2nd Procion MX Dye Experiments

My first fiber reactive dye experiments were the primary colors from my starter kit. My next step, was to mix the secondary colors from them. Rather than experiment randomly, I tried to see if I could find any information on color mixing with Procion MX dyes. I found this chart at the Jacquard Products website. You can either view it online or download a pdf copy.

The chart is useful because it gives recipes in both kitchen measurements (teaspoons) and also parts for metric. What wasn't useful, was the use of names instead of photos to identify the colors. That meant I had to choose recipes based on names. All I wanted was orange, purple, and green, but wow there were a lot of choices.

I finally settled on the recipes for tangerine, plum, and shamrock. This is what I ended up with:

I confess that I was not exact in following the recipes, but this was because I didn't have the required colors. I substituted the colors in my started kit instead. Nor did I follow the proportions perfectly. I used teaspoon measurements, but since I am working with small amounts of fiber, I used 1/4 and 1/8 teaspoon measurements according to the parts required for the recipe. I rounded the parts to be workable with quarter and eighth teaspoons.

The basic recipe I used was to produce medium colors:

• Cotton lint (scoured): 100 grams
• Water: 3 liters
• Salt: 10 teaspoons
• Washing soda: 4 teaspoons
• Dye powders: see below

Green (adapted from the recipe for "shamrock" on the Jacquard chart):

• 2 parts Yellow MX-8G
• 2 parts Turquoise MX-G
• 1 part (scant) Blue MX-R

Purple (from "Plum" on the chart):

• 2 parts Fuchsia MX-8B
• 1 part Blue MX-R

Orange (adapted from "Tangerine")

• 2 parts Yellow MX-8G
• 1 part Red MX-GBA

Each color was left to soak in it's dyebath at least two hours.

The Procion MX color names ("warm red," "lemon yellow," "clear blue," etc.) vary according to the manufacturer, but the color codes (MX-GBA, MX-8G, MX-R, etc.) should be the same. This information, plus the purity of many of the colors can be found on a different chart at
All About Hand Dyeing. You can either view or download that chart here.

The question that comes to mind next is, what would happen if I switched the proportions in the recipes? I'll let you know!

Related Posts:
Scouring Cotton for Dyeing
1st Procion MX Dye Experiments - working with primaries
Summary of Procion MX Dye Experiments - color mixing experiments

MTW Weaving Update (At Last)

How time flies. I can't believe that it's been over two weeks since my last weaving post. I try to divide my time so that I get at least a little of several things done each day: weaving, knitting, computer, and spinning, (though I haven't been spinning lately). Now dyeing. I find this gives me a break from one activity to the next, but keeps me busy at the same time.

I have been slowly working away at my expanded multiple tabby weave experiments, and now have something on the loom to show.

The threading draft I'm using is found on page 48 of Dr. Bateman's Multiple Tabby Weave.

These are interesting, not only because the treadling is different from the samples I've done previously, but also because they use overshot wefting.

This one uses only one shuttle, the pattern and tabby wefts being the same yarn. I'm using 16/3 unmercerized cotton for the warp, and a navy blue 5/2 cotton for the weft. The treadling is block C as drawn in, with the A block used for the tabby shots.

The yellow and red thrums on the right mark the end of each treadling sequence. The sequence is 56 picks, so if I lose my place, these show me where the sequence began. Then if I need to, I can count the weft shots to figure out where I am and what's next.

The white twill tape is for measuring. I draw my own measurement marks on it and find it's the best way for me to get each piece the same length! Details on that here.

Here's a close-up....

This second one is a two shuttle weave. The pattern weft is the same navy blue, and the tabby weft is the same as the warp.

The overall pattern is vaguely visible, so I am very curious as to how this will look after wet finishing.

The biggest challenge for these so far has been keeping track of where I am in the treadling sequence. This is how I'm doing it at present:

I and II alternate. I just have to move the paper clip after I complete each section in the sequence. This hasn't been too bad really. I could have made it easier if I'd re-tyed the treadles. As it is, the tabbies for part I are treadles 3 and 4. It would have been much easier if they were 5 and 6. However, treadle tie-up on a countermarche loom is a bit of challenge and I prefer to avoid it if at all possible! Hence the fancy footwork.

What I really want to try to keep track of the treadling sequence is a treadling abacus. Photo and brief explanation from Yorksett Arts & Crafts here (at the bottom of the post). When I can find some cube shaped number beads I'll go for it. Until then, I'll just treadle along as I am. :)

© June 2008 at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related Posts:
Multiple Tabby Weaves
Expanding Multiple Tabby Weave Blocks
Expanded Multiple Tabby Weave Samples - how these turned out
A Means to Measure - Using twill tape to track length

1st Procion MX Dye Experiments

I've finished my first batch of procion mx dye experiments and here are the results.

