Dying Workshop

We have been given an induction into the University Dying room, we have been taught how to use direct dyes, and the equipment. 

The fabrics we used to dye: 

Cotton and silk

Viscose and Linen

Silk and viscose velvet

Cotton and Viscose

Viscose crepe georgette 

Direct Dyes are designed for cellulose (natural from plants) based fabrics only. 

Make sure all your equipment is clean before beginning, so you don't get any contamination on your fabric. You then put water in a metal bowl before adding the correct weight of dye powder.

You then put it on the heat and allow it to come to the boil, while always mixing, making sure every grain is dissolved. 

Next you out water in another metal bowl and then addd the measured amount of salt. You need to heat this until all of the grains of salt have been dissolved. 

Your fabric needs to be rinsed so that there is no chemicals on it to react with the dye, sometimes you will need machine wash your fabric to get it completely clean.

Next you add the salt water in with the die, and add your fabric, keeping it moving at all times, so that it it completely covered. 

You have to remember that the colour of the fabric will always be lighter after it is dry, so you may want to leave it in longer, once you think you have got the right colour. 

You then rinse your fabric until the water runs clear, and there so no more dye to come out. 

We then went on to do the process again only with black dye this time. 

The difference this time is that we were dip dying over the top of what we had originally dyed, to create a different look.

Unfortunately we didn't use the right amount of black dye powder, so the black didn't come out as we had hopped. This is something we have learnt for next time. 

The silk and viscose velvet has taken to the dye the best this is something to consider again, when working with dye. 

I really enjoyed the dye workshop, it taught me a lot about how different fabrics react to the dyes differently. I will look forward to getting in there and experimenting in the near future.