pd1

I read the process at Dharma and it basically told of a long and involved procedure to color silk.
I thought that was a bit more work than I wanted to do.

My wife said,"try this". She handed me some new Ritt liquid dye, and an old pot.
When I finally got up the courage to try it, I was amazed.
I didn't make a mess and the silk took the dye evenly through out.
All I did was follow the instructions on the back of the package.

Basically add the liquid or powdered dye to hot water and let simmer on the stove.
I've now used the powdered dye as well as the liquid and the results are the same.

Add the already wet silk to the simmering water and stir for thirty minutes.
Wetting the silk first helps to keep the color from streaking.
Rinse with cold water and wash with some detergent, let dry.

The silk stretches out a bit while wet but shrinks back to original size when dry.

The next day wash again with a mild soap or detergent. It seems the excess dye doesn't go away completely with the first wash.

Failure to do the second wash will result in the excess dye transferring to the clear dope by way of the brush and mixing together, and contaminating the clear.

The yellow wing in the picture is a Tri Squire that I used the powdered dye on the silk.

Paul