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Dyeing silk/rayon blends two different colors

There's an interesting combination of dyes being sold under the name AlterEgo. A dye that colors only silk is combined in a single dyebath with a dye that colors both silk and rayon. The result is a contrast in color between the silk backing and the rayon plush, in silk/rayon velvet scarves, especially visible if areas of the rayon have been eaten away by devoré.

AlterEgo dyes are very expensive, compared to other dyes. Each small bottle of color costs $14, and you have to buy two colors at once, one for the silk and one for the rayon, plus a special dye fixative, whose use is not optional, for $6.50. The direct dye is only poorly washfast, so the proprietary fixative has to be used so that it doesn't wash out.

There are other ways to get similar effects. The easiest and least expensive way is to use a pre-mixed Procion MX dye color, with soda ash, in a single step. Since pre-mixed dye colors tend to produce different hues on protein fibers than on cellulose, you can get a good contrast this way. We need to study which dyes come out stronger on silk, and which weaker, to be able to predict our results....

Another way is to choose your own dyes to mix like the AlterEgo dyes. You can buy acid dyes and direct dyes separately from many sources. Acid dyes work only on silk, but some will also stain rayon. All of the direct dyes I know about will color both rayon and silk, but they do not color the silk quite as dark. Direct dyes have the advantage of working in the same bath as acid dyes, but they are not very good dyes, in that they tend to wash out. You can use a dye fixative to glue that dye into the fabric, or you can use a single-color Procion MX dye instead, in a separate step from the acid dyeing.

If you are double-dyeing with acid dyes and direct dyes, but not at the same time, which dye should you aply first? Always apply the acid dye first, if you want to dye the two fibers different colors. Some acid dyes are also in the category of dyes known as basic dyes, and will stick to the direct dye, even if they cannot stick to the cellulose fiber.

By pburch at 2006-11-06 09:52 | Silk | login or register to post comments | previous forum topic | next forum topic

Dyeing velvet brown/violet

Does anyone know of a way to dye velvet (rayon pile, silk backing) dark chocolate brown with violet highlights? I really want this color combination but I don't know of any way to create it.

By megam at Mon, 2006-12-11 18:58 | login or register to post comments

which MX dyes produce what colors on silk/rayon devoré?

The Dharma Trading Company catalog says that the blues in their pre-mixed colors tend to come out lighter on silk than on cellulose, so that, for example, their "#18 deep purple" dyes rayon purple while dyeing silk a contrasting shade of raspberry. It seems unlikely that all of the pure MX blues would do the same, but Dharma probably uses just turquoise and cobalt blue in most of their mixtures. We need to compare the results of mixing different blues with other colors, in reserve dyeing blends of silk and rayon to produce different colors on the same piece.

Last May, Pia Fish posted about her discovery that a blue-green dyebath she mixed from ProChem's tangerine (yellow MX-GR) and their indigo (a blue mixture) produced a yellow on silk with soda ash, but green on silk with citric acid. I suspect that that mixture might produce green on cotton with soda ash.

The more information we can gather like this, the more we can plan what effects we will get. It's nice to have some idea in advance of what works and what does not. So, readers: what colors have you tried on silk/rayon devoré that made a nice contrast? Did you purchase pre-mixed colors or mix your own?

By pburch at Mon, 2006-11-06 10:34 | login or register to post comments

reserve dyeing

The textile industry calls it "reserve dyeing" when one fiber in a blended fabric is dyed a different color from another fiber in the same piece of fabric.

There is no dye that will dye only rayon or cotton, and not dye silk at all. All fiber reactive dyes will color both silk and cellulose, when used with soda ash. All direct dyes will do the same. The intensity of the color may be lighter on silk than on rayon, but the color is always there. So, how can we ever dye only the rayon in silk/devoré, without dyeing the silk?

In the textile industry, when dyeing cotton/wool blends, a product called a "reserving agent" is used to prevent direct dye or fiber reactive dye from staining the wool. This product is a kind of syntan, but I don't know what type. It is very possible that some sort of syntan may be included in the expensive proprietary dye fixative used in the Alter Ego dye system. ($6.50 for a tiny four-ounce bottle!) The syntan is not something I expect to be able to replicate from another source; without it, we may find some color combinations difficult to obtain.

Some acid dyes stain rayon quite badly. When I dyed a silk/rayon devoré shawl pink with fiber reactive dyes, and then black with Lanaset Jet Black, the rayon ended up taking a lot of the black. Only the fringe really remained pink, though the hints of pink showing through here and there where I'd gone easier on the Lanaset dye looked fine. (The fringe was a total pain to deal with; I intend to avoid fringe as much as possible in the future!)

ProChem very kindly shared with me a list of which of their Washfast Acid dyes show the least staining on cotton or rayon. The best are Flavine yellow, Sun yellow, Red, and Rhodamine Red. Bright orange is not as good, and Navy another step down. All of the other WFA dyes for which information was available are more apt to stain rayon or cotton.

If you use Rhodamine Red on silk, be sure to use it before direct dye or fiber reactive dye, not afterwards. Rhodamine is a basic dye and will dye cotton if the cotton is first mordanted by dyeing it with direct dyes. (Yes, direct dye can actually act as a mordant for basic dyes!)

By pburch at Mon, 2006-11-06 13:06 | login or register to post comments

Glauber's Salt?

With respect to replicating the Alter Ego effect on rayon/silk devore, I wonder if it would be worth experimenting with Glauber's Salt to see if it helps increase the contrast at all? According to this old reference from the 1910's, "Elementary Household Chemistry: an introductory textbook for students of Home Economics" (http://www.archive.org/details/elementaryhouse02snelgoog go to page 265), it increases absorption of direct dyes on cellulose fiber while slowing absorption of acid dye on silk. News to me, but I've not used acid dyes much.

Just as an aside, the experiments you got to do in home economics class in 1914 sound rather more fun than the stuff folks do today!

By Rubygeode at Sun, 2011-12-11 00:26 | login or register to post comments

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