Procion MX dyes - how they turn our on silk

[nemi]

After some less succesfull attempts of blending colors, I decided to try dyeing single colors to check how they turn out on silk.
Turned out to be a good idea, because the color descriptions are meant for how they turn out on cotton, and results on silk can be very different!
Anyway, I thought I´d post some pics here, maybe it can help other newbies like me so they don´t have to go throught the same process   I have tried to make the pics as color-accurate as possible.

I used Ann Johnston´s recipie in "Color by accident".  The dyes are Jacquard Procion MX dyes.  The silks are 8mm habotai silks, prewashed (and washed after dyeing, of course) with Synthrapol. 

Here it goes:

   
Carmine red.  Turned out to be a very bright red, nice, strong color!


Bright orange.


Golden Yellow.  Wonderful color!


Lemon Yellow


Bright Green.  Turned out very bright, but more like a lime green.  Beautiful color, though!


Forest Green.  Turned out more like emerald green.


Pale Aqua


Ice Blue.  My favourite!  Gorgeous, light blue/violet...


Cerulean Blue.  Very strong color!


Deep Purple.  Nice color, but looks nothing like deep purple at all.  More like a wine red/burgundy...


But Violet - that I expected to be a pastel shade, turned out deep purple


Bubblegum Pink.  It´s PINK, no question about that   My four-year-old just loves it 


Anthique Gold.  A nice, golden color - like a golden yellow but with more gold in it


Brown Rose.  Very nice, warm brown color!

So now I´m curios - have you other silk-dyers had the same results with the colors?  Or do they turn out different when you dye silk?

And another question:  I love the strong, vivid results I get when dyeing single colors.  But I´m always disappointed when trying to mix colors - they never turn out as bright.  What do I do wrong?

[pburch]

That's beautifully presented, Nemi! You're using soda ash for these samples, right?

The single-hue unmixed Procion MX dyes come out the same color on cotton as they do on silk, just a little more or less intense. Pre-mixed colors come out differently, because the color balance shifts drastically when one color in the mixture is more intense and another is less intense. The degree to which this happens is different with vinegar than with silk, so (as Pia Fish demonstrated on the Dye Forum) you get completely different colors when you dye silk with pre-mixed Procion MX colors and vinegar than you do with the same pre-mixed colors and soda ash.

Jacquard's single-hue unmixed dyes are lemon yellow, bright golden yellow, brilliant orange, rust orange, magenta, fuchsia, violet, medium blue, bright blue, cerulean blue, cobalt blue, and turquoise. (See Which Procion MX colors are pure, and which mixtures?, under the Rupert, Gibbon, and Spider column.)

The colors you are using that are pre-mixed dyes are Jacquard's carmine red, all greens, pale aqua, ice blue, deep purple, bubblegum pink, antique gold, and, most likely, brown rose. (Brown rose used to be an unmixed single-hue color, brown MX-5BR, but has been replaced by mixtures.) The fact that they are mixtures of dyes means that the color chips listed for them for cotton are completely irrelevant when it comes to silk.

And another question:  I love the strong, vivid results I get when dyeing single colors.  But I´m always disappointed when trying to mix colors - they never turn out as bright.  What do I do wrong?

Are you using as much dye, or are you working with dye 'concentrates' dissolved in water? I got paler colors than I liked when I used Ann Johnston's recipes (though I love her books!) because I was actually using less dye powder per ounce of fabric. Another key is to use a nice dark navy, such as blue MX-2G (Jacquard's cobalt blue), instead of, or in addition to, the much lighter turquoise, when mixing deeper, richer colors. Deeper duller mixing primaries make it easier to get dark colors, especially on thin sheer fabrics.

Paula

[nemi]

That's beautifully presented, Nemi! You're using soda ash for these samples, right?

Thank you    Yes, I´m using soda ash for these.

The single-hue unmixed Procion MX dyes come out the same color on cotton as they do on silk, just a little more or less intense. Pre-mixed colors come out differently, because the color balance shifts drastically when one color in the mixture is more intense and another is less intense. The degree to which this happens is different with vinegar than with silk, so (as Pia Fish demonstrated on the Dye Forum) you get completely different colors when you dye silk with pre-mixed Procion MX colors and vinegar than you do with the same pre-mixed colors and soda ash.

Jacquard's single-hue unmixed dyes are lemon yellow, bright golden yellow, brilliant orange, rust orange, magenta, fuchsia, violet, medium blue, bright blue, cerulean blue, cobalt blue, and turquoise. (See Which Procion MX colors are pure, and which mixtures?, under the Rupert, Gibbon, and Spider column.)