The instructions that came with my dye kit were for one pound of fiber or fabric. Since I wanted to work with smaller amounts, I decided to use a recipe from Curious Weaver. Kaz has a page of tutorials and articles here. If you scroll down toward the bottom, you'll see Dyeing for Weavers - A beginners guide to fibre reactives for cellulose fibres. This is a downloadable pdf document with step by step instructions, including charts for different amounts of fibers and depths of color.

Here is what I needed for the dyeing:

The table salt levels the color and also helps the solubility and take-up of the dye. Washing soda serves as the dye activator. For the dye powders, I chose the primary colors to start. These are Lemon Yellow MX-8G, Clear Blue MX-R, & Warm Red MX GBA.

This recipe is for a medium color:

• Dye: Procion MX
• Fiber: cotton lint, scoured
• Amounts
  • Fiber: 100 grams
  • Water: 3 liters
  • Salt: 10 teaspoons
  • Washing soda: 4 teaspoons
  • Dye powder: 1/2 teaspoon.

"Anonymous" commented in a previous post about the safety of procion mx dyes. A pdf MSDS (material safety data sheet) for Procion MX dyes is available from Fibrecrafts and can be downloaded by clicking here. To see their complete list of downloadable MSDS for a variety of dyes and accessory chemicals, click here.

MSDS for the individual colors of procion mx dyes are available at the PRO Chemical & Dye website. For that list, click here. [I've added both of these links to my Dyeing Links page.]

Procion dyes are actually a family of what are known as fiber-reactive dyes. They were developed for vegetable based fibers such as cotton, hemp, jute, linen, etc. Their color is very permanent, as the color develops inside the fiber rather than on its surface. Except for turquoise, all other Procion MX colors require temperatures of 85 to 105 degrees F (depending on the set of instructions you're reading.)

The dyebaths looked like this .....

The instructions called for about an hour soaking time, with frequent stirring. The actual time I left them in the dyebath was about two hours.

After removing the cotton from the dyepots, a cold water rinse followed to rinse out all the salt. After that I washed each one in hot soapy water, rinsed, squeezed out excess water, and let dry on a towel.

The cotton was pretty clumpy when dry. These have been teased out for a photo.

I'm pretty happy with the results, though the red is lighter than I might have liked. My daughter calls it Watermelon Red.

What's next? Experimenting with some color mixing.

Related Posts:
Scouring Cotton for Dyeing
2nd Procion MX Dye Experiments - 1st color mixing experiments
Summary of Procion MX Dye Experiments - All of my color mixing experiments so far.

Scouring Cotton For Dyeing

The Online Guild's Vegetable Dyeing Challenge offered several options, including things like doing comparisons, or working with fibers and/or dyes new to you. Both the cotton and the Procion MX dyes are definitely new to me, so they are a good choice for me to work with.

Cotton lint is actually ginned cotton, i.e. the seeds have been removed. However, it still contains bits of husk and bits of stems. And even though it looks and feels clean, it is not.

The directions that came in my dyeing kit (which can be found here), did not include instructions for washing the fiber, so I used the instructions given in the challenge notes.

These called for 1/4 teaspoon of washing soda (also known as soda ash or sodium carbonate) and 1/4 teaspoon of Synthrapol per gallon of water. Since I don't have any Synthrapol, I used my old standby, Dawn dishwashing detergent.

I weighted out 8 ounces (228 grams) of cotton and put it into my dedicated dye pot along with four gallons of water. That meant I needed one teaspoon each of washing soda and Dawn.

After it had simmered for about an hour, it looked like this.

Even though the cotton hadn't looked dirty, the color of the wash water tells a different story.

After rinsing, I divided it into four plastic bags to await color. That will give me roughly two ounces of fiber per color. When I want to do more, I'll wash some more cotton.

How much of a difference did the washing make? Well, can you tell which side was washed and which one wasn't?

The best part of doing this in my little dye "studio" was being able to keep the heat and humidity outside!

Related Posts:
1st Procion MX Dye Experiments
2nd Procion MX Dye Experiments

OLG Challenge: Dyeing Vegetable Fibers

By Leigh

This month's workshop for the Online Guild is a challenge for dyeing vegetable fibers. At first, I didn't think I could participate, mostly because my kitchen is way too small to share dyeing projects with cooking and food preparation. But when fellow blogger and OLG member Kathe mentioned using very small outdoor spaces for dyeing, I began to change my mind.

I was especially interested in this challenge as I've done virtually no vegetable fiber dyeing. However, I have a huge box of cotton lint which I received as payment for doing an historical spinning demonstration about eight years ago ....


.... and I have the Procion MX starter kit from Earth Guild that I bought at SAFF last October .....


So all I need is a little space, a table, a heating element, and an outlet......


The beauty of Procion MX dyes, is that they are cold water fiber reactive dyes. This means the only heating I will need to do will be to scour the raw cotton. More on that next time.

Posted 10 June 2008 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com

Related Posts:
Scouring Cotton For Dyeing
1st Procion MX Dye Experiments
2nd Procion MX Dye Experiments
Summary of Procion MX Dye Experiments