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Fly Tying Journal Notes
A collection of helpful information and tips regarding fly tying, especially rotary fly tying. A collection of my own observations, and solutions concerning tying techniques and materials selection I have found helpful. And interesting information I have found regarding all things fly tying and fly tying materials.
Fly Tying Notes
Dyeing Natural Fly Tying Materials
Editor's note. - This is an edited version of a series of
articles by William T. Roubal, PhD. published in American Angler
magazine, Vol. 17, nos. 3 – 6 (1993), and Vol. 18, no. 1 (1994). Dr.
Roubal is a biochemist with particular expertise in dye and protein
chemistry that, fortunately for us, is also an accomplished fly tier.
Preparation of Materials and an Introduction to the Rudiments of Dyeing
Chemistry
No truly definitive
treatise on the science of dyeing aimed specifically at fly tiers has
ever been published. Moreover, because most of the various accounts that
have been presented on dyeing fly-tying materials have been written by
fly tiers, who I suspect have had little or no formal training in dye
and fiber chemistry, such work typically, describes some rather outdated
and ineffective methods. The aim of this series is to bring fly tiers up
to speed with those in the dyeing fraternity who understand the
scientific aspects of dyeing better than most anglers do. My point isn't
to present a highly technical treatise on dye and fiber chemistry, but
to explain dyeing in a way that will benefit all fly tiers. In due
course, we'll discuss the dyes themselves. But let's start at the very
beginning, with the proper cleaning and preparation of our materials,
which are called "substrates" in the parlance of dyers.
Difficulties in
dyeing can arise if the wrong cleaning agent (surfactant) is used. In
those parts of the country where hard water is prevalent, the biggest
problem with old-fashioned soaps is their tendency to form scums. And
because its common practice to include a cleanser and wetting agent (a
chemical that helps a liquid spread over and penetrate a solid
substance) in the dye bath, scum formation can slow down the process of
dyeing and in some cases even compete with the fiber for the dye.
As if this isn't
enough, no conventional household soap or detergent gives lightning fast
wetting of substrates in either hard or soft water. Without instant
wetting of the material, it's possible for portions of a tightly packed
or dense substrate to escape washing and/or dyeing altogether.
Furthermore, many household detergents contain chemical substances
called optical brighteners.
Brighteners are used to compensate for the drabness (the yellowish color
caused by the absorption of blue light) of aged fabrics. Through a
fluorescent pathway, brighteners absorb ultraviolet light and retransmit
it as blue to blue violet light to compensate for the natural blue light
absorbed by well-worn fabrics, making them look white again. Optical
brighteners interfere with the dyeing of "hot" colors and especially
with fluorescent dyes.
What a serious dyer
needs, therefore, is something that circumvents the shortcomings of
household detergents. Such materials do exist, in the form of
surfactants formulated specifically for dyeing. One of these materials
is Venpol, which is popular in Europe and often found where Veniard dyes
are sold. The premier surfactant of all, however, is the liquid product
Synthrapol; if there was ever a magic elixir developed for dyeing,
Synthrapol is it. Synthrapol is what is called a mixed anionic-nonionic
surfactant, and does a super job in all aspects of dyeing. It is used
not only in the preparation of substrates, but is also included in the
dye bath in order to speed the dyeing process and produce uniform color.
Synthrapol is more economical to use than Venpol and you should have no
trouble locating it. Look in the Yellow Pages under Dyes and Dyeing,
weaving Supplies, Art Supplies, Spinning Supplies and Spinning wheels,
and call the businesses listed.
CLEANING SUBSTRATES FOR DYEING
Substrates from fly
shops are usually clean enough to be dyed without additional treatment,
especially if Synthrapol is included in the dye bath. But many animal
furs and hairs and most feathers obtained in bulk or brought back from
the hunt will need to be thoroughly cleaned and degreased before being
dyed. This is easily accomplished by adding Synthrapol to hot water (at
the ratio of a tablespoon per quart) and soaking the substrate in this
solution for several hours. Swish the material from time to time while
it soaks. If you start with substrates that are bloodstained or
particularly dirty, add half a cup of three-percent hydrogen peroxide
for each quart of cleaning solution.
You'll need to use
a vessel large enough to avoid crowding the substrates. They need room
to spread out and lie flat, and a vessel that is long, wide, and shallow
(but not too shallow) is better than one that’s deep but not very wide.
