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dyeing silk green for wedding dress

The PRO MX dyes you're looking at are more generally known as Procion MX. They are a type of cool water fiber reactive dye. PRO is the brand name applied by PRO Chemical & Dye to many of their products. They are an excellent source to buy from.

A lot of people paint silk scarves with acid dyes, but then instead of using a hot water immersion bath, they let the dyes dry, wrap the scarves in unprinted newsprint paper, then roll them up and steam them to set the dye. This method can also be used with Remazol dyes (ProChem's Liquid Reactive Dyes) and Procion H dyes (a hot water dye). Some people who use Procion MX dyes on silk prefer to use this steaming step, as well. The wax does not melt until you steam, so this works fine with using wax as a resist, even for hot water dyes.

There are so many possible choices of dyes for silk, if you're using steam to set the dye. The "French Dyes" are proprietary (that is, secret formula) dyes made with acid and/or basic dyes. These produce brilliant colors but may be less washfast and particularly less lightfast than the reactive dyes. Brand names include Dupont, Pebeo Soie, and Sennelier Tinfix.

You can also buy powdered acid dyes from ProChem or elsewhere and use them in just the same way as the French dyes.

Another alternative is the use of a very thin fabric paint to paint silk. The best brands, such as Dye-Na-Flow, Pebeo Setasilk, and DEKA silk paint, leave almost no feel on the fabric and are capable of very bright colors if desired, though dyes leave no feel at all, and can make even brighter colors. The advantage of fabric paint over dye is that it can be set by dry heat, from an iron or a commercial machine dryer, instead of requiring wet heat in the form of steam or a water bath. Some people find steaming easy to manage; others find it inconvenient.

If you use Procion MX dyes with citric acid instead of soda ash, then they act as acid dyes, and not as fiber reactive dyes. (See Fiber reactive dyes on protein fibers.) There is no reason to do this unless you have Procion MX dyes for other purposes such as dyeing cotton. If you are only going to be using the acid recipe for Procion MX dyes, you might as well buy acid dyes or Remazol dyes or Procion H dyes or one of the French dyes. Procion MX dyes are cool water dyes when used with soda ash, but they do better with heat, such as steaming, when used with citric acid.

To answer your numbered questions in order:
1. No, Procion MX dyes are only one of many possibilities. I would prefer to use a different black dye, mixed with plenty of alginate (buy this already mixed with metaphos as PRO Print Paste Mix F for fine lines on silk). I would buy either PRO Washfast Acid Black or Lanaset Black (which many describe as the best black for silk and wool). You can also use printing ink or some sort of black water-based resist.

2. Procion MX dyes with soda ash are not good for salt effects because they react so quickly. Acid dyes and the French dyes and Remazol and Procion H all do salt effects. I'd give it a day to dry before steaming any of these, or setting via another method (such as liquid sodium silicate for after-fixing Remazol or Procion H dyes). Salt effects also work with fabric paints that are intended for use in silk painting.

3. Premixed colors that have been designed for cotton are quite unpredictable on silk until you have tried them. The other dyes, which are sold intended for use on silk, are more likely to have predictable color results. In any case you should have some scrap silk similar in weave and weight to your scarves to do a test run on beforehand.

This is a lot of information. Does it make sense, or is it too concise or jumbled together?

-Paula