dye down the drain

I mainly dye silk with Procion MX dyes and vinegar in low water immersion methods. I've developed my method over a couple of years now, and I continue to tweak it. Currently I'm trying to optimize my volume of dye solution and volume of powdered dye.

Dyeing sheer silk veils means that usual recommendations about how much dye and dye solution you need really do not apply. Most Procion MX dyes I work with have recommendations for when they are used with soda ash, not vinegar, for example, and per pound of fabric. When you convert from a pound of fabric down to the 10 grams of a silk veil, you get into silly-land. So over time I've calculated as small an amount of dye as seem reasonable to measure.

The thing is, my LWI dye baths do not exhaust well at all. There's still a lot of unused dye in them. Which means that rinsing takes forever. But I don't want to reduce my dye too much, because I want strong colors. So I'm continuing to fool around with amounts, but in the meantime I've had several veils that underwent 15 minutes of hand rinsing in the sink PLUS two full machine washes... and still they had excess dye. SO time consuming. SO wasteful of water. Argh.

I've completed six veils towards my goal of 18 by the end of April... that's not so bad... but my schedule is becoming quite hellish. Tonight is bellydance class; tomorrow I have a hair appointment; Wednesday I hope to dance with the local SCA ladies; Thursday night a ballroom dance lesson with my husband. Saturday may be very, very dye-stained.

A big gig looms

I was asked to vend veils at a workshop coming up in LaCrosse, WI, at the end of April. (Sonya of Chicago is teaching.) Since I'm not able to vend at the local show on April 8, I decided to accept. Now it's a matter of getting enough veils dyed to take along! I've been far too busy with my day job to dye much recently. Now my calendar is spotted with little appointments: dye 2 veils here, dye 2 veils there. I've got six weeks... I need to average at least three a week to have a respectable table. Can it be done? I guess I'll find out -- within that same time frame I've got dance class, ballroom dance lessons, and more interminable overtime at work. Eeek!

People are wacky

Before I tried dyeing anything, I read one set of instructions about doing it. Just one. That was actually good. Had I known how many different ways there are to apply dye, I might never had done it.

The people who I think are wacky are the people who don't even read ONE set of instructions, one book, one web page, one anything. They are the people who have questions in this format:

"I took an [X] and put it in a pot with some [Y]. It didn't work right. Why is that?"

Paula Burch gets these questions all the time. She is the most patient teacher in the universe. She explains carefully what they should have done. My response would look more like this:

Dear random idiot,

Why exactly did you think putting X in a pot with Y would work? Did you choose these things at random? Why do you seem surprised that you ended up with a mess? Did you even consider using a web search to get a tiny amount of information on what you planned to do? Not internet-savvy -- okay, how about the LIBRARY? Libraries are your friends. No library near you? How about a local art teacher or fabric store owner -- did you ask ANYBODY? No? Well, you go ask them now. Then come back. Tell me what they said. Maybe I'll have cooled off by then.

It doesn't bother me so much when the question is "I'd sure like to dye my [Z]. How would I do that?" Then at least we're not starting off with a ruined project. Then we can warn the unsuspecting. Then we can at least help. Afterwards... well, we are lucky there are Paula Burches in the world... diplomatic and patient dye mentors. Heavens.

Most recent question I was actually able to help somebody with:
"I'd like to dye my bedspread solid black."
What size?
"It's a queen."
Do you own any container at all that would hold a queen bedspread and enough water for it to swim freely in it?
"No."
Do you own your own washing machine?
"No. Er... this is a problem, isn't it?"
What's the bedspread made out of?
"Something shiny. It's thick and quilted."
Oh yes... this is a problem.
"Maybe I'll just buy a new one."