Dyeing Some Silk and Some Farm Life.
I have a couple of ladies coming for a class in nuno felt at the end of the month so dyed a few pieces of silk to add to what I have so they have a nice variety to choose form. I am using the low water immersion method form Paula Burch’s site. http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/lowwaterimmersion.shtml I made collages of the dyeing. You stuff the silk tightly into a jar and then add some dye. The pictures are the dye with the stir sticks so you can see the colours and then of the first dye poured over, then the second so you can see what it looks like. They have to sit for an hour then you add the sodium carbonate.
This is them hanging to dry.
And then dry. You can see that the colours are better when they are dry but I am still not happy with the emerald an black far right.
I also wanted to share some farm life, not sheep I am afraid. These are my chickens getting to look at their new outside pen and true to there name they are chicken to come out. With some time and coaxing they did make it outside.
We also got some new baby chickens and turkeys. They come in boxes delivered to the local farm Co-op. The boxes are divided into 4 inside so they don’t over crowd each other to much. There are 2 boxes of chicks and one of turkeys
These are the turkeys, they are about a week old and have started to get feathers.
These are the chickens, they are day olds. My son is taking them out of their box.
They are very cute little yellow fluff balls with legs when they arrive.
18 thoughts on “Dyeing Some Silk and Some Farm Life.”
The silk dyeing looks successful to me. Sometimes you need a dark background color so the last one doesn’t bother me at all. Thanks for the photos of farm life. I love to see the baby chicks 🙂
Thanks Ruth. the colours just weren’t as district as I wanted. the black went sort of brown. perhaps I need to change the proportion of black to green. The babies are very cute. They will all be ugly in less than a week. I will try to remember to take a picture of them then.
I like how they all turned out too 🙂 What’s the difference waiting to add the sodium carbonate instead of mixing it in first?
Thanks Zed. The dye has a chance to mingle and split. Mine never split. I think its because my water is hard so on the alkaline side to start with. I have to try it with some city water. When you add it first the dye strikes fast. but am not really sure. Paula Burch explains it much better than I do. She has a page that tells you what all the auxiliaries are and what they do.
Ann, would adding a bit of vinegar to the water help? This would certainly increase acidity 🙂 Also, could hot water help? When one wants acid dyes to strike one uses hot water and hot dye stock, but I’m unsure what you used here. Lovely colours, though! Loved the teals.
Leonor, a little vinegar might help. I should find my test strips. Heat would make the dye react with the water. This is a cold water dye, like they use for cotton.
Oh, nice. I dye many many yards of cotton (patchwork) and don’t think about to dye silk.
And the little ‘piepmatz’ are so cute!
Thank you Rosealind. Silk takes dye so well it is fun to do.
The silk turned out nice. I think it’s really tough to get a true black. Depending on what color fiber is used on the emerald, it may turn out nice. Cute chicks! Thanks for sharing!
I am sure someone will like it. People never pick the colours I think they will.
Looks great. I never can get a true black, no matter what I am dyeing. I used to play with my grandma’s baby chicks when I was a girl. Brought back memories. Something that most children today would never experience By the way, I still get the “unsafe site’ message from my security on my computer, but I just block it and move on.
I am glad you liked the baby chicks. Not sure what to say about the message you are getting. no one else I have asked to try gets it.
Your dyed fabric is just fine for the purpose – don’t worry.
It’s lovely to see chickens in the fresh air with grass underfoot – happy chickens make good eggs and meat.
Thanks Lyn. The big chickens are my egg layers. They are a really nice bunch of chickens, very calm and very friendly.
awwwww never seen baby turkeys before!
the dying looks fun! ive got some cotton scrim an silk ponge to dye but worried about fluffing it up!
At this age they turkeys and chickens look very similar. the turkeys will get taller fast. The low water method is easy. I have done it without scrunching like I d the silk hankies and its worked quite well.
The silks look great, I love the mottled effect. The chicks are so cute, what fun to be able to watch them grow! x
Thanks Sharon, it is fun to see them grow.