Procion MX dyes - what can I use it for?

[Deleted]

Hello ladies .. I need advice fast please! :-)

I bought a large range of colours (mainly the 11 recommended colours to stock plus a couple of other ones) - needless to say it cost a pretty packet!

Now I have been told that it won't work on dyeing natural un-dyed Merino wool roving/top - is that true?  And I was told that it won't dye my Silk Chiffon and neither will it dye my Margilan silk gauze!!  What is true and what is false?!!!

Please help me quickly!  I feel a bit depressed as I really didn't want to spend all that money just to dye cheesecloth because then I could have used locally bought dyes!

Regards

Linn

[MTRuth]

Procion MX dyes are for plant fibers not animal fiber. They will work on silk though so any type of silk will accept Procion dyes. For wool and other animal fiber, you need acid dyes.

[Deleted]

Phew! What a relief! Thanks Ruth! The dyeing of the roving came as an afterthought so I will leave that for now as I am not going to spend money on roving as well as on more dyes. Plus ... I have read too many comments on the roving felting during the dyeing/rinsing process!

So for now I will stick to just dyeing my silks (when it arrives) with the Procion MX.

Ruth - will the Procion MX work on the Silk Chiffon Gauze? It should huh? because it is also silk?

Regards
Linn

[Shepherdess]

Here is a site that will give you all the information you need. There are instructions for different techniques and it explains what all the auxiliaries to the dyes do. www.pburch.net/dyeing.shtml I use the low water immersion dye for my multicoloured silks for nuno felting. 

[MTRuth]

Yes, procion dyes will work on silk chiffon gauze. The site Ann recommends is great to learn more about all kinds of dyeing.