The Fabric Dyeing Process
Heat
I mentioned in my October studio newsletter that the dyeing season was over and one of my subscribers asked me why I didn’t dye fabric in the winter.
The reason is that the chemical process requires heat, at least 70 F degrees for the dye molecules to bond to the cotton fibers. I keep my house at 67 F degrees in the winter so it’s just a bit too cold in my house for the process to work properly once the summer sun is gone.
I also believe that I get the best colors when the fabric gets really hot while it is setting in the dye bath so I set it out in the sun on 90+ F degree days and really bake it. The colors are more rich and intense.
I’ve heard that some artists will take their bins of fabric and dye bath and put them in the back window of their car and put the car in the sun to get the fabric as hot as possible.
Anything for our art.
PS. For a step by step through the process I use to dye 60-80 yards of fabric in a few hours check out these posts:
- An overview of my dyeing process.
- Information on the fabric I use.
- Information on the dye and other chemicals I use and more on the process.
- Rinsing out the fabric.
PPS. There are a lot of artists that dye fabric with snow. I don’t because I like solid fabrics and I can dye them in large batches more efficiently in the summer. The results of snow dyeing are quite lovely, check out this Google image search of the results. Yummy colors. A document from ProChemical on how to snow dye.
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{ 4 comments }
interesting post Lisa. I don’t dye in the summer because i keep my studio at 68F with AC so I can be productive so it’s warmer in the winter when the heat is on. I can turn up the heat at night before I leave and let it batch away, then turn the heat down when I come in the am (it’s an old school with boilers for heat so I’m not paying the heating bill). I also snow dye a lot (saw a number of my pics in the google search images) so I need to do that in the winter when I’ve got raw material to work with (grin). Last year we had 6 straight months of snow on the ground here in SW Saskatchewan. My first batch of snow dyeing for this year is in the bins melting away. I’ll be packaging it to batch so I can re use the bins for another batch tomorrow or Wed before the snow disappears at the end of the week. (I have a major craft sale in 10 days).
Louise,
You are certainly the queen of snow dyeing in my book. And you live in the right location for it!
Nice you can turn up the heat over night to batch the fabric.
Lisa,
I dont know a lot about dying fabric, its something I’d choose to do, however the information on the process i find of interest in case I decide to dye fabric, I am going to make a note of this for future reference. I do love the colours you use in your work and I imagine it would be a good way to have extra control over your design processes. I confess I do find it frustrating at time to have to rely on commercial fabics, But I’m not in a situation were dye fabric is practical.
Judy,
Yes – creating my own colors does add another element to my artwork. It feels more personal to me.
Creating art from commercial fabrics is very valid option, and there are many reasons you might not want to or be able to dye your own fabrics.
Maybe some day you’ll have the opportunity.
—lisa
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