The colors you are using that are pre-mixed dyes are Jacquard's carmine red, all greens, pale aqua, ice blue, deep purple, bubblegum pink, antique gold, and, most likely, brown rose. (Brown rose used to be an unmixed single-hue color, brown MX-5BR, but has been replaced by mixtures.) The fact that they are mixtures of dyes means that the color chips listed for them for cotton are completely irrelevant when it comes to silk. 

I wasn´t aware of that - I think I´ll go for more of the single-hue unmixed dyes next time I buy.  Especially the cobalt blue, I miss having a darker blue.  I bought the Midnight blue, which turns out purple... (haven´t got a picture of that one yet).  I think the brown rose might be a single-hue because it turned out exactly as I expected it to?

And another question:  I love the strong, vivid results I get when dyeing single colors.  But I´m always disappointed when trying to mix colors - they never turn out as bright.  What do I do wrong?

Are you using as much dye, or are you working with dye 'concentrates' dissolved in water? I got paler colors than I liked when I used Ann Johnston's recipes (though I love her books!) because I was actually using less dye powder per ounce of fabric. Another key is to use a nice dark navy, such as blue MX-2G (Jacquard's cobalt blue), instead of, or in addition to, the much lighter turquoise, when mixing deeper, richer colors. Deeper duller mixing primaries make it easier to get dark colors, especially on thin sheer fabrics.

Paula

I haven´t used Ann Johnston´s recipies for the projects with mixed colors, but I might have used to little dye anyway - I´ll try it again with larger amounts.
Thank you so much for your help, Paula 

[pburch]

In addition to the cobalt blue, since you're using Jacquard dyes, I'd like to recommend their navy 078. This is a mixture of ordinary red MX-5B with my very favorite navy blue dye, reactive blue 9, whose proper MX code is probably navy MX-3R, but which was sold to me as navy MX-G. I bought this particular mixture from Standard Dye about six years ago and still use it a lot. I like cobalt blue, but I like this one more.

Paula

[pburch]

I think the brown rose might be a single-hue because it turned out exactly as I expected it to?

Oh, I hope so. Reactive brown 10, or brown MX-5BR, was missing everywhere for a time, or so it seemed, but I have since seen it on some manufacturer's web sites, so it is possible that it may have come back. It used to be an essential part of black MX-CWNA and of ProChem's mixture called Chino, which was a favorite of expert dyers for use in toning down colors that were too bright. They had to change the formulas when they could no longer buy brown MX-5BR. It's not one of the more bright, exciting Procion MX colors, but I always liked it.

You can test whether it's a single-hue dye in two ways. The easier way is to, while wearing gloves and a mask, sprinkle a tiny amount of the dye powder across a damp white paper towel, napkin, coffee filter, or piece of fabric, spreading the powder as it falls so the different particles separate. Look to see if all of the particles appear to give the same color, or different colors. Also, you can try paper chromatography, which is a very easy scienific technique in which you place spots of dye (first dissolved in water) on a piece of coffee filter (cut to be straight across at the bottom instead of curved), then stick just the lower end of the filter in water or another solvent. As the water, alcohol, or nail polish remover creeps up the filter paper, it drags out and separates different chemicals in the mixture, often showing distinct blobs of color, if you start with a color mixture. This is fun to do with kids as a scientific experiment; with younger kids, it's fun to try this with markers, especially black markers.

Paula

[nemi]

I think the brown rose might be a single-hue because it turned out exactly as I expected it to?

Oh, I hope so. Reactive brown 10, or brown MX-5BR, was missing everywhere for a time, or so it seemed, but I have since seen it on some manufacturer's web sites, so it is possible that it may have come back. It used to be an essential part of black MX-CWNA and of ProChem's mixture called Chino, which was a favorite of expert dyers for use in toning down colors that were too bright. They had to change the formulas when they could no longer buy brown MX-5BR. It's not one of the more bright, exciting Procion MX colors, but I always liked it.

You can test whether it's a single-hue dye in two ways. The easier way is to, while wearing gloves and a mask, sprinkle a tiny amount of the dye powder across a damp white paper towel, napkin, coffee filter, or piece of fabric, spreading the powder as it falls so the different particles separate. Look to see if all of the particles appear to give the same color, or different colors. Also, you can try paper chromatography, which is a very easy scienific technique in which you place spots of dye (first dissolved in water) on a piece of coffee filter (cut to be straight across at the bottom instead of curved), then stick just the lower end of the filter in water or another solvent. As the water, alcohol, or nail polish remover creeps up the filter paper, it drags out and separates different chemicals in the mixture, often showing distinct blobs of color, if you start with a color mixture. This is fun to do with kids as a scientific experiment; with younger kids, it's fun to try this with markers, especially black markers.

Paula

That´s a great idea!  I´ll definately try it out, would  be nice to know whether or not my assumption that it is a single-hue dye is correct