More on Wash Fastness

As much as I enjoy obtaining refined and unique marks from the plant material on fabric I cannot but brood over the Wash Fastness aspect, especially when it comes to wearables.

The common advice that can be most often found regarding washing and caring for naturally dyed textiles, is to hand wash it in cold water, or use a gentle cycle in the washing machine.

In my practice with natural dyestuffs I tend to meticulously run my own experiments to see how the same recipe/regularity works for me. Well, the moment I got my very first satisfying dyed pattern on a wearable item I immediately put on considering cap:

How long a garment treated with the natural dyes will serve before the increasing color fading from the multiple washes finally gives it an unappealing look?

Provided, of course, that the garment has been properly treated with mordants, as well as that the dyeing process has been carried out aptly.

For the silk accessories and such, the washing matter does not look as much uncertain as for the sportswear for instance. 

I really would have doubts as for a jersey T-shirt and a gentle washing cycle… Well, maybe I am just too lazy to consider a hand-wash, or is it just that I know that you cannot give a quality wash to a jersey T-shirt without presoaking it, which will definitely affect the natural dyes. So, why not give a try to a conventional washing then?

Still wearing the same considering cap, I got a dyed jersey shirt:

Front

Back

I decided to wear it on a regular basis from the moment I finished working on it last September, and throw it into the washing machine with the rest of my light-colored laundry; I used my usual detergent, Persil most of the time, for cotton fabrics.

These are some close-ups of the shirt pattern right after dyeing:

And now after three months and 15 to 18 washes, this is what I end up with at this moment:

Not sure how much obvious it really is from the pics, but the background color retains its corn-colored hue; while the bluish marks from the tannins have shifted towards brown color, as the result of their exposure to the high Ph of the washing powder.

Well, at this point my shirt still works for me. Which is fine. I’ll keep my further records on the gradual color shift and/or loosing color of this item.

Determining the point when the T-shirt starts looking toneless will surely give the better idea about the general shelf-life of my naturally-dyed clothes, which is essential info to be labeled on my naturally dyed collection.

So, dear colleagues, and what advice do you label your naturally dyed wearables with?

Another Test. A Visual Review

Another piece tested for wash fastness. 

A silk top dyed in the same dye bath as the jersey top,

printed with same type dried euca leaves, tested in the washing machine with the mild detergent.

Approved!

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A Test for the Wash Fastness

As the Natural Dye Stuffs exploring process is so gripping it is so easy to get drifted away in search for the perfect print.

You set up test after the test, bundle after the bundle, and each time you really get more and more exciting results; sometimes yet faults occur but those serve only to urge forward the maker.

But on some point you wanna get an idea of how much you can actually rely upon your results. How long would last this color, or effect? If a color shift would happen within a time? If yes, what to expect then? 

Even if it is a framable art, or a wall piece, you would not appreciate the image varnishing in half a year, not to mention the surprise for the clientele…

Should I mention the wearables? Taking into consideration the amount of work it takes to create a decent piece, it’s kinda undesirable to get the colors bleeding after the wash, or any other discrepancies between your result and the quality standart.

 

So, no matter how much I enjoy getting a nice natural print, I have been spending quite some time on testing my dyed and printed results for all sorts of treatments. 

 

And one of the first tested objects proved to be worth the time and effort invested in it!

Not long ago I posted some close -up shots of it on my FB page

and quite a few people liked it, which I appreciate a lot!

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I did not mention in my post though, that it was a cotton jersey top, an item subject to wearing and washing, and exposing to the direct sunlight!

The prints themselves were awesome!

I was going to run the test first and then consider the results. And, as I’ve mentioned before the test object proved good, so I’ll add a few words to this story to summarize the dyeing process.

The black color resulted from this dyeing session was a sheer surprise that day, as I was chasing the reds from euca at that time, and this was one of my many trials when I was getting anything but no red!

All sorts of brown and yellow shades. But Black! Really, did not see that coming…

Well , as I learnt later on,  from all the world’s huge variety of the euca species

I was lucky enough to have “a non-red” type at my disposal.

So, for this dye bath I used crashed dried euca from the pharmacy. I did not pretreat the fabric with alum.

I added a mighty rusted pipe to the bath, as dear Irit recommended me on the FB group to add some iron.

I assume the rusty pipe affected the dye bath ratio in kinda weird way!

For the prints I rolled the presoaked in water dried euca leaves of some local Crimea euca type, the origin is unknown. The bundles from this session were curing for about a week up to 10 days maybe before opening. And it was over a month before I washed the cotton jersey top in the washing machine with a mild detergent. Not to forget that I ironed it a with steam iron prior to the treatment!

The ready to go item did not lose any color intensity, nor did any color shift occur!

 

This is all as for the report on testing color.

I believe at present I will  follow this way of estimation of my dyeing results,

presenting nice prints and colors, if any, along with the reporting on

their fastness to different sorts of treatments.

P.S. Thanks to you my friend Maggie Drake, now I know first hand that euca does yield different sorts of red and orange shades. It’s all about the euca type you’re dealing with! Thank you, my dear friend! I appreciate it very much!

xoxo

The Silk Tree Fluffs Hapa-zome

My report on the Fluffs wouldn’t be complete without this little complement.

The Hammering was performed on the untreated cotton fabric. I actually used a spoon for the sake of my mom’s table.

Talking of my Hapa-zome experience in general I cannot say that I have ever enjoyed either hammering in particular, or working with anything heavy, such as a stone for example, on the fabric surface… Well, my “spoon approach” is somewhat amateur I’d say… But this way I can work  freely not fearing to damage the fabric and have too coarse of a print…

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I have to say the Fluffs print dearly! In comparison to other flower material which may give a bit of a blur though bright prints, these leave a well-defined graphic mark. Which should be considered for the further enquiry in terms of the color fastness and the effects from different mordants treatment.

xoxo

Мой отчет о цветах шелкового дерева

был бы неполным без этого небольшого дополения

Я не могу сказать, что японская техника хапа-зом так уж меня увлекает возможностью поработать молотком или чем-то тяжелым, вроде камня, по растительному материалу, выложенному по поверхности ткани.

Скорее я предпочитаю несколько аматорский подход в виде ложки.

По крайней мере таким образом я не рискую, увлекшись, повредить поверхность ткани, пускай мне и приходится прилагать больше усилий.

Могу сказать, что “пушки” отпечатываются исключительно хорошо. В отличие от другого растительного материала, который дает более расплывчатый и нечеткий след, эти оставляют вполне четкий отпечаток.

Хорошо бы в дальнейшем уточнить стойкость отпечатков к свету и мокрым обработкам!