{"id":584,"date":"2024-01-31T22:09:12","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T21:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/?page_id=584"},"modified":"2024-01-31T22:09:12","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T21:09:12","slug":"fabric-dyeing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/?page_id=584","title":{"rendered":"Fabric dyeing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>(short description of the project + goals)<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__list has-dates wp-block-latest-posts\"><li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/invar.nl\/?p=521\">Not dyeing my curtains, but painting instead?<\/a><time datetime=\"2024-01-31T09:08:53+01:00\" class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-date\">31 January 2024<\/time><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-full-content\"><!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Dyeing polyester is a chore. Maybe I can just paint them instead, using acrylic paint.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I could make my own fabric medium (for thinning down acrylic paint) using glycerin, vinegar and water. I have some old glycerin that I wanted to throw out anyway.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=25LF1rDbfUk\">This video<\/a> looks very similar to what I want to try. They came out a bit blotchy but I think that&#8217;s a cool look, if I didn&#8217;t want that I could wet the fabric beforehand to make the paint stick more evenly.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Would need a hot iron to completely cure the acrylic onto the fibres. Or perhaps an oven, or a blow dryer.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To be continued<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/invar.nl\/?p=517\">Dyeing my curtains<\/a><time datetime=\"2024-01-30T20:33:22+01:00\" class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-date\">30 January 2024<\/time><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-full-content\"><!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I want to dye my curtains. When I moved into my current place I really needed curtains and I bought the first ones I could find that were cheap, &#8220;blackout&#8221; and at least somewhat close to the colour palette I wanted for my room. But they turned out to be &#8220;greige&#8221;, while I wanted beige. Now I have them I think I&#8217;d like them better in a shade of brown.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>For some reason, I have a complete extra set of these curtains, so I shouldn&#8217;t be afraid to experiment. Also, I don&#8217;t mind if it turns out a bit more &#8220;rustic&#8221;; the colour doesn&#8217;t have to be perfectly consistent. Finally, it doesn&#8217;t have to be the most permanent dye, because I rarely (if ever) wash my curtains.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Of course, I don&#8217;t want to make things easy for myself and just buy fabric dye. I want to see if I can make my own.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I&#8217;m thinking of walnut husks, or iron oxide. I don&#8217;t necessarily want to go for natural dyes, but they seem the most accessible and I want to dye it my curtains a natural colour.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I&#8217;m doing some research and it looks like polyester is typically dyed in pressurised machines at 130\u00b0C to swell the fibre and open it up for dye penetration. It is possible to dye at lower temperature, but the compounds needed to swell the fibres at a lower temperature are generally toxic (benzoic acid, dichlorobenzene) and even though I could probably source them, I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s environmentally responsible to use those. In general, polyester fibres are hydrophobic and will not absorb water-soluble dyes.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/austinpublishinggroup.com\/textile-engineering\/fulltext\/arte-v8-id1080.php\">Alkaline treatment<\/a> can help make the fibres hydrophilic, although this comes at the cost of some fabric weight loss. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Apparently somebody found that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/profile\/Muhammad-Ab-Kadir\/post\/How_to_dye_Polyester_at_low_temperature_without_carrier\/attachment\/643b689d28b5df6cef0ea36e\/AS%3A11431281147442926%401681615005365\/download\/Fastness+properties+and+colorimetric+characteristics+of+low+temperature+dyeing+of+natural+dyes+from+the+barks+of+Ixonanthes+icosandra+Jack+on+polyester+fabric.pdf?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InF1ZXN0aW9uIiwicGFnZSI6InF1ZXN0aW9uIn19\">bark of a tropical tree <\/a>can be used on polyester, in combination with a copper sulfate mordant it would give the colour I want. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/271916270_A_Novel_Eco-friendly_Colorant_and_Dyeing_Method_for_Polyethylene_terephthalate_Substrate\/download?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InF1ZXN0aW9uIiwicGFnZSI6Il9kaXJlY3QifX0\">One study<\/a> looked into madder as a natural dye for polyester, at different temperatures and using different mordants, and found that at 100\u00b0C the mordants performed no better than without, however copper sulfate seemed to perform similarly to using no mordant at 60\u00b0C. It gives a bit of an orangy-beige colour. Apparently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/profile\/Laura-Aquino-Gonzalez\/publication\/336727756_Evaluation_of_Cochlospermum_vitifolium_Extracts_as_Natural_Dye_in_Different_Natural_and_Synthetic_Textiles\/links\/5e6926bda6fdcc759502ef16\/Evaluation-of-Cochlospermum-vitifolium-Extracts-as-Natural-Dye-in-Different-Natural-and-Synthetic-Textiles.pdf?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InF1ZXN0aW9uIiwicGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIn19\">potassium sulfate<\/a> can work as a mordant too and I could experiment with magnesium sulfate too.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Continuing reading, I&#8217;m starting to realise that this would be a logistically challenging project. Even the commercial fabric dyes would need close to 100\u00b0C to work, and I don&#8217;t think we have a pot big enough to fit even just 1 of the curtains on our stove. I might be able to borrow a vat that I could dump them in together with boiling water, but I probably won&#8217;t be able to get it over 60\u00b0C. Maybe I can throw a heating element in.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>One study found that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0959652612006889\">vanillin<\/a> can be used as a sustainable carrier for low-temperature polyester dying. The results are promising! It&#8217;s not as good at colouring as the carcinogenic ones, but, well, it&#8217;s not carcinogenic. (Para-)vanillin is easy to get and relatively cheap in low quantities and improves the K\/S value (I guess this is the maximum colour uptake value?) from 2 to 3.5 compared to using no carrier. Ortho-vanillin could get to 7.5, but I can&#8217;t source it.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S092666901930264X\">Other essential oils <\/a>(Cinnamaldehyde, Thymol, Geraniol) may function similarly. Acetone may solve as a co-solvent?<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>One study used iron sulfate and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0959652619335437\">fatty acids<\/a> to colour polyester at boiling temperature.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0926669024000116\">This study <\/a>managed to dye (green) using ethanol extracted chlorophyll from sweet potato leaves at 60-80\u00b0C. They used metal ion mordants and found that copper sulfate works best, at a very low pH around 3. I really like the idea of dyeing with leaf matter, and I think green curtains would work well as well.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I would need:<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:list -->\n<ul><!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>A vat with a heating element and a thermometer<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>A bunch of green leaves, they dried at 50\u00b0C<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Ethanol to extract chlorophyll &#8211; they used 100g dried leaves per 1L 60% ethanol<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>A pot to boil the leaves &#8211; they extracted for 100 minutes at 90\u00b0C<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Copper sulfate<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>An acid<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><\/ul>\n<!-- \/wp:list -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Still, metal ions aren&#8217;t great to dispose of in the sewage system and it&#8217;s still a lot of hassle.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To be continued.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(short description of the project + goals)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":197,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-584","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":585,"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/584\/revisions\/585"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}