When the substrates
are clean, rinse them in warm water containing Synthrapol in the
proportions of one-half teaspoon per quart of rinse water. If you are
working with hackle feathers (either on the skin or individually) and do
not plan to dye them right away, remove them from the rinse and run warm
water over them while holding the skin (or the stems of loose feathers)
so they straighten and hang naturally. Then place them on clean paper
towels or other clean absorbent material to dry. It's important to give
hackles this final rinse to straighten them out, otherwise they will be
deformed after they've dried.
A different
approach is used for duck or goose quills. Gasp each feather at the base
of the stem and move it under the surface of the rinse liquid so the
cupped side of the feather fares the side of the rinse vessel. Then
allow the feather to contact the side of the vessel and slowly draw the
feather up the side and out of the rinse. This allows the barbs and
barbules to zip back together, returning the feather to its original
shape. Now place the feather cupped-side-up on paper towels to dry.
These methods are also used when drying dyed hackles or wing quills.
Most people who dye
fly-tying materials use Veniard dyes (dye blends from England) sold at
fly shops, or household dyes such as RIT. These are not the only dyes
available and useful to fly tiers, however. This is fortunate, because
Veniard and RIT dyes are not without certain shortcomings. For example,
RIT dyes consist of mixtures with different chemical properties and are
formulated specifically to dye fabrics consisting of fiber blends. Dyers
refer to RIT and similar products as union dyes because they dye
different fibers in union; one component of the mixture will dye
polyester, one will dye cotton, another will dye nylon, and so on. This,
however, is not our goal. We want to dye fly-tying materials derived
from birds and animals (feathers, hair, fur, and wool) and silk from the
silkworm. If we use a union dye, much of it will be ineffective and
simply wasted because dyes for cotton, polyester, and other fabrics will
not dye furs or feathers. Furthermore, RIT does a poor job when
especially brilliant colors are wanted; dyers say that RIT colors lack
saturation.
A Veniard dye, on
the other hand, is a blend of dyes with similar chemical properties
(that is, they all dye substrates derived from birds and animals)
selected to provide the color on the label. But if you use a dilute
solution in order to get a light shade (a low saturation), one color in
the blend may predominate, depending on the particular blend and the
substrate being dyed. The same is true for a strong solution: the dye
with the greatest affinity for the fiber will dominate the color. In
either case, you don't get the color you want.
There are other
drawbacks to using only these dyes. Household dyes will not yield
satisfactory results with all the furs and feathers used in fly tying;
there are some tying materials you simply can't dye with them. It's also
impossible to obtain certain qualities in color, like the sheen of a
beetle, using only RIT or Veniard dyes. All of these problems can be
avoided by using some of the other dyes available. Your choices include
low-molecular-weight leveling acid dyes, medium-molecular-weight milling
acid dyes, high molecular-weight super milling acid dyes, premetallized
acid dyes, fiber-reactive dyes, natural dyes, mordant dyes, disperse
dyes, direct dyes, basic dyes, and vat dyes. Don't panic — -there's no
need to understand all of these. In fact, finding uses for all of them
would challenge even the most ambitious fly tier. The products most
useful to us are leveling and milling acid dyes, fiber-reactive dyes,
and natural dyes. Which to use depends pretty much on what you want to
dye and the end resuIt(s) you're shooting for, since substrates vary in
their responses to dyes. If you want bright, electrifying colors on
hackle feathers, you'll want to use leveling acid dyes, whereas natural
dyes are better for dark, subdued results on bucktail. And for the
blackest of blacks on just about any substrate, nothing beats the
natural dye logwood. I'll provide specific examples in future articles.
The point is that
dyes and substrates are chemicals. Retention of dye by a substrate is a
chemical process, and for retention to happen the right chemical
reaction(s) must occur. It only makes sense, then, to take a brief look
at the basics of dye chemistry.
Our interest is in
furs, feathers, hair, wool, and silk-substrates we call proteins. You
already know a lot about such substances; your skin, nails, hair, and
the hemoglobin of your blood are all proteins. The building blocks of
all proteins are amino acids. Think of a protein as a lot of amino acids
connected head-to-tail, much like links in a chain. There are twenty-odd
amino acids, most of which are present in the proteins of fur, feathers,
hair, and wool. It's not particularly important that you know the
compositions of these amino acids, but it is useful to know that the
affinity of dyes for amino acids (how well the color "sticks") varies
from weak to very strong. Most of the time, you'll want to select dyes
with high affinity for amino acids. Sometimes, however you might want to
use a dye with low affinity because of its color or other desirable
property, in which case a method of increasing affinity is welcome.
