When I first started researching for my
hex code dyeing experiments, I found
Paula Burch's translation of a Dutch site which gave recipes for jewel like colors created from the dye equivalent of the printers' primaries of cyan, yellow, and magenta. By using a percentage system of Procion Yellow MX-8G, Red MX-5B, and Turquoise MX-G,
Dreamline Textiles was able to produce some lovely colors. You can see Paula's page
here.
I was interested in these, because they use the same primaries I am using in own experiments. In looking at the chart, I focused in on a blue similar to my
target blue.
Out of curiosity, I plugged these percentages into the
Dye Mixer Applet, and compared it to the target blue on my blog post.
(You can click on the above image to enlarge if you wish.) These looked close enough that I grabbed a screenshot, and then analyzed both colors in The GIMP.
Now, you don't have to be a computer geek to compare those numbers for both colors. As you can see, they're pretty darn close. Close enough in fact, that I couldn't resist giving Dreamline's recipe a try. I made a dyebath using:
- 9 parts turquoise MX-G
- 1 part red MX-5B
The immersion time was about 70 minutes or so. You can imagine my dismay then, when my own sample turned out like this .......
Surprise! Purple! (?!?!???) Needless to say, I was exceptionally puzzled. I knew that my proportions were correct, and that I followed the process correctly, so there must be something else at work. Off for another round of research.
This exercise also left me questioning the validity of my first hex code samples, also too purple ....
So I started researching Procion MX
fuchsia and
turquoise dyes, and have learned some helpful and interesting things. I'm putting what I've learned in a separate posts, which you can see by either clicking on the color names above (opens new window) or under "Related Posts" below (uses same window).
This is definitely an adventure.
Related Posts:
Procion MX Fuchsia
Procion MX Turquoise
Originally published July 18, 2008
Out of curiosity, I plugged these percentages into the Dye Mixer Applet, and compared it to the target blue on my blog post.
(You can click on the above image to enlarge if you wish.) These looked close enough that I grabbed a screenshot, and then analyzed both colors in The GIMP.
Now, you don't have to be a computer geek to compare those numbers for both colors. As you can see, they're pretty darn close. Close enough in fact, that I couldn't resist giving Dreamline's recipe a try. I made a dyebath using:
Surprise! Purple! (?!?!???) Needless to say, I was exceptionally puzzled. I knew that my proportions were correct, and that I followed the process correctly, so there must be something else at work. Off for another round of research.
This exercise also left me questioning the validity of my first hex code samples, also too purple ....
... which you can read about in "Computer Hex Code Dyeing 3: 1st Samples - No Joy."
6 comments:
I am very very impressed with all of your work here. Not to mention all the learning that has come from this hard work!
As usual, your notes are full of wonderful information, not to mention how organized they are!
Thank you Leigh, for putting it all down. Although I do not work with dye very often, your notes are very interesting and helpful.
I kind of like the surprises that come out of the dyepot. Which is a good thing because I don't always do the research I should do before plonking stuff in there...
I'll remember this, though. It can be a little limiting to have to work with what you got instead of what you planned on. Thanks for the information!
I'm curious to know what would happen if you try again using the Dye applet receipe - I see it uses MX-8B, not 5B?
Paula Burch on her page about MX codes says "So, red MX-8B is a little more blue than red MX-5B. (They are also completely different chemicals with different properties, so it often matters a great deal which one you use, even though their colors are extremely close.)"
I expect that the bluer red MX-8B is less likely to tint the mix towards purple.
This is fun Leigh, I wish I had enough time to start mixing colours! It gets me thinking I'd like to do the work for the dyeing cert. of achievement, if only I had the time!
You have a lot more patience for this than I would. The lavender is kind of pretty tho... T.
Well, since my results are still surprises, I'm not sure how much help my notes will be!
Dorothy, thank you for that information about the two fuchsias. I will add that to my fuchsia page. I am curious about the red MX-8B too, but I figured I'd better just start with one and see what I can learn about it. A dyeing certificate sounds like a wonderful way to learn. I should thing about something like that too.
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