Dyeing lightweight cotton

[Shepherdess]

Yes if it's wet it bleeds but I was thinking about the yarn she was dying or solids. Sorry typing as I think without reorganising. For paint you need to thicken.

[MTRuth]

You can soak the fabric, let it dry and then paint. But it will still run if as Judith mentioned. Depends on the effect you are trying to achieve.

[dcfrey]

I don't think the bleeding while dyeing will be too bad this time because I think I want a less precise design. I don't think I will be painting flowers or something like that, that would need the dye to stay in place. How do you thicken the dye anyway? I would like to know In case I decide to do that in the future.

Mar 4, 2013 10:33:33 GMT koffipot said:

You can also get some great effects by sprinkling salt onto the wet dye. I like the coarse stuff used in dishwashers best.

Haha, that's exactly what I wanted to try out. I saw a silk scarf dyed with this method on Etsy and it looked so beautiful! I'm not sure if cotton will look as pretty but silk is rare here. I only have 2 m of silk fabric left and I have no idea when I will find more to buy, so I don't feel like experimenting with it yet.

Thanks everyone The pool cleaner will come this friday, hopefully I will be at home to ask him about the washing soda.

[Shepherdess]

Have you tried Dharma Trading for silk? I don't know if they ship to Chili but they do have the best prises on silk.

[dcfrey]

Just checked and they do, but no idea how much the shipping would cost. I think I'll send an e-mail and ask how much a 500g package would cost, to have a reference. It looks great! So far I've been getting plain white silk from a chilean girl that lives in Mexico and runs a felting workshop and shop there. She comes once a year to visit her family and brings silk, specialty fibers and other felting supplies for me and other people. It's great because she doesn't charge for shipping, but it's only once a year! It would be great to have another source for it.

[Shepherdess]

There are different ways to thicken dye. I have used sodium alginate. It's from seaweed. You buy it as powder. Do you have an art supply store nearby? they usually sell it. the people at dharma are really nice. One time I put things in my shopping cart and then decided to wait for a few days so closed it. They sent an email asking if there had been a problem and could they help.

[koffipot]

The effects you can get on cotton can be equally as good as those on silk and it's a much cheaper way to experiment.

[zed]

Check on the Dharma site, I know they had some extra customs prices for the UK for some reason.
World of Wool do silk, it seems a reasonable price compared to what I've seen in shops. Ebay could be good. Do you have charity shops or second hand shops there, Daniela? They can be good places for getting silk or suitable fabrics for nuno.

[dcfrey]

Thanks everyone! Sorry for the late reply, I came back from vacation last monday and real life took over, haha.

I've heard of sodium alginate somewhere, I think I could get it. I have a few friends in art school, I'll ask them if they know where to buy it. The lady from Dharma sent me an e-mail about shipping costs, she was very nice. University fees and specialty fibers left me broke for the rest of the month, but I will order some silk next month. The silk chiffon looks quite tempting!

And Zed, we do have a lot of second hand stores here, there's actually an entire city area dedicated to it. I've actually found a few nice fabrics for felting there but they are mostly small handkerchiefs and things like that. I use them as decorations, but I've never found anything big enough to be used as the fabric base for nuno projects.

[zed]

I think you can get sodium alginate from health food shops or Chinese shops.

You could make an interesting scarf or nuno mosaic with the hankies

[jufergu]

I am pretty sure that Dharma carries it.