There are relatively easy rules to follow for all of this, which we'll
examine throughout this series.
Furs, feathers,
hair and wool are rich in sulfur-containing amino acids. A feature of
such amino acids is their ready destruction by alkaline substances such
as sodium hydroxide (lye) and washing soda (sodium carbonate). Drop a
feather (feathers are particularly rich in sulfur amino acids) in a
solution of one of these compounds and it will dissolve. Alkali converts
sulfur amino acids to gaseous hydrogen sulfide (the rotten-egg smell you
may remember from high-school chemistry class), and, with the links of
the protein chain missing, the feather falls apart. Since two of the
dyes mentioned above (fiber-reactive dyes and vat dyes) must be applied
from alkaline dye baths, you won't be able to use these dyes with
substrates containing sulfur amino acids; that is, with most fly-tying
materials. You can, however, use them to dye silk, which differs from
all other substrates in two important ways: it contains a less varied
amino acid content than other substrates and it is entirely devoid of
sulfur-containing amino acids.
Wool, fur, hair,
and feathers are all known as keratin proteins. Silk is a fibroin
protein. In future articles I will often refer to substrates simply as
keratins or as fibroins, so the terms are worth remembering.
Successful dyeing
involves much more than simply finding the right color, though even that
can be tricky. Even a rudimentary understanding of the chemistry
involved will help you achieve better results and can help you avoid
wasting time and expensive materials. Next time, we'll put our knowledge
to work, with a discussion of acid dyes: why they are good for both
keratin and fibroin proteins, how to identify them by name, where to get
them, and how to apply them.
There are easily a
thousand dyes that fly tiers can use. Fortunately, we don't have to
learn about all of them. Acid dyes, natural-product colorants, and
fiber-reactive dyes are the most important to fly tiers; of these, acid
dyes have the greatest usefulness, and are favored for dyeing many
natural substrates.
Understanding how
and why acid dyes are retained by materials will help you choose the
right dye for an application and use it property. There is a general
misconception as to the meaning of the term "acid dye," perhaps because
virtually all such dyes are applied from baths that contain an added
acid, such as acetic acid (vinegar) or muriatic (hydrochloric) acid.
Although additional acids are used, that's not the origin of the name;
acid dyes are derivatives of chemicals called sulfonic acids. Vinegar or
muriatic acid is added to the bath both to assist solubility and to
establish the molecular “glue” that binds a dye to a substrate.
Sulfonic acids are
not easily soluble in water, but for a dye to be useful, obviously, it
must be soluble. The dye-manufacturing process changes sulfonic acids to
salts of sulfonic acids (usually sodium salt), which are far more
soluble. Acidifying the bath helps the dye dissolve.
The added acid also
makes it possible for the dye to enter and "stick to" the substrate. As
I mentioned last time, natural substrates are proteins, which consist of
chains of amino acids. These chains contain sites of electrical charge;
some sites have a positive charge and others are negatively charged.
When a protein is immersed in a dye bath that contains an acid, many of
the negatively charged sites are removed, leaving the substrate with a
net positive charge. When a dye salt is dissolved in water, the dye
becomes negatively charged. Opposite charges attract one another; the
substrate is positively charged, the dye is negatively charged, a mutual
attraction is created, and the dye is bound to the substrate.
So much for basic
chemistry. There are several varieties of acid dyes: leveling acid dyes,
milling acid dyes, super milling acid dyes, and premetallized acid dyes.
Leveling acid dyes derive their name from their ability to impart an
even (or level) color throughout a substrate. The molecules of a
leveling acid dye are rather small, and in a hot dye bath they rapidly
penetrate the substrate; the dye applies color within the material, not
just on the surface. Once the molecules are inside the material,
however, the heat of the dye bath disrupts the bonds between dye and
substrate and the dye diffuses back out. This rapid in-and-out motion
makes for even dyeing.
There is a minor
disadvantage to the in-and-out chemistry of leveling acid dyes: they do
not "exhaust" well. In the lingo of dyers, a dye that exhausts well is
entirely taken up by the substrate, leaving the dye bath colorless, or
exhausted. Dyeing to exhaustion is generally a good thing, since it
means that all of the dye has been used and none has been wasted. An
exhausted solution also means that the dyeing has gone as far as
possible.
