The fun and challenge of dying scarves

The fun of dying scarves is the fun of playing with colors and design.

A color scheme can be a simple monochromatic- shades and tints of one color. Or one color can be the main color, while others are added as accents. For example, a scarf of light gray with accents of blue and dark gray. One can start with a dark color on one edge of a scarf and gradiate the color across several shades, or several different colors. With a rectangular scarf, this can be done starting with a long edge, working toward the other long edge; or starting with the two short edges, working toward the center.

The dyes (or paints) chosen, make a big difference in how a scarf is put together. For example, acid dyes can be set by boiling or by steaming. It is important to realize after painting a scarf with dye and letting it dry, that it is not done. It must still be steamed. To avoid this, one can use an acid dye for the background (boil it), and then add painted accents, which will need to be set with an iron.

There is a product called alter ego dye which is especially made for devore scarves- scarves in satin or velvet, where in some places the rayon portion of the fabric is removed, leaving behind the silk backing. This dye system involves two different dyes, one that will dye rayon and one that will dye silk. Both dyes are thrown into the pot, along with the scarf. It becomes what looks like a mess of color and fabric, but as it cooks, the dyes are taken up by the fabric and the pattern is revealed! The scarf, if it turns out well, looks very very good.

Which brings me to the challenge of dying scarves. The biggest difficulty is in making the dye come out evenly, with no light spots or dark spots. To encourage a good result, I wash scarves with synthrapol before dying. However, this is not necessarily enough. I need to find other tricks to help my scarves dye evenly. And that may be the topic for another post :o)

Silk: painting vs dying

Perhaps the biggest difference between dying and painting silk is in the setting process. Paints are set by dry heat, either an iron or in the dryer. Dyes are set with wet heat. This can be dying a solid or kettle (mottled) scarf in a pot of simmering water to which the dye is added. It can also be a scarf decorated (painted) with dyes, then wrapped carefully and steamed- either in a vegetable steamer or in a specially made steamer.

One can use techniques such as serti with either paints or dyes. Serti involves drawing lines with a resist (called so because it resists the dye or paint, forming a barrier) One first draws the design with the resist, and then fills in between the lines with color. The resist can be black, metallic, colored, or clear (which is removed after adding color, leaving behind lines of white). When coloring in the design, one can blend colors together, shade, and apply salt to alter the appearance of the color. One can find inspiration for designs from stained glass windows, to quilts, to children's coloring books.

For a less structured design, one can also apply random patches of color to the silk, then sprinkle with salt for a lovely effect. The salt really makes the effect, drawing color into intricate patterns as the dye or paint dries. The finished effect can be like a sunrise or a swirl of mist.

I prefer paints over dyes for working more intricate designs (ie serti), just because the steaming process seems a bit intimidating. I have read many warnings about how it must be done just so, with no droplets of water forming on the silk, and no dye seeping through the wrapping. The one thing dye does have over paint is that it does not leave a feel on the silk, while paint does- the transparent paints only slightly, but the opaque paints, noticeably.

Many artists use silk to paint on, and the effect is really spectacular. The artist in the video is using the serti technique.