Dying wool

[New Fiberman]

This is a request for help from those who may have lots of experience dying wool. In particular, to do my new project, I need to dye precise patterns on wool. Paint won't work, I really need to use a fiber reactive dye. The result must have good hand feel. And the patterns, while not too intricate, do need to be very precise. Any suggestions? I have never dyed wool, but have dyed cotton many times. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[marion barnett]

If you go to www.kemtex.co.uk, and look at their instruction sheets (sadly, you have to buy 'em...) there's a sheet that talks about using procions to dye print on wool. I have them somewhere, haven't used them, but remember thinking that they looked clear enough. His instruction sheets aren't expensive, and whilst I know you're in the US, I haven't found anything similar elsewhere.
hth
marion

[New Fiberman]

I do have some information. This url on the Dharma Trading site has what looks to be solid info: http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/208802-AA.shtml. I have also read on the dharmatrading site that Versatex paint has very little impact on the feel. I might have to go that way. I want geometric patterns to be pretty crisp on a high quality, very soft, durable, wool fabric. Oh, and sorry, the title should be Dyeing Wool. I don't really want to kill it. ;-)

[Angela]

Fiber reactive dye is not the way to go with wools, wrong dye type.

For wools, you want to be using acid dyes (work great on silk too) & the simplest of those to use are the acid milling dyes used with citric acid crystals to provide your acidity & you can heat set either in the microwave or on the stove top by steaming.

Acid dyes used correctly will not affect the handle or feel of wool what so every, felted fibers are due to incorrect procedures.

If you want a how too, feel free to shout, let me know what you'll be doing & ill be glad to give you a walk through.


Angela

[New Fiberman]

I am a little confused, I think. Dharmatrading's website (see above) indicates that one can use fiber reactive dye, setting it with acid, on wool. I don't think it is the same type of fiber reactive dye used on cotton. But I don't really know. (I had thought that reactive dyes attached to the cellulose in cotton, thus making them not very good with wool.) My goal is to dye a piece of wool, say about 2ft by 4ft, with geometric designs. Because the designs are geometric, I really want the lines to be pretty crisp. I only plan to use two colors. I need to be able to dye lines and triangles. If the first one is successful, I plan to do many more. I may do others in silk too. If I have to build an oven type device to set the dye, I can do that. After all, the temperature to set the dye is not too high. Any help will be appreciated.

[Cherie Ekholm]

Hope you already have figured this out, but if not, something here may help.

The confusion happens because there are two basic types of dye commonly used with wool and other protein dyes: acid dyes and fiber reactive dyes. The fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dyes, can be used as acid dyes. So everyone is right here, in a sense.

If you want to use the reactive dyes as acid dyes, you'll need to substitute something like vinegar or citric acid in place of the soda ash (dye fixative). And if you are painting, you'll want to steam them to set the dye. Dharma has lots of info on steaming, which you can do stove top or in the microwave if you have a micro you can dedicate to dyeing.

Otherwise, you mix the dyes and a thickener like print paste or sodium alginate, just like you would do to paint cotton or cellulose. Soak the fiber in the water and vinegar/citric acid solution before hand. Remove the excess water gently, and paint away.

The biggest thing to remember is that you can't agitate wool or it will felt, so be gentle.

*disclaimer* I'm allergic to wool and don't dye it. Ever. But silk fibers can be painted in the same manner.

Also, if you don't know about the yahoo "dyehappy" group or the Dyer's List, you might look for them. Lots of good info from dyers of all types. Also, Paula Burch's website is invaluable: http://www.pburch.net/dyeing.shtml.

[Ruth Lane]

I agree that you should use acid dye with wool. It sounds like to get precise geometric patterns you would either need to thicken the dyes or use a resist to prevent the dye from spreading in areas that you didn't want the dye. It would be similar to what silk painters do. I know that Dharma has a bunch of information about silk painting with resists. They also carry acid dyes which I have used to dye wool tops - it works great and comes out in gorgeous hues.
Ruth

[Angela]

It is acid dyes you are after honestly ! Fiber reactive is cellulose, acid for wool (I dye wool & fibers for a living !)

Id explore dharma & see what they have for making a dye paste (thickner) which can be painted or stamped (home made block print maby ? on, it'll no doubt be called something totaly different to what it is here in the uk.

Resists are fun, but if you have quite a lot of blank area's between your geometrics painting on so much resist can be a bit of a chore.


Angela

[Sandra Wyman]

It would also be worth trying ProChem who are excellent at giving technical advice on all kinds of dyes and dyeing procedures - they have a very good specialist technical department.

[Maureen Grantham]

I would think you would have to use a thickener to paint wool. Wool dyers tend to favour Lanaset dyes, but am not sure how this works with a thickener. Have you done a search on Pro-Chem or Dharma Trading to see if there is any methodology listed?