The reluctance of
leveling acid dyes to exhaust is actually a minor problem, especially to
an amateur dyer with less interest in the economics of the process than
in results. Leveling dyes allow you to achieve intense colors and full
saturation with most substrates, and to achieve them quickly. They are
extremely useful for dyeing bleached substrates; bleaching causes
changes in a material that allow only relatively small molecules to
penetrate.
Leveling acid dyes
produce intense reds on hackle feathers, and beautiful reds, yellows,
oranges, blues, blue-blacks, and grays on all substrates. They will not,
however, yield green, at least not with a single dye. Greens are
obtained by dyeing yellow substrates with blue dyes, a process known as
"top dyeing." Browns are also missing from the leveling-dye palette, and
are best achieved with acid dyes by mixing the appropriate colors. (In a
future installment we'll learn about natural-product dyes and some of
the fine browns that they produce.)
Milling acid dyes
were developed primarily for dyeing wool fleece that is worked (or
milled) under water in the production of felt for hats. The process of
milling requires a dye to have "high fastness" when exposed to water;
the color should not diffuse or bleed. The only difference between
leveling and milling acid dyes is the size of their molecules; those of
milling dyes are larger. These larger molecules take longer to penetrate
a substrate, but they stay put once they're inside. Milling acid dyes
exhaust rapidly and tend to pile up on or near the surface of a
substrate unless properly applied, leading to uneven or blotchy color.
They require that the bath contain a good surfactant, such as Synthrapol,
and that the temperature be brought up slowly.
Milling acid dyes
will dye most fly-tying substrates, but they will not dye bleached
substrates very well, nor do they provide as great a range of hot and
intense colors as leveling acid dyes. The milling-dye palette
encompasses an entire rainbow of colors, including aqua, light and dark
greens, browns, and black, though I prefer to obtain black and brown
with natural-product colorants.
Super milling acid
dyes and premetallized acid dyes can be viewed as extensions of milling
acids dyes. They are made up of large, complex molecules. Like
natural-product colorants, they give muted and subdued colors. But their
tendency to yield uneven, patchy results is a disadvantage, and we need
not consider them further.
Opening a catalog
from a dye manufacturer or distributor can be intimidating. Not only
will you find a myriad of dyes, you'll also encounter a long list of
unfamiliar names and abbreviations. You need to learn a new vocabulary.
The accompanying table and the information that follows should clear
away the confusion a beginner is likely to feel.
The table lists a
few leveling and milling acid dyes that give me good results. Keep in
mind that this list in no way exhausts all possibilities. My advice is
to contact the companies listed later, request their catalogs (free from
large companies; smaller outfits charge two or three dollars), and
choose dyes based on your needs, using the information that follows as a
guide.
In Column I, I've
listed colors as I perceive them. But you won't see colors listed in
this way in most catalogs. Instead, you'll see names like those shown in
Columns II, III and IV. Let's take the columns one at a time. Column II
contains so-called trivial names; all dyes that were developed in Europe
before the Second World War have trivial names, many of which bring no
specific color to mind. Dyes with trivial names are some of the oldest
dyes still in use, and the names are those given them in the old days by
German chemists who developed them. Most are produced by more than one
manufacturer, which brings us to Column III.
Like all products,
dyes have trade names. For example, Amido Naphthol Red G (fire-engine
red), also known as Azophloxine, can be found with at least four trade
names: Orcoacid Phloxine OR, Akacid Red 20, Intracid Red 2G, and Kiton
Acid Red 1 (and in certain catalogs also as Kiton Acid Red 301) When we
look at the end of the table, we see that Orcoacid, Akacid, Intracid and
Kiton are trade names used by Organic Dyestuffs Corporation, Aakash
Chemicals and Dyestuffs, Crompton and Knowles, and Ciba-Geigy,
respectively. Because it's made by four companies, we can be pretty sure
that this red dye is popular and probably not difficult to find. But
here's the catch. Suppose you look through your catalogs for a red dye
and find Kiton Red 1 listed in one, Akacid Red 20 in another, and
Orcoacid Phloxine GR in a third, but no trivial names or anything else
in the way of identification. From his information alone, you have no
way of knowing that all three names denote the same dye.
