Question about types of dyes for silk and wool

[mariestdenis]

I am a quite new felter but really love it and have been avidly reading information about it.

I inherited some fiber reactive dyes and green label Jacquard silk painting dyes from friends & spouse and I have noticed that all the discussions about dying wool and silk seem to be about acid dyes. So will I be better off if I just buy some acid dyes because they really work better? 

The price of the acid dyes is not that high, I just would as soon not buy too many chemicals if I don't really need them but if acid dyes are significantly, better, easier, or more permanent I would happily purchase them. I'd just like some input on how good the acid dyes are in comparison to the others. 

I saw that (Ruth, I think) had done a test with fiber reactive dyes on wool or silk but I haven't been able to find that post again.

Thanks in advance and happy felting,

Marie St. Denis

[Shepherdess]

Fibre reactive dye is for cellulose fibres like cotton. You can use them as if they were acid dye but the colours won't be quite the same. Acid dye is for protein fibres and nylon. They can't be used for cellulose fibre. Silk will take either dye. it is the only fibre that does. Nether are very expensive. I have both. I don't know anything about green label dye. A great resource for dying is Paul Burch's site. www.pburch.net/dyeing.shtml She gives you several methods what is nice is she explains what everything is and what they do in the process and which ones you need. I don't dye a lot of cellulose fiver and use the scrunch dye formula when I dye with it. I just don't usually scrunch my fibres.

[mariestdenis]

Thank you Ann,
My problem was largely because I didn't know exactly how to classify the silk paints/dyes I had been given by a former co-worker. Using the links I found out that they are actually liquid acid dyes that already have been acidified. I was kind of confused also because some places said that silk worked with fiber reactive dyes and others said it didn't work well. I love the resources on Paul Burch's site as well.
Thank you for your help,

Marie

[MTRuth]

Great question Marie. I did do some experiments on using fiber reactive dyes on fiber. As long as you use vinegar or some type of acid on the fiber first, and then heat or steam, the fiber reactive dyes actually do fairly well. Silk does work with either way of dyeing. You need to use soda ash with the fiber reactive dyes on silk.

I'm not sure how the silk "paints" will work on wool fiber but they actually should work. I would soak the fiber in vinegar water first, apply the silk paints and then steam. Let us know how it comes out.

[koffipot]

Jul 6, 2020 18:39:34 GMT MTRuth said:

Great question Marie. I did do some experiments on using fiber reactive dyes on fiber. As long as you use vinegar or some type of acid on the fiber first, and then heat or steam, the fiber reactive dyes actually do fairly well. Silk does work with either way of dyeing. You need to use soda ash with the fiber reactive dyes on silk.

I'm not sure how the silk "paints" will work on wool fiber but they actually should work. I would soak the fiber in vinegar water first, apply the silk paints and then steam. Let us know how it comes out.

I use Citric Acid rather than vinegar. No complaints about the smell, so keeps everyone happy.

[MTRuth]

Thanks Judith, I use citric acid sometimes too.