We have several people who are going to do a dye study, to learn about one set of dyes, learn how to mix colors from it using the Munsell Student Color Kit. We started here. We will be doing reproducible immersion dyeing. You get to pick the fiber and dye you work with. You will be working in your own studio with your own equipment so you will need some measuring equipment and the Munsell Kit and well as dyes and an ample supply of the fiber/yarn you want to work with.
I think we will work on an interactive website, pbworks.com is the one I know. If you are interested pleas PM me with the following info:
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where do you live (so I can help with sourcing), country or state is enough
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what fiber you want to use
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is it fabric, yarn or fiber
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what dyes do you want to use
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your email so I can allow you to participate at pbworks.com
You are, hopefully, aware that Lunatic Fringe Yarns bases their Tubular Spectrum on the Munsell palette?
20 shades, ready to use and nicely done.
What a wonderful idea Karren! Don't count me in as I don't have the set up for this but I love the idea.
Here's a little visual inspiration-as seen in Sigrid Piroch's Foxburg, PA studio.
(Sorry for the poor photo quality.)
What?! You mean there was something else before Pantone told us how colors were defined? ; - )
Excellent idea, and please keep us abreast of your ongoing results through this forum.
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Karren,
This is a great idea. I am so excited to try more with dyeing some of my hand spun yarn and you have come to my rescue. I am sure you have received many PM messages. I'll go do that now. Just wanted to thank you for taking this on. You have also given me a good idea to check if our new website will accommodate an interactive project and what is needed before we could add that.
Claudia
Karren, sounds interesting! Pity I cannot join in this one as Australia Post would confiscate the parcel - we are not allowed to send chemicals in the mail. Its an idea to check this point with your local postal service, as it could be very disappointing if a parcel of dyes did not turn up.
All the best with this project!
Claudia, that is an excellent idea! Much better than leaving messages!
Caroline, We are not sending anything in the mail. Each person buys their own equipment and supplies. Since each person works totally independently each gets to chose their fiber and dyes. You can buy your dyes and auxillaires locally, where ever other Australians do.
The down side of each person working idependently is that each person has to have all of the equipment. If you haven't been dyeing carefully enough to reproduce colors it could mean quiet an investment: Munsell Kit, dyes, pots, a scale to weigh substrate and dyes,measuring equipment, fiber to dye....
I'm excited about trying this out here on the web. I've almost given up teaching dyeing because finding adequate facilities is soooo difficult. The last time I taught at the conference in CA I was teaching indigo shibori in a carpeted room in a convention facility with no water nearby. At Convergence 2000, Michele Wipplinger and I co-taught a Master Dye Class, and altho' we were teaching in a lab at a university I took 3/4 of my own studio there( possible because I it was local). At Pro-Chem, a dye supplier, when I taught Shibori, there were no not enough heat sources for each pair of people to heat a dyepot and we blew the circuit breakers.... Lately I've only been teaching in my own studio.
Join us if you can !
hi Karren, I wasn't meaning that you were sending anything in the mail.To get the type of Dyes you have been suggesting, they have to come by mail order from Melbourne. Sending chemicals through the post is not allowed in Australia, and may not be allowed in other countries, so people need to check out whether their dye supplies can be posted or not. Synthrapol and Dyefix arrived via courier.
I use food grade dyes on wool, but haven't experimented much with cotton dyes because of these limitations; we have no supplier in Adelaide. I will be following this thread with interest and taking notes as you go, if thats OK wih you. I hope the time will come when I can lay my hands on some commercial cellulose dyes. All-purpose dyes like Rit and Tintex etc don't really fulfill the need, although I do experiment as best I can, and have most of the necessary equipment.
There are many outstanding dyers down under, Patricia Black comes to mind. I see she is teaching workshops in Adelaide next month at the Beautiful Silks Institute of Textile Wisdom, I bet they know how to buy dye. They might be of some help to see what kinds are available. Ask them if they know who sells a fiber reactive dye for cotton manufactured by Ciba and sold by them as Cibacron F or FN-- it will probably have another name there. This would be my recommended dye, but Procion MX or H can work too.
Thanks for the info, I will investigate! We lost our only independent commercial dye supplier several years ago. Adelaide might be a State capital, but its still rather small town when it comes to craft and art supplies.
Today is the last day to join this study group, currently at 7 members, we have already started working and joining later will have far too much catch-up to do. So please PM today if you want to be part of this study. I'm sure there will be another in the future and it will be better as this is a first experience.
Karren -- I just heard about this via Tien's blog and have PM'd you the requested information.
As I said in my message, I've read through the thread, and would like to dye Tencel. Have MX dyes already, but am willing to invest in Cibacron F if you think that's important .
I see that they are available through ProChem (my supplier of choice) as Sabracron F. I'm assuming that like other dye experimentation I have done, I will need two yellows, two blues and two reds (warm and cool of each).
This is what I'm coming up with:
F11 Sun Yellow (cool yellow)
F14 Golden Yellow (warm yellow)
F37 Magenta (cool red)
F33 True Red (warm red)
F40 Turquoise (cool blue)
F43 Royal Blue (warm blue)
Any corrections to this list?
Amy
