Hand dyed silk samples

Silk samples following instructions in the Ashford Book of Dyeing, by Ann Milner

Here are the 1g silk samples (five times round the warping mill, as my scales aren't that accurate) I dyed with procion MX from Kemtex. Unfortunately they seem dominated by purple, and that may have been my mistake. The first twenty samples I dyed I'd put the silk in the pot first and only then added the blue dye, then ages later the red dye, and then even more ages later, the yellow. So maybe the blue got to be more dominant, having had first dibs at the silk. Anyway, for the other forty-six samples I got all the dye in first and then added the silk.

There are plenty of mistakes to be made when doing percentage dyeing (I did 2% here, a dark shade), and I made sure I made as many as I could.

Dyeing experiment

Perhaps you would like to see some pictures of my second experiment in dyeing - these are 1g samples of silk noil in 66 beakers, changing colour in three directions, each with different proportions of red, blue and green (from Ann Milner's book again)

I am still waiting for them to dry so I can put them on a piece of card and then maybe I shall choose some colours to dye my scarf warp and weft that I've got prepared.

What I wove with the silk I dyed

I don't think I ever got round to showing you this scarf. I wove it with the results of my dyeing course that I went on in the summer.

It is a silk noil warp and weft. The warp was placed in a gutter and dabbed with different colours, which were very dark when I applied them but finished up very pale, which surprised me. The weft is all green.

I wove it in a twill chequerboard pattern on eight shafts which alternately shows either predominantly warp or weft threads. It is sett at 36 ends per inch and the weft is packed down the same amount. It was pretty awful to weave towards the end because the threads were all so close together and they kept breaking. I felt like I was really hobbling to the finish line, or, say, with only one wheel left on my wagon.

When it came off the loom the fabric was very rigid and inflexible but when it had been washed and ironed it became quite supple and has a linen-like feel to it which I like.

Next time I shall make the sett quite a bit looser. I have wound the warp and the weft skeins and they are ready to be prepared for dyeing and then dyed. I think I need to do some more one gram colour sampling first though as I am not sure about how the colours of the dyes I have will turn out. One day I plan to buy a kilo of good spun silk, but that will be when I am a bit more practised at dyeing. I notice Gaddams has undergone some sort of change of businesss arrangements, and it is from them I would buy my silk so I hope they will wait for me!

Tidy

These are the 1 gram samples of silk that I dyed. I'm not mad keen on any of them to be frank and I think that I should try again with a darker depth of shade.

The dusky, dusty, more muted colours are what I prefer and maybe there are some greens and mauves that I could use here but I'm not sure.

Next time I shall probably do the 66- sample exercise in Ann Milner's book, which are all at the same depth of shade and use three colours in the mix.

I think I shall finish my rug first though, as dyeing really is an awfully big adventure.

Measuring up perfectly

Not having any scales accurate enough to weigh just one gram, or parts of a gram, I was very proud to have successfully wound exactly ten parcels of one gram of silk.

I found some similar yarn in a catalogue, which had its weight given as 100g measuring 1000m. So I wound off 10m on my warping mill and lo and behold, my 36 lengths weighed 36g!!!

For the dye powder I used some kitchen measuring spoons and followed the instructions which came with the dye. As long as I always use the same measures I should be able to repeat the colours.

Measuring up

I've been dyeing some samples with a view to designing a silk scarf one day.

This is following instructions in Ann Milner's Ashford book of dyeing. There are 36 one gram lengths of silk noil yarn. The dye is from Kemtex, procion MX.

It did not go entirely without problems, one of which you can see in the photo. Sample number one, in the top left corner used a 0.1 % solution instead of a 0.01% solution. And I would have expected some browns in the middle section and less of a sudden change from green to purple.

But it is my first attempt, and it was not an absolute failure. I can see some good colours amongst the horrid!

Good dye to you all.

I had a thoroughly action- packed Saturday at my weaving teacher, learning to dye wool and silk.

Here are the skeins hanging over my loom, while I decide what to do with them.

The long one is a silk warp that I dabbed with fibre reactive dyes while it was lying in a gutter (that'll teach it to stay sober). This is called random dyeing and it used cold water. There is its green silk weft hanging next to it.

The other hanks, in pinks and mauves, are different types of wool and were dyed using acid dyes in hot water.

My plan is to dye thick berber rug wool so I can weave more individual rugs in colours I have chosen, rather than in the colours that happen to be available. We shall see. A rug does use up a lot of yarn. I've got a bit of rug wool that is already dyed to use up first and then I'll see what I can do.