A Better Day Dawns

First the results...THEN the story! Here are the befores and afters of overdyeing the failed fabrics. This time a lot more of the golden yellow struck and stayed, although I lost some of the deep gold tones. The rose tones underneath the overdyeing are still very obvious, but at least now the other colors on the surface are coming through.

FIRST PIECE OVER-PAINTED,DRIED AND READY TO STEAM:

AFTER STEAMING: Some of the warm tones fade back to gray and rose.


SECOND PIECE OVER-PAINTED, DRIED, AND READY TO STEAM:

AFTER STEAMING: Again some of the saturation has softened, but I am quite happy with the results on this piece and can begin designing the areas that will have letter shapes added.


THIRD PIECE: REPAINTED, DRIED AND READY TO STEAM



AFTER PROCESSING: ANOTHER POSSIBLE ORIENTATION

So, last time you visited here I was weeping over the sorry state of my acid dye results on silk and struggling to understand WHAT IS HAPPENING. I consulted with Nancy, a technical consultant at Pro-Chem (she was hugely helpful and best of all, truly concerned about helping me solve the problem). We considered every possible scenario and finally decided I should just add more dye activator (ammonium sulfate) to every dye I had mixed.

I have a storage container and a dedicated 1/2 tsp. measuring spoon for the ammonium sulfate. I measure out three 1/2 teaspoons to get the 1.5 tsp. per mixed half cup of dye or print paste. I have the measurements marked on the side of the container so I know exactly how much to add every time. Experience has taught me not to trust it to my memory.

But this time when I pulled out the measuring spoon, I paused. It looked -- small. Putting on my reading glasses, I suddenly realized that my dollar store measuring spoon wasn't the half teaspoon one at all, it was the quarter teaspoon. Mea culpa, mea culpa, the mystery is solved and the perp is ME!! All the dye fussing, cussing and sorrows could have been avoided if I had just put the correct size measuring spoon in the storage container!

There IS a lesson in this, which is why I'm sharing this totally embarrassing incident with all of you. Even the most experienced person can make a foolish -- and critical -- error. Luckily I am only a danger to my fabrics and not to myself or others!

Meanwhile, ever the optimist, I put the PROPER ratio of ammonium sulfate in my mixed dyes and painted all three pieces again yesterday. This time there was a bit of color loss after processing, but taking into account that this fabric has been through a number of processes now (it was all fabric that had been discharged to begin with), I think the results testify that perserverence is a desirable quality when it comes to surface design.

This does mean, sadly, that I have to do the sampling again with the CORRECT amounts of ammonium sulfate so I get accurate colors. But not for a bit!!