New Dye Maybe?

Awhile back, Jeff Hamm posted on dying with veggies, fruits and such. I had been wanting to try mortar dye and finally got around to it. If I can perfect it, it will be just about the cheapest thing available. It is in a powder form, costs about one dollar a pound and for me anyway, very easily obtainable. I used approximately 1/32 of a teaspoon of powder with these, soaked just under boiling for 20 minutes, then ten more minutes with two teaspoons of vinegar for the set. The colors came out very suttle and I believe the word might be earthish.

Thought I would share for comment.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...s/MVC-004S.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...s/MVC-003S.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...s/MVC-002S.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...s/MVC-001S.jpg

Rookie,

Those underfur colors look perfect for the sulfurs (nymph, emerger, dun, spinner) we have around here, in central PA and in western MD. Is that either rabbit or opossum?

PRM,

That's Chinese Hare. I split an order with one of the other members and we each ended up with twelve skins. I agree with you on the underfur color. I liked it as well but wasn't sure how it would be percieved by anyone else.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rookie

Awhile back, Jeff Hamm posted on dying with veggies, fruits and such. I had been wanting to try mortar dye and finally got around to it. .....then ten more minutes with two teaspoons of [b]vinegar[/n] for the set.

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To prevent confusion, do you mean powders that are used to color concrete mortar - mortar dye; or mordant dye, which is a dye that uses a mordant to set the dye. For example, Rit Dye.

The reason I ask is that you say you use vinegar to set the dye and vinegar is not a true mordant. Vinegar adjusts the pH and can affect color, but does not actually combine with the dye to fix it. So vinegar does not set the dye. You should try it with powdered alum next time to see if you get a better color fix.

Non mordant dyes actually combine with the protein in the fiber and do not need mordants.

When I dye, I want reproduceable results so I use Rit dye. Some people use Koolaid. I've found that true black is the most difficult color. Wood duck yellow is also difficult unless you have picric acid which is explosive. Now I just buy my dubbing.

It is fun to experiment though.

http://www.greatvistachemicals.com/d...rdant_dye.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordant

http://books.google.com/books?id=DLl...esult&resnum=2

Good looking colors

Hi Silver,

I tried to post this last night but somehow lost the post. The mortar dye I used is to tint mortar such as BrickSet or ThinSet. There is a concrete or Portland dye, which is next by the way, that is a little different than the mortar dye.

When using the mortar or portland dye, you need to get an MSDS sheet to make sure it has not been made with flammables or combustibles. It can be made with these.

On the set part, I am afraid I am chemistery illiterate. I thought I had read previously where vinegar did create a set. I am probably wrong on this. I also use Rit and have had great results although some find it objectionable because it doesn't have an acid base. Mike Connor has done some fantistic documentation regarding dying furs and feathers.

I will have to try to find some Alum and give that a whirl. Thanks for the information about this.


Flymaker2, thanks for the compliment and the feed back.

Hi,

On a number of websites on dying wool with natural dyes they say that vinegar will fix the dye. However, I've also seen people indicate that vinegar is not really a "mordant", which is a substance used to treat the wool to fix the colour. Different mordants can affect the final result (iron mordants produce a darker colour, while Alum produces a "cleaner" result). Anyway, I would bow to Silver's greater knowledge on this topic and suggest using Alum, which you can find in the spice section of your supermarket (it's used for pickeling apparently). As a note, however, I've read that you can also get Alum from the pharmacy. Apparently they are not quite the same thing. And, to make matters more interesting, I've read that one works and the other does not, with some saying the stuff from parmacy is wrong and the grocery store stuff is good, with others saying the opposite.

Go figure!

Anyway, that all aside, I really like the look of your colours. I've picked up some Alum recently, but haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

- Jeff

I was hoping you would weigh in on this Jeff. Thanks. I definately bow to Silver on the Alum. I would like to know a little more regarding the two different types of Alum and also anyone who uses it regarding how much to use etc.

Hi Silver,

The third web site, (Google), was written in a little clearer language (for this dummy) and gave me a little better insight into what you were saying.

Thanks