| =========== Dying Sheets =========== I used the liquid Rit dye and dumped the entire contents of the bottle into a larger squirter bottle, then added about a cup or so of vinegar... just to fill up the bottles I had..... I don't know if the vinegar was really needed, but another weaver who was helping with the rags thought we should use it. Let the sheets soak in water. Remove and squeese out excess water. Lay or hang out the sheets and spray them with the Rit dye mixture. This is the third time I have done this dying now. I think the colors stay nice because the concentrated dye is only squirted onto the the wet fabric rather than immersed in to the dye bath which is diluted. Then laying out in the sun and drying, rather than being rinsed and wrung in a washing machine may help the colorfastness too. Set for weeks and maybe months before ever seeing a wash machine. I have four rugs from my first batch are washed every few weeks for a year now... look great. Never had a complaint from anyone buying the rag placemats either.... I'd imagine they get washed repeatedly.... I did a few packs in the powdered Rit dye, mostly darker colors, (cause I couldn't find the right ones in the liquids) dissolved in about a cup or so of water, and what was amazing was that the spritizer bottle sprayed out the tiny miniscule particles and when they hit the wet fabric.. there were multicolored streaks where the grains of colors were! Interesting effects! But wont' be noticed once they are bound up tightly woven into rugs! --- New improved hint.. I now use a lawn sprayer bottle, the kind with the pump up lever and wand. Easier on the hands and you can rinse it out between colors. KarenInTheWoods ------------------------------------------------ Don't cut the strips before you dye. Just finished dying 3 old sheets, thought it would be easier to dye them cut into strips. I dye in a pot on the stove for dark colors. Ha ha forgot about the tangled mess at the end after washing and drying. Now I have a mess to defray and untangle. Oh they say live and learn. Sondra ------------------------------------------------ A few summers ago I had lots of sheets to dye for rugs. I called a friend who was more experienced at dyeing and she suggested that we dye them on our front lawn. (not too environmentally friendly) We first used salt as a levelling agent then spread the wet sheets on plastic sheeting on the lawn stacking them on top of one another. I think we did them about four sheets thick. Using squeeze bottles from hair dye which we filled with different colours of procion MX dyes we went to town doing our best impressions of Jackson Pollock and having a great time in the process. The dyes seeped through all the layers of sheets which saved having to do them each individually. We then wrapped the now dyed sheets in plastic sheeting and left them to heat up in the sun on the paved driveway for a day or two as it was quite warm out. (the neighbours are always wondering about us) As a result of this first free form dyeing experience, the process has always been a spontaneous one for me and always fun. For further technical information you might want to check out www.prochemical.com I used a neutral warp for the rug which is still doing duty in the upstairs bathroom and looks great even through repeated washings. Loretta ------------------------------------------------ |
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| "New improved hint. I now use a lawn sprayer bottle..." |