Dye experimentation + fabric sourcing continued...

I have spent the day trying once again to work out the best way to dye for the sea slugs. I decided today to try putting the black graduated centre on the large square of silk habotai that I had dyed in the dye room at uni using the dylon black as considering how fast the kemtex dyed it such a strong colour, trying to get a graduation with such a fast acting and strong dye would be tremendously difficult to reproduce the amount of times I will need to do it.

I mixed the Velvet Black to 4tsp in 500ml water with salt for the fixative and wet the silk thoroughly before dip dying, periodically rinsing to try and make sure it graduated. Unfortunately this didn't work the way I had hoped and I ended up with a streaky, very uneven effect.

I then tried misting the dye over the fabric to achieve the bleed graduation that I wanted to very good results. Where I had sprayed the dye it went from the black to the pink in the way that I had hoped.

This had led me to the following conclusion;

Kemtex dye - to the mix previously stated - for the pink, with Velvet Black Dylon dye misted over the top to give the black centre and graduation is the best way to achieve the desired effect with silk habotai.



FABRIC SOURCING CONTINUED;
This morning I have been in contact with Whaley's (Bradford) about a larger section of the fine silk habotai I had recieved a sample of. I decided that to get a propper idea of whether I could use it I should try dying it first to find out if it is indeed too fine for the costumes. Also, while browsing their catalogue I found white cotton satin and though they have a policy against sending out more then one sample for free once I had explained why I wanted it they were more then accomodating and I am expected to recieve a sample of it in the next few days!