Dyeing already Nuno felted scarves

[Deleted]

Hello ladies

Before I ask my question, let me assure that I have spent most of Friday Googling for information and came up empty-handed :-( I did find loads of links to workshops based in the USA which obviously I can't attend. Also found a link to an online workship but really, I can't afford the almost $300 for that :-(

I also found an online tutorial written in English by a Russian woman but because the cover image of the tut made me doubt her abilities, I queried her tut.  She dyes with food colouring and I told her that I would prefer to dye with acid dyes.  I wanted to know specifically whether her tut would guide me how to prevent colours from running into other areas and how I would wrap my scarf during the setting period, etc. etc.  Guess what?  She pulled the tut from her store! <LOL>

I have read all the posts on this subject posted on this forum but it still doesn't answer my questions.

So my questions are based on the following  :  I have seen a LOT of scarves/shawls that have been obviously hand painted after it was felted.  Whether it was completely dyed or just spot-dyed, I don't know.

So now my curiosity has been spiked <LOL> and I want to know if any of you have ever dyed a fully felted scarf?  Should I do it, I would prefer do lay it out on a table and hand paint it with the dye.  And then what?  How do you wrap it with plastic for steaming?

How do you protect the colours from running?  Or do you just hope for the best?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated, as always.

Regards

Linn 

[halay]

Nobody has given answer to your question yet and from what I understand from your post you would like to dye your nuno felted scarf using several colours. I would avoid using food colouring. In my experience these colours are not stable. I would rather use any other dyestuff for wool or silk. The way I would go is soaking your scarf well in water with some vinegar added. Then I would suqeeze water out but not completely and place the scarf on a long kitchen plastic foil. Then I would use smaller amounts of dyes and paint the scarf by pouring small amounts of the dye on the places you want. Wearing latex gloves I would then press the scarf down with my fingers so that the dye penetrates through the felt all way down. there will be no clear borders where two colours meet but it would give leave a nice effect on the transition areas I think. Make sure that all the areas are well saturated with liquid but not too much. then I would wrap the scarf to get a kind of a tube which you can twist and form a sausage which would fit your bowl and put it in a microwawe. I usually microwawe it two times two minutes and let it cool down.

[Deleted]

Hello Nada - thank you for your detailed response.

Have a look at the scarf at this link :
www.etsy.com/listing/127100725/felted-scarf-made-of-bluefaced-leicester?ref=shop_home_active_20
This is the scarf that was on the cover advertising her tutorial on how to dye a Nuno felted scarf. When I looked at the scarf carefully, I noticed how the colours bled onto other areas.

And that is why I asked her more questions, such as will the tutorial tell me how to block colours and how to wrap areas from other areas so that others don't bleed and smudge. And that's when she took the English version of the tutorial for sale from her store and it is no longer available. So actually, I don't think she knows either and I am glad I didn't waste my money buying that tutorial.

Lately I am seeing a lot of the Russian ladies dyeing their felted scarves, at least I do think that they do! Have a look at this one : www.flickr.com/photos/feltedpleasure/29342945482/in/album-72157664243523805/ as well as this one www.flickr.com/photos/feltedpleasure/28829409363/in/album-72157664243523805/
What is your opinion? I do love the extreme depth and intense colours! It really appeals to me.

I think that what one could do is (obviously) have your plastic wrap underneath the laid out scarf, then hand-paint with dye ... and then ... place another layer of plastic wrap over the dyed scarf and very carefully roll it up into a jelly roll (sausage) and hope that the colours don't smear onto the areas where you don't want it.

Nada - you say you microwave twice for two minutes at a time. How long do you rest it in-between the two cycles? And do you open the wrap during those two cycles at all?

Regards
Linn

[MTRuth]

It looks to me on all of your examples that the colors have bled into each other. That is one of things I like about dyeing is the mixtures that you get spontaneously.

One way to prevent the dyes bleeding into each other is to work with dry fabric but that will end up giving you a "hard" edge. For a softer edge, I would do as Nada suggests. Or you can block the dye with a shibori technique such as clamping the material between two ceramic tiles to keep it from being dyed. There are many different types of shibori that block dyes in certain areas. Or there are specific products used in silk painting that keep dyes contained such as gutta resist. I am not sure how these would work on an already nuno felted pieces.

When I dye by painting, I put a piece of plastic wrap underneath, paint on the dyes, cover with another plastic wrap and then roll and steam. Avoid using excess dye. It shouldn't be running all over the place. Just enough to get soaked into the fabric. As Nada, says, push down to make sure it is soaking through. I usually steam in a pot with a vegetable steamer at the bottom to keep the plastic wrapped felt out of the water. I usually steam for 30 minutes.

[Deleted]

Thanks Ruth ... then my thinking of layering with two plastic wraps are correct :-)

Regards
Linn

[halay]

I think Ruth has answered all your questions.Just go ahead bravely. I think a scarf as shown in picture 3 on flick should not be difficult to dye. And don't forget to show us the finished project.

[halay]

and yes, I let the roll cool down a bit between two cycles in the microwave. Ruth suggests using a steamer which is probably better, but i don't have one.

[Shepherdess]

I haven't tried to keep colours from merging. You would need some sort of resist to stop they dye. I would do it like Ruth suggested myself. In the first link I don't think she dyed it after but before, there is no way the orange on the purple silk where done at the same time in my opinion. The second one looks like it was done as Ruth said. The last one only shows the silk side and it looks to be done with MX dyes before hand if you ask me opinion. It has been heavily felted. you can see the blue gray wool form the other side coming through in the coppery areas. One way to have a little more control is to thicken your dye so it does not spread they same way. I have used sodium alginate and arrow root to thicken dyes in the past.