Date: Sun, 6 Jul 1997 17:49:00 -1000
From: Lee & Bill
Subject: Re: H-COST: dyeing wool
Susan,
Actually, Rit IS designed to dye wool. It's formulated to dye a variety of fibers.
I believe they use several different mordants (which make the dye stay in the fabric).
For part of a recent presentation, I gathered samples of about 40
different materials and dyed each in burnt-orange Rit. Wool, fur, and
leather all shrank in the hot bath, but colored extremely well (they do
better in a cool dye bath). Plastics, ceramic, wood, feathers, bone,
fresbwater pearls, and most of the textiles all took the dye as well.
In fact, the only thing that DIDN'T dye at all was a high-fire unglazed
porcelain. (I didn't try any glazed ceramic, glass, or pure synthetic
fibers on hand to try, but know from experience that they don't take dye
well.) Generally, the more porous items dyed darker, and the hardest
plastics and the pearls came out the lightest.
Lee
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Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 04:26:54 -1000
From: TEDDY
Subject: H-COST: Dylon dyes (LONG) - unashamed praise of product!
Since the subject came up....
I'm a big fan of Dylon dyes. I have only one or two costumes that I haven't used
Dylon on somewhere. Then there are the curtains, bedding and table linen. The main
two I use give good results on natural fibres like cotten, linen and wool and are
*Dylon Hand* and *Dylon Machine*. The others (*Multi-purpose* and *Dylon Cold*, both in
little round packs) can be used on artificial fibres but are not, in my experience,
as colour-fast or fade-proof as the machine and hand dyes.
The machine dyes are wonderful but only work in "cold-fill" machines which heat the
water once it gets in there. Shove the dye in the machine with the 1lb salt and
the (damp) fabric, put it through the 60 degree wash (without soap). Put it through
again on 95 degrees (or the hottest temperature the fabric can take) with soap to remove
the excess dye and clean the machine, then let it dry away from direct heat and sunlight.
Beautifully dyed colourfast fabric.
*********A word of warning here!******************
I know of *one* person (right Maggie?) who had problems with colour bleeding from
a fabric dyed with Dylon Machine when she washed the made-up garment. She now has
pale-blue cuffs and collar on her blue gown instead of white ones. I have never
experienced this problem with any of my costumes, so it may be a one-off. It might be worth
washing the fabric at high temperatures a couple of times before making it up if
you want to be really sure all the excess dye has been removed.
***************************************************
Since I read on H-costume about machine-washing cotton velvet, a
whole new world of dying oportunities has opened itself up to me!
Faded cotton velvet (and brocade) curtains can be revitalised by a turn through the
machine with a pack of Dylon. The startlingly good results were demonstrated when
a friend took my speculation about it literally and machine dyed some old orange
velvet curtains (complete with lining and heading tapes) a perfect deep black for use in a
flatmate's room. Since then I have made badly faded items, that would normally be
unusable for fancy garb, take on a whole new lease of life by either dying them back
to an even colour, or dying them a different colour entirely. I've even done it with a
garment that the fading was too obvious on when made-up. It worked beautifully and
the lining was a perfect match too.
The hand dyes work well too, though require more work than the machine ones. Mix
up the dye and salt in water of the specified temperature, place fabric in the water
and keep it moving for the first fifteen minutes then give it a stir at regular intervals. The longer you leave it in, the stronger colour you get. Hand dye can be used
for tie and dip-dye effects too. There's at least one other on the H-costume that
can tell you more about this than I can.
The colours in both machine and hand dyes can be mixed or "layered"
(doing a second dying over an already dyed-in colour) though this can
take a little experimentation if you want a specific shade.
So, h-costumers on a budget, don't pass up Aunt Matilda's offer of those faded pink
velvet curtains just because there's so little un-faded fabric in them. Thank her,
take them home and dye them burgundy or red, and make yourself something special
to wear to the next revel, ball, reenactment or masquerade.
Have fun!
Teddy
(Who has no connection with Dylon except being a satisfied enough
customer to keep a cupboard stocked with Dylon dyes because he
*knows* they'll get used)
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