Tequila Sunrise, Part Deux

Finally, this dye sampling project is complete! Several dyeing sessions and lots of spinning between other projects, but here it is.

The idea was to dye four mixed-fiber tops with both acid and natural dyes, to see the results -- which blend would take acid dyes better (acid for the protein fiber in each top) and which would take natural dyes better (for the cellulose fiber in each top). I used both dye classes at a strength of DOS 1 (depth of shade), which is generally a medium-small amount of dye.

In all samples, ACID dye results are on the left, NATURAL DYES/PROTEIN MORDANT are in the middle, and NATURAL DYES/CELLULOSE MORDANT are on the right.

This first batch above is Merino/Tencel 50/50. I wouldn't have thought the sample with natural dyes/cellulose mordant would take so much dye, with 50% merino. Personally, I like all these samples and would consider using any of the dye/mordant combos again depending on what outcome I was going for.

This second batch above is Merino/Bamboo 60/40. Again, there was far more dye takeup than I'd expected for natural dyes/cellulose mordant, with 60% merino in the blend. As with the merino/tencel, I like all the samples and would consider any of the dye/mordant combos for future dyeing projects.

This next batch above is Silk/Cotton 55/45. I really loved the two samples with natural dyes and would easily try either of them again. I probably wouldn't use acid dyes again on this blend because of the small amount of dye takeup, even though the blend is 55% silk and normally silk takes acid dyes beautifully. The cotton overshadowed in this case.

This last batch is Silk/Bamboo 60/40. As with the silk/cotton blend, the acid dyes hardly took at all so I wouldn't use them again with this blend. However, both the natural dye samples turned out well.

Overall I was interested in the more orange tones achieved with natural dyes using alum sulfate for protein fibers, compared with using alum acetate for cellulose fibers.

So now it's on to something else -- in fact, I am spinning up some 2-ply tussah silk, white, that I plan to use later on for a painted warp project. And I am teaching a Luxury Fiber Spinning class this weekend and my personal goal is to spin all those different fibers as singles. I'll post results next week or later.