[Regia-NA] Dyeing (was Re: mustard plants)

[Carolyn Priest-Dorman]

Vara wrote:

>With silk...do you add acid? when I was spinning and dyeing silk caps I
>remember alsways having to add an acid to get it to dye properly.

Hmmm.  I use commercial yarns for silkwork.  The last couple years I've 
been working with two basic silk yarns:  a Chinese reeled silk that's 
almost cordlike (it would make lovely fringe and tassels!) and a fine 
Japanese degummed organzine for tablet weaving.  I have never tried adding 
acid, though.

Here's something I just finished for a friend.

http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/image/mirabels-hlad.jpg

It's madder and weld, the first big project I've finished with the 
organizine.  The colors are fairly accurate to the original, unlike many 
digital photos:  they even show where the madder got streaky because I was 
too faint-hearted to stir the tangly skein as much as I ought.  But overall 
I was so pleased with how it worked up that I went out and bought a half 
pound more of the stuff--lots of tablet weaving in its future!  So far it's 
given me good yellows, oranges, reds, blues, and greens, although I haven't 
tried it with the bugs yet.

The Chinese takes the dye less well altogether, though, even though I 
extensively degummed it just in case.  After a great deal of trouble I got 
one decent shade of medium woad blue, but all the other colors were pretty 
bland, even the weld which has otherwise *never* failed to be vivid on 
silk.  *sigh*  Maybe I should have left it white....


Carolyn Priest-Dorman              Þóra Sharptooth
  http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/thora.html