam them, but was wary of exploding or melting the plastic wrap over the dish, so I did just about 11 seconds twice on each tiny little handkerchief. I'm sure they cooled off faster than a greater volume of material would have.

I just noticed something interesting while working on today's entry for my dyeing Q&A blog. ProChem's Washfast Jet Black WF672, which is Colour Index Acid Black 172, is one of the two dyes contained in the Lanaset Jet Black dye. (I have a couple of pages on this site about Lanaset dyes.)

The Lanaset dye also contains an acid dye which is not found in the Colour Index and therefore does not have a Colour Index name, whose full chemical name is

Ok,
I'm already with my products (I think I have them all) to start dye process.. I'm using the Jacquard Acid Dyes..
I am dyeing 12mm silk satin and I've read the instructions but I still have a few questions...

1. I'm confused about the ratio of weight/dye.. Do I convert knowing the mm of the silk OR do I have to actually weight the yardage of silk???

2. I read, I am supposed to use Synthropol first on the silk..once I wash it, does it need to be dry before I can dye it? and can yards of silk go in the dryer or does it need to "line dry"??

3. I read that the drape of silks are affected by dyes and that the fabric might be "crunchy" and I should use a fabric softner.. Is this correct?? If so, do I do this when I wash the yardage in Synthropol after I've dyed it???

Ann Milner's The Ashford Book of Dyeing, which I've been reading, does not have a great deal to say about Ashford Wool Dyes, but that's more than you can find anywhere else. When someone asked me, a few months ago, what the Ashford dyes were, I couldn't say more than that they are clearly acid dyes (which of course she knew already).

What the Ashford Book of Dyeing says about the Ashford dyes, on pages 167 to

I recently got a copy of Ann Milner's The Ashford Book of Dyeing, a 1992 book (I have the 1998 revised edition) about a great many different types of dyes, including natural dyes, reactive dyes, acid dyes, and disperse dyes. I wouldn't recommend it so much for the beginner, but it is an unusually interesting source for a wide range of dye information and recipes.

I've been thinking of buying some all in one acid dye, landscapes in particular, and was wondering if it would keep if I made it into a stock solution. As far as I know, it won't react with either the container or the water, so I wouldn't see how it would degrade any faster than a regular stock solution, but the advice I have gotten from a few other spinners who do their own dyeing is to not keep it in solution, but they couldn't offer a reason not to, just that "it seems like it shouldn't be done" so I decided to ask here.

The shawl I finished today came out different colours than I expected, I still like it but....would like to know why the colours are so different than planned. I posted two more pics on my Flickr file so you can see the colours. The weak acid dye for the last dyebath was the same as the black dye in the turquoise shawl. The only different thing for this orangy shawl is that 1. I added sodium metahexaphosphate as a water softener as our water here is extremely hard, (that's the very first time I have used it, and was hoping to get more intense colour) and 2. I wrapped the shawl on an aluminum pipe.

Hi.

I have been at the gathering for Norwegian Angora here in my own city Bergen, I had class in food coloring and we then come in discussion in how to get a strong black color? I would imagen that to get a strong and good black color, that most be done with acid dyes.

So therefore can anyone here give me advice to how dye to get a good strong black color? They had tried different way, but the colors is coming out more dark grey then black.

Also I wonder will the Jacquard black give black and not a grey tone?

Heidi Kim
Norway

Paula
I am looking for book recommendations for a real good text that explains the differences between the way the different chemical classes of acid dyes set , wash fastness light fastness .
and practical explanations such as do you really need to keep the wool hot for an hour as some direction say and why.
I have many of the books aimed at the home dyer ( which just seem not to explain the dye types and why things work as well as I would like ), and CL Birds second edition of theory and practice of wool dyeing , as well as the Complete Technology book on dyes and intermediates ( this one is just way over my head ).

I was at a workshop this past weekend where the instructor used a most wonderful bubbling vat of black dye that he called "Acidal".

I'm not that familiar with acid dyes, but now looking at the quality of the results, I definitely need to investigate this one black in particular further. I've googled, but to no avail; I can't seem to find any information about them, so am wondering if any one here might be so kind as to point me in the right direction.

Thank you in advance for your time,

Darlene

I did kind of LWI with with woolen thread. Some skeins tool dye OK, some took only light shade. I wonder if it could be because of difference in wool preparation or maybe some skeins lost dye solution during transporting them into plastic bags - you know how wool lets the liquids run out easily.

(I've bought hand spun merino wool made by "Man without home", charity project. Some skeins were still harsh of lanolin, I've tried to pre-wash it, but I was afraid not to felt it)

Do Jacquard Acid dyes require hot water and vinegar. Are these dyes specifically for wool or silk?

Here's a link to a new page I've just finished writing today about Levelling Acid Dyes, which are the type commonly known as Kiton dyes:

http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/FAQ/KitonAcidDye.shtml

Levelling Acid dyes are valuable for dyeing wool or other animal fibers a single solid color, rather than darker or lighter shades within the same piece, but their washfastness is inferior to that of other types of acid dyes. Items dyed with Levelling Acid dyes should be dry cleaned, or hand washed in cool water. These dyes are not suitable for hand-painting or rainbow dyeing, because their greatest strength is their ability to diffuse smoothly throughout the fiber being dyed.

The new page includes a huge amount of information from different sources, including the chemical names and molecular structures of the Kiton dyes sold by ProChem, and names of other dyes in the same class. I was surprised to find that a number of dyes that are classified elsewhere as Acid Levelling dyes are sold as Jacquard Acid Dyes or as ProChem's Washfast Acid dyes.

What a great resource this site is!

I have a cashmere sweater that I found in a thrift store (hence I am willing to take the risk of ruining it - I can always make felt items out of it...)

It's bright scarlet, not my colour. I'd love to add some yellow to the colour so it's a more orangey red. I seem to be able to find Jacquard Acid dyes easily here in the UK, and wondered whether to try a bright yellow, an orange or their "Fire Red".

Any thoughts / experience please as to what shade to choose?

I'm leaning towards the most yellow yellow for a high dye concentration, but would be most likely to use the rest of the dye for another project if it was "Fire Red".

Hi there! I just started dyeing wool roving in a crock pot and am trying to boost my supply of dyes. I've found this forum and P.Burch's website a WEALTH of information and am so thankful for it!

I have just a few questions:

1. Does anyone have a personal preference between Lanaset or Cushings acid dyes? Does one dissolve better than the other, or are they pretty much the same?

2. I understand that I can use fiber reactive (Procion) dyes in place of acid dyes by using an acid dye recipe. Does it matter if I mix acid dye of one color with fiber reactive dye of another color to get the color I desire? Are the dyes the same and it's just a matter of how you set them?

Hi,
I am new to this list and all the technical info, though I have dyed for 30 years now. Relatively new on the market in Denmark, where I live, is Irgalan dyes, and we are trying to put together a starters kit with the three primary colours. But I haven't been able to find any info that can help me deside which dyes to order. Can anyone here help?
I have read some of the comments, mentioning a colour index - is there somewhere to learn more about this?

Kathe Lewis,
Denmark