At my recent Exploring Fibre Art class, we looked at reactive dye colour splitting.
Why does this happen? We’d all seen the results of this after ice dyeing fabrics and when silk painting. We decided to test our own colours.
How to test a colour
It’s easy to test your colours to find out if they will split. Simply drop a tiny amount of dye powder or liquid dye on to a paper towel. Drop a small amount of water on to the dye and watch it spread! See the colours in a mixed dye appear on the towel.
Reason colours split
Artist Jane Dunnewold provides an explanation and examples in her video below.
VIDEO: Pure vs. Mixed Fiber Reactive Dyes: Testing to Discover Hidden Color!
Basically, there are two categories of dyes -
- PURE COLOUR – made up of one colour only
- MIXED COLOUR – made up of more than one colour. Any mixed colour can split.
The dye molecules within a mixed colour are different sizes so will react at different rates. One colour will move faster the another, meaning they attach to the molecules in the fabric at different rates. For example, yellow dye molecules move faster than blue ones!
Test results
It was amazing to see the different colours emerge from the original! I tested some old fibre reactive colours and found the Green KGL appears to contain cyan and yellow.
Navy KBRA displays blue and some red as shown by the pinkish edges!
Black K2B displays blue, yellow at the edges and brown.
H Dupont Silk Dyes
I tested some H Dupont Classique silk dyes and found that the following dyes did not split so are pure colours:
- Primary Yellow (717)
- Magenta (460)
- Cyan (221)
Most other colours I tested were mixed colours. Taupe 812 is an interesting mix of purple and yellow.
I found the H Dupont Classique silk dyes did not split as easily as the fibre reactive dyes.
Our testing has given us a new insight in how to use colours in our dyeing techniques. Now, before I dye anything I will do the quick colour test to help me achieve the outcome I want to create.
