Selected high quality dyes for professional silk painter when
strength, brilliance and price are of prime importance. Steam fixation.

Very economical and easy to prepare. Dyes have a very high
wash and light fastness a very long storage life. Colours are intermixable.

Dye Instructions

Especially selected dyes for professional silk painter.
Strong vibrant colours for hand painting on silk . Steam fixation.
Dyes have a very high wash and light fastness.
Easy to prepare formulations with long storage life.

Dyes are very economical to use. For maximum strength 50gram
make 1 litre of silk dye.
50gram of Magenta & Turquoise make 2.7 litres of dye!
25gram of Cyan make 2.5 litres of dye!

HAND PAINTING RECIPE

. Prepare the BASE MEDIUM: to 1 litre of water add 2 ml (one teaspoon) of Acetic Acid and 2 ml of LYOGEN. This mixture is used to dilute dye if paler colour is required. Bottle and use as required.

1. Dissolve 50g of dye in one litre of water (see note below). This produces maximum intensity of colour*. Add a teaspoon each of Acetic Acid & LYOGEN. Once prepared, the liquid dye will keep for long time without deterioration.

2. Paint on silk or wool.

3 Steam for 40 minutes. Steaming for longer time may affect the strength of colour. See note below **

4. Rinse first in cold water, then in warm soapy water.

DISSOLVING DYES

Dyes in granular form should be dissolved by sprinkling them on top of lukewarm water whilst stirring. Dyes in powder form are dissolved in very hot water.

Magenta, Cyan & Turquoise: mix first with cold water & LYOGEN till "dispersed", then use boiling water.

* Turquoise, Magenta & Cyan (200%) are extremely concentrated dyes. Maximum suggested dilution for Magenta & Turquoise is 18g per litre. For Cyan maximum suggested dilution is 10g per litre (1g per 100 ml). Using greater amounts of dye may lead to colours bleeding during washing. If stronger colour is required, and bleeding occurs, it can be counteracted to certain degree by rinsing in a bath containing 30 ml of DYEFIX to each litre of rinsing water.

** Note : Successful steaming requires combination of heat and steam. If conducted in properly insulated vessel the steaming time should not exceed 40 minutes. Metal pots can be a problem due to excessive amounts of condensation inside the pot. Ideal for small time home production is a Chinese bamboo steamer placed in a Chinese cooking wok. It is not necessary to use any aluminum foil at all. Just wrap silk in thin cotton material, place it in the bamboo steamer and allow free circulation of steam . There is no condensation or ruined silk. Temperature inside steamer reaches very close to boiling temperature which is ideal for good fixation. Periodically add some boiling water to the wok .
 

COLD BATCHING
Suitable only for wool (unspun fiber) and knitted garments

Materials needed:
5 ml Acetic Acid
5 ml Lyogen
300g Urea
10g Manutex or 5g DR33
10 ml Metholated Spirits

1. Dissolve Urea in 500 ml warm water; add LYOGEN and Acetic Acid.

2. Paste Manutex with Metholated Spirits in a screw top jar, add 500 ml of cold water, close lid - shake. Allow to swell
If using DR33 thickener -dissolve in cold water then add 2-3 drops of acetic acid and allow 15 minutes to swell.

3. Add this to pre-dissolved Urea mixture and stir. This is your Base Medium to which small amounts of pre-dissolved dye are added. 5g of dye per 100 ml of Base Medium will give maximum colour intensity.

4. Apply to wool, cover with plastic sheet (or place in plastic bag) and leave for 24 hours.

5. Wash in hot soapy water.