Ok, this is a little nuts as far as prep time goes… well over six hours, so far…
Here’s the materials list:
1- Mordanted in Alum, we have: Two 11″ x 11″ piece of cotton; One 11″ x 22″ piece of cotton; One 10″ x 40″ piece of cotton; One 16″ x 9″ piece of raw silk; One 16″ x 9″ piece of silk habotai; & a complete sample pack from the first assignment. All mordanted in different solutions: Alum, Soy milk, & Sumac, or no mordant at all.
Preparing the Cochineal
- i) Grind the (10gr) of cochineal bugs into dust
- ii) Paste the dust with a little water to better dissolve it.
- iii) Dilute the paste into the bucket of water.
- iv) Pre-soak some of the materials in warm water to get better dying coverage
- v ) Place tape, clamp, and glue resists in dry.
- I have a separate dye bath for the silk habotai that is mordanted in an iron oxide bath.
- I have 2 gals in my bucket.
- (Approximate) 8% dye solution = 10gr cochineal / 120gr DWG.
- A full sample pack of different mordanted fabrics is also in the big bucket.
- Stitched samples will be removed after about 8 hours, the rest between 12 & 24 hours.
Stay tuned for more…
