Direct dyeing with Procion dyes

[zed]

I want to dye some perle cotton. I want to do variegated colours, and I want to have some control so I want to do 'direct dyeing' onto them. I haven't used my dyes yet, I did read Lyn's tutorial for mixing up enough to do fabrics, but don't know how to alter the quantities for using directly onto the cotton thread rather than soaking in a tub.
Does anyone have any advice? Thanks in advance

[Shepherdess]

 Paula Burch's site has some good directions and some charts for quantity. I don't know if they go small enough. Dharma sells a tiny scale for weighing very small amounts. I usually just use the end of a skinny popsicle stick to get some out an mix it up. I am not good at being precise on measuring.  I have found its best to mix with only a few drops of water to make a paste and then add more water.

[MTRuth]

Zed - just back from my trip but I will try to answer soon.

[zed]

Ok, thanks, Ruth

Thanks, Ann, I'll look at Paula's site too.

[MTRuth]

When I dye thread, I use 1/2 teaspoon of dye powder to 1/2 cup of water. I put the mixed dye in glass jars or plastic squeeze bottles. Then I use small plastic cups to mix colors, add more water etc. to get different colors. I soak the thread in soda ash water (I don't have the exact measurements on this but Paula's site should have it). I get a long piece of plastic and place the thread that I have tied together (to prevent excess tangling) on the plastic. I fill a small syringe with dye and then squirt it slowly on to the thread. Just enough dye that the thread soaks it all up. You don't want dye running all over your plastic. You can add different colors to make it a variegated thread. Then I smash the threads down with gloved hands to make sure the dye has penetrated through all the thread.

I then roll up the plastic, put down another thread and squirt dye on with the syringe. Keep rolling as you go so the threads don't touch. If you have excess dye, wipe it off the plastic before rolling so it won't contaminate the next threads. Then after all the thread is dyed, you put the rolled plastic in a warm place and let it sit for 4-8 hours. Then you rinse the threads until no dye comes out anymore.

If you have leftover dye, you can put cotton fabric (soaked in soda ash) in a baggie and pour the remaining dyes on to the fabric. You get great effects if you cram a bunch of fabric together.

I'm looking forward to seeing them!

[Shepherdess]

I will add the cramming silk into a jar works really well too and you can pour several colours over and add the soda ash water after. There is a good explanation on Paula's site. Its low water immersion dying.

[zed]

Thanks for that, Ruth, I'll order the thread and do a huge batch of threads

You did a post about low water immersion didn't you, Ann? If I have any dye spare, I'll try that

[MTRuth]

It is easier to do a huge batch all at once. I work my way through the color wheel and make a variety of values in the same color. That way you have lights, mediums and darks which is always helpful. You just add water to the color to make the values lighter.

[Shepherdess]

Yes I think I did something on the blog.

[zed]

That's a good tip about adding water, I'll try to be organised about it, but as long as I can just have a good variety, I'll be happy