My Tapestries!! (please comment)

[salkina]

These are a select few tapestries I made about 6 months ago. The Redish Lotus Blossum is by far my favorite. All my tapestries are made with Createx Liquid Dyes (no longer available...sadly) and each finished one is mounted on stretchers so they can be hung on a wall. I am starting up again soon, and will fix a few flaws in my process. For these dyes, soda ash was mixed into the dye. I will no longer be using this method. I also am going to try and use more negative space in my dyes as well as move away from all my dyes being primarily geometric patterns. The following things are questionable and I havent really recieved any guidance as to whether or not they are effective. For all of my dyes, I find that no matter what tecniques I use, when I go to wash out the dye, it becomes either blurry or doesnt look the same as before I washed it. After mulitple ruined dyes like this, I decided to no longer wash out the dye but rather unfold the dye after 24 hours and lay it flat to dry. Also, I use a signifigant amount of salt during the actual dying proccess as a way to prevent the dye from creaping into unwanted areas. When the dye is completed, I also fully cover the dye in salt before waiting the 24 hours to unfold it. I find that since I dont wash out the dye, the salt helps to harden the cloth and in some ways prevents it from bleeding and running.

I was also wondering if anyone could give me an idea on what silk is like to die compared to cotton muslin, and generally how much it costs. What are the benefits of using silk? I assume since its thinner, more complex  small designs can me made?

Cheers,
Andy

[salkina]

also mine

[ktaltre]

Andy, your mandalas are very very nice - most excellent.
Are you using procion mx dyes now?
I'm pretty sure that leaving the soda ash on fabric will eventually cause the fabric to disintegrate if you don't wash it out.  Soda ash on silk would probably "eat" the silk faster than a cellulose fabric.
I don't know about keeping salt on/in the fabric either - it may also have an unintended effect.

There is a product that one paints on the finished mx dyed fabric that fixes the dye - then you wash it out.
http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1347-AA.shtml?lnav=chemicals.html
ProChem has it too.
I have used this product and followed the instructions for length of time and washing out, but I didn't wash the towel I used for padding; the afterfix ate holes in the towel after a couple of days, hmmmmmm.

Dharma has many fabrics, including silk.
(http://www.dharmatrading.com/index.html)

Perhaps Paula B. could comment on this...............
(http://www.pburch.net/dyeing.shtml)

M. Fowler used watered down textile paints to produce his mandalas - he tied as usual, applied the paint, and then unfolded right away on the ground to let the work dry. He shows this on his dvd.
k. taltre

[salkina]

Thanks a bunch. I really appreciate it.

I hope for my sake that the whole  not washing out the dye and using salt techniques are not as corrosive as you say. You are probably right though, Ive only been doing this for a few months now, but those dyes are from about 5 months ago, and are holding up beautifully and maintain their color great, so Im not going to question it I guess until something goes wrong.

To answer your question about my dyes though, I still use the createx, I stockpiled it a while back and then they went out of buisness, so I guess I just got lucky because I love working with it.

Also, it is really surprising that my tapestries havent faded or been otherwise affected because this summer I actually hung them up in a really really moist cabin I was staying in. They hung for weeks before I checked on them (felt them), and I was really scared because they were fully saterated with water from the moisture in the air. I quickly took them down and let them air out outside. In the end, they were perfectly fine, surprisingly when I touched them, they didnt even leave dye rub off on my hands. I have a theory that the salt may actually be protecting them because it leave the fabric rough and starchy rather than soft. I dont know how to explain it, you would have to feel it.

I will post my next series of dyes in 1 months time and I would LOVE to hear from you.

Cheers,
andy

[fiberartist219]

Your tapestries are awesome!

I just wanted to respond to your questions about silk. It is a little more expensive than cotton, but depending on what you want out of it, it's worth it.

Silk is easily dyed with MX dyes or with acid dyes. (Can't comment on the Createx since I'm not familiar with it). You can check out pricing for silk on dharmatrading.com or on thaisilks.com . Those are my favorite two sources for silk.

I have dyed silk quite a bit with MX dyes, and the colors are slightly different than they would be on cotton... particularly the neutrals. One way to get more accurate colors is to use citric acid rather than soda ash, and to apply heat. I pop all my dyes in the microwave rather than letting them batch out all day.

You can get some intricate folds with the silk, but some silks are slippery to work with. You also have to be extra careful about wetting them out if you want any white spots or "negative space" because the dye seeps into all those little spots if they aren't completely wet to start with.

You should get a couple yards and play with it. Habotai is a great fabric to start with if you are used to working with muslin, but if you can afford it, you should get a few different kinds of silk just to play around with them. It's a lot of fun!

[pburch]

The old Createx Colors Liquid Fiber Dyes were vinyl sulfone (Remazol type) dyes. You can now buy this same type of dye as ProChem's Liquid Reactive Dyes. See my page on Vinyl Sulfone Fiber Reactive Dye.

The idea of not washing out the soda ash is disturbing. Maintaining the dye at high pH long-term does not sound like a very good idea. As KTaltre says, it might be bad for the fabric, in the long run; it might be bad for the dye, too. We want these tapestries to be able to last for decades! The question is, what caused the original problems with washing out the Remazol dye?

It could be caused by washing in hot water with the soda ash still in the fabric. It is important to rinse out Remazol dyes in cool water first to remove the soda ash, before subjecting them to hot water. Washing them in hot water in the presence of soda ash can break the bond between dye and fiber.

However, it might just be that there never was a good bond made between the dye and the fiber. You need to use hot water or a warm room to let Remazol dyes react with the fabric. Procion MX dyes have a minimum temperature of about 70°F., the lowest of all the fiber reactive dyes; Remazol dyes have a much higher minimum. I always try to give them at least 104°F for a while in order to give them a good chance to bond. I have not tested yet to see how well they do for tie-dyeing at cooler temperatures. Createx had instructions for heat-setting their dyes with dry heat, but using urea, which would to maintain moisture throughout this step. (Dye cannot react if it is completely dry, but if there is urea in the dye mix, it will retain at least some moisture.) I have a copy of the old Createx instruction sheet on my site.

Paula