Some experiments in LWI

[Muddypaws]

I am playing (very lax LOL) with LWI. I have had some hits and some misses.
Here is my favourite so far (intentional)
chinese red/ fuchsia/ baby pink


And a couple others:



This one was a total mess up (tangerine mx went pink) LOL but I like it~


L

[ktaltre]

Your LWI is looking good........Looks like you are having fun!
k. taltre

[Jaja]

I like it! And since we are discussing in other thread methods for LWI, what is your approach in general?

[Muddypaws]

Thanks!

I have to say I hate turquoise LOL, even doing it very hot, it won't stick.
Those were all done dry into a tight container, some with dye first, then shirt and second or third colours poured over top, and some the item in and then the dye bath (just dye and water).  Let it sit 20 min. - hour. Then pour over the soda ash solution to cover (barely) and let it sit an hour. Rinse, synthrapol... In general I am happy with some of the colours and finding others tough (the turquoise and greens) and have had icky results with brown, too.

L

[pburch]

Turquoise sticks great for me. Are you dissolving it in hot water? That can kill it. Maybe your batch of turquoise has expired.

Paula

[fiberartist219]

You need to let it sit longer. Turquoise reacts slower than the other colors, and I doubt an hour is enough. If you let it sit for three or more hours, the color should come out stronger.

Or, if you are heating it, dissolve the dye in cold water, and then heat it up AFTER it has had contact with the soda ash. I put my dyes in the microwave, and the heat doesn't kill it, but I dissolve my dyes in water that is roughly room temperature.

[ktaltre]

Some dyers batch their mx dyed fabric/garments for as long as 48 hours and even longer.
Turquoise is one of those mx colors that needs a really long batching time, probably at least 24 hours.
And as was said just before, a dedicated microwave will batch the cloth in a few minutes.
I have also heard it said that turquoise, and blacks too, need a slightly higher temperature to fix.
k. taltre

[Muddypaws]

Ha! Thank you!  I knew it needed more heat.... so I was mixing it hot!
That would be the issue (#1) I'll try room temp, and longer batching + added heat (which I often do with soda soak turquoise items, anyway.

Thanks!!

L

[pburch]

I made that mistake once, with fuchsia. Heat is welcome after you have the dye and the soda ash together in the fabric, but not until then! Hot water is fine for mixing acid dyes, but when you use it to mix fiber reactive dyes, it just encourages them to react with the water, leaving nothing to react with the fiber.

-Paula

[11girl]

<insert drooling smilie here>

those are awesome!!!
where do you sell your stuff?

[Jello]

That's some neat work... They're pretty! Hope I could make one like those!
 






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[bigAfro]

hey ya'll,
I'm truly a newbie.
what does LWI mean?
oh and what did you use to paint the images over the dye?
they look really great!

[pburch]

LWI refers to low water immersion dyeing, a method of dyeing that is both easier and, in my opinion, more beautiful than most tie-dyeing. It uses the exact same materials, so it's easy for a tie-dyer to try. See my page on How to Do Low Water Immersion Dyeing.

Paula

[deb]

I haven't tried doing LWI, although I've done some crinkle-style dyes in, say, a Ziploc. (Crib sheets work well that way for me.) I'll have to give your method a go. It'd be a cool way to use up some of my leftover dyes that I hate to throw down the sink that I don't have any shirts ready for yet so the dye doesn't go bad waiting for me. It's probably something even my kids can do, even though they're not the most coordinated people yet, still growing into that.