Does Anyone Else Dye Spinning Fibers?

[evilenabler]

Hi,

 

So I have a bit of an odd question. I dye my own wool to spin or felt, and on occasion I use fiber reactive dyes to dye plant based material like bamboo or cotton. I was wondering if I could try using the fiber reactive dye to create my own ink. You use Soda Ash to set the color so it would need to be in the "ink". Will this be an abysmal failure or should I give it a go and see what happens?

[musicman123]

I say go for it! I'm not too sure what the soda ash would do though. Is it some sort of powder that has to be mixed in the ink when using or can be strained out after?

 

If there aren't a lot of powders at don't dissolve, you should try it!

[webgeckos]

Hi,

 

So I have a bit of an odd question. I dye my own wool to spin or felt, and on occasion I use fiber reactive dyes to dye plant based material like bamboo or cotton. I was wondering if I could try using the fiber reactive dye to create my own ink. You use Soda Ash to set the color so it would need to be in the "ink". Will this be an abysmal failure or should I give it a go and see what happens?

 

I've done natural dying with Mordants of Alum etc. But mostly if I want nice colors I just buy the fibers to spin.

 

If you are using an Ash to set, I'd think you'd only want to use it in a dip pen.

[evilenabler]

The dyes are powder so I have to add h2o and the soda ash and they will all disolve completely. I was thinking about testing it out in one of my cheapy $3 disposable FP so if there's a problem I won't be too upset about it. I'll post pictures when I do it. I have to see if I need to order some soda ash. I primarily dye wool and other protein fibers with acid dyes, but being that most paper is not some type of protein..... that and I don't want to put vinegar or citric acid in one of my pens. That and acid dyes and plant fibers tend to ignore eachother. :|

[musicman123]

The dyes are powder so I have to add h2o and the soda ash and they will all disolve completely. I was thinking about testing it out in one of my cheapy $3 disposable FP so if there's a problem I won't be too upset about it. I'll post pictures when I do it. I have to see if I need to order some soda ash. I primarily dye wool and other protein fibers with acid dyes, but being that most paper is not some type of protein..... that and I don't want to put vinegar or citric acid in one of my pens. That and acid dyes and plant fibers tend to ignore eachother. :|

Interesting! Please do try it!

[inkstainedruth]

The dyes are powder so I have to add h2o and the soda ash and they will all disolve completely. I was thinking about testing it out in one of my cheapy $3 disposable FP so if there's a problem I won't be too upset about it. I'll post pictures when I do it. I have to see if I need to order some soda ash. I primarily dye wool and other protein fibers with acid dyes, but being that most paper is not some type of protein..... that and I don't want to put vinegar or citric acid in one of my pens. That and acid dyes and plant fibers tend to ignore eachother. :|

Well some inks *are* acidic (particularly iron gall inks). So to flush them if you want to then use a different ink, you would be using a dilute vinegar solution rinse anyway (between flushes with distilled water). You wouldn't flush with ammonia solution until after you did the other steps first.

Note that some pens (particularly Noodler's) are made of "vegetal resin".

I haven't tried doing fiber dying, so I don't know all the chemistry involved. I wonder, though, how some of the mordants would react to pen bodies (depending on what the pen is made of).

If you're going to try this, I would suggest that you let the dye bath cool (heat is not pen friendly, which is why most manufacturers say to use only cold water for flushing), and also to use an inexpensive pen that is easy to clean (or you don't mind trashing).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[webgeckos]

Was wondering about mordants too. I have only ever used Iron, Alum and Copper as mordants.

[evilenabler]

Well some inks *are* acidic (particularly iron gall inks). So to flush them if you want to then use a different ink, you would be using a dilute vinegar solution rinse anyway (between flushes with distilled water). You wouldn't flush with ammonia solution until after you did the other steps first.

Note that some pens (particularly Noodler's) are made of "vegetal resin".

I haven't tried doing fiber dying, so I don't know all the chemistry involved. I wonder, though, how some of the mordants would react to pen bodies (depending on what the pen is made of).

If you're going to try this, I would suggest that you let the dye bath cool (heat is not pen friendly, which is why most manufacturers say to use only cold water for flushing), and also to use an inexpensive pen that is easy to clean (or you don't mind trashing).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I definitely think that some of the fiber reactive dyes (for plant based fibers) would probably dye the pens that have a "vegetal resin". Which would probably destroy the awesome part of the pen... I hadn't thought of that, I'm glad you brought that up.

 

When dying wool and such heat is applied when you want to bond the color to the fiber. I was thinking to steam the page after writing, but now I'm not so sure.

 

What percentage of vinegar would you use in the rinse solution? I think I might try the acid dyes too and see what happens. For some reason I'm thinking that it's just going to sit on the top of the paper and not absorb. If I do heat any mixture to help disolve the particles, I'll let it sit overnight like when you mix regular FP inks.

 

I have all the stuff to try the acid dyes so I think I will mix them up tonight, and try them tomorrow.

[Intellidepth]

Dunno if this might help, if u understand the basic chemistry behind it (which I don't really).

https://www.google.com/patents/US4694302

[Katharine]

 

 

For some reason I'm thinking that it's just going to sit on the top of the paper and not absorb.

 

Oh, I think it will absorb okay; it's not going to render the paper waterproof. After all, if you put a fabric or fiber into a bath of dye that isn't suited for it, it's not going to stay dry and not absorb the liquid... just that the dye won't stick. Not sure how this would translate to something that isn't going to be washed and kept around for years and years (in the case of some things you'd write)... perhaps the color would fade quickly or rub off?