After my visit to Digits to Widgets and learning that you can dye the Nylon prints yourself I instantly knew that this was something that I wanted to experiment with. After spending a while looking online and on YouTube trying to find the best way of dying Nylon the two main contenders were Dylon and Rit Dye. I started off trying Dylon first (Intense Violet). Using spare Nylon pieces I soaked them in water over night to remove any dust or particles to make sure the surface was as clean and even as possible. For the dye solution I weighed the parts first (25g) and added the same amount of Dye powder and salt into the pan and then started to heat the solution to a simmer. At first I had the parts in the solution for 6,17 and 36 minutes trying with the lid kept on to see f the steam would help to intensify the colour. Nothing really worked as I was always left with a pretty pale purple after I washed the excess dye off of the part. I then tried adding all of the Dye into the water and leaving the parts out of the solution and letting the steam do the work but I was still left with the same light purple which was disappointing. Safe to say that for me, Dylon is not the way forward. The next dye that I tried was Rit Dye (Wine). Using 1/2 a litre of simmering water and 1/2 of the packet of dye I tested leaving parts in the solution and also out of the solution in the steam (after dipping the parts into the solution just to give them a dye coating). After taking the parts out at 2,5 and 8 minute intervals I had instant success. The colours were intense and they were sticking to the Nylon very well. I liked how different the colours were between the steamed parts and the parts left in the solution.
The next step for me was to dip dye the parts as this is what I want to try and do for my ring to create a natural looking flower. Using the same solution I slowly lowered the petals into the solution and the results were fantastic so I am very happy! I just need to try this out again when my next D2W test pieces come back as the petals will be in 3 layers and not individual so I need to see if the same method will work...fingers crossed it does!
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AuthorI am a third year student at the School Of Jewellery in Birmingham. Posts will be based upon my progress through my final year on this DFI course. Archives
June 2016
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