Since trade names
can lead to confusion, the Society of Dyers and Colorists created a
universal system known as the Color Index (C.I.), a collection of data
that includes trivial names, trade names, and other information, all
cross-referenced to a C.I. name and number. Initially, only one
numbering system was used, but now there are two, and you will commonly
find dyes referenced by both numbers, which I have tabulated in Column
IV. Note that all of the trade names for Amido Naphthol Red 0 correspond
to a single 0-I designation. We therefore know we are dealing with one
dye: C.I. Acid Red 1, No. 18050.
Let's look into
names and colors just a little more. Words such as red, blue, and brown
are often parts of trade or trivial names, but it is hard to define the
colors in familiar terms; examples of this include Kiton Red I, Orange
II, Methylene Blue, and Bismarck Brown. This is unfortunate, because you
can't know what to expect until you use one of these dyes. Furthermore,
a trivial or trade name rarely tells you whether a dye is a leveling
acid dye or a milling dye. Sometimes, however, it is possible to know
what to expect (at least approximately) from a trade or trivial name
alone. Orco milling Brilliant Red 10B, listed in the table, is an
example. If we check the note at the end of the table, we see that Orco
milling is the designation that Organic Dyestuffs Corporation gives to
their milling acid dyes. The word "brilliant" needs a little
clarification. When it's unaccompanied by any other information,
brilliant designates a milling or super milling dye. But because we
already know that the dye in question is a milling acid dye, brilliant
takes on its usual meaning of an intense dye with full saturation.
Good enough, but
what's the meaning of 1OB? Numbers and letters are what I call
modifiers, and are a carry-over from the old German way of defining dye
color. The letters B, 0, and R, in fact, stand for blau (blue), gelb
(yellow), and rot (red). Numbers indicate the degree to which a dye is
blue, yellow, or red; a red dye with a 10B rating is strongly bluish in
color, or more precisely, a shade of lavender.
Other abbreviations
are N for new, L for exceptional resistance to fading from light, K (kalt)
for cold dyeing, S for sublimation resistance (resistance to fading from
heat and ironing), CF for copper-free (certain medical applications), A
for acetate, W for exceptional wash fastness, and P for resistance to
bleeding or fading from perspiration. To the best of my knowledge, the
meanings of MOO, X, F, GRE, and GREN have never been explained in the
literature of dyeing.
Dyes range in
purity from approximately 60 to 85 percent. Most of the impurity in a
dye is common salt, which is used in the recovery of dyes in the
manufacturing process. Three digit numbers in a name signify
greater-than-usual purity
Our table, then,
helps us to understand dye language of acid dyes. Column I gives us a
common (if slightly subjective) description of the color. Column II
provides a trivial name by which the color has long been known among
dyers. Column III contains trade names for dyes that produce this color
(the footnotes provide dye names of specific manufactures). The Color
Index (Column IV) teaches us which trade names correspond to the same
color; in effect, the C.I. is a universal language. Suffixes (numbers
and letters) provide details about a dye.
Don't expect dye
catalogs to be instantly, totally comprehensible — but don't be afraid
to ask questions of suppliers or experienced dyers, either. Start out
slowly, just as you did when you learned to tie flies, and keep good
notes of your results. Sharing your findings with friends will increase
your knowledge and theirs.
Locating acid dyes
isn't as difficult as you might think. The best sources for a wide
spectrum of leveling and milling acid dyes are Organic Dyestuffs
Corporation, P.O. Box 4258, East Providence, RI 02914 (800-556-6785),
and Pylam Products Corporation, 1001 Stewart Ave., Garden City, NY
11530(800-645-1988).
The only drawback
to dealing with these companies is that their dyes are sold only by the
pound. One pound of any dye will last the average fly tier several
lifetimes, and at 30 to more than 100 dollars per pound, it's wise to
pool your resources with other tiers and make a group purchase; this is
how I and my friends go about it.
Dyes listed by the
Kiton label were very popular several years ago, but Kiton dyes are no
longer made. Yet it is not uncommon to find these and other brands sold
by the ounce where spinning and weaving supplies are sold. In the West
there are The Weaving Works, 4717 Brooklyn Ave N.E., Seattle, WA 98103;
Creek Water Works, P.O. Box 716, Salem, OR 97308; and Keystone Aniline
Corporation, Pacific Division, P.O. B0x 1296, La Mirada, CA 90637. In
the East there are, Pro Chemical and Dye Incorporated, PG. Box 14,
Summerset, MA 02726; Mobay Chemical Company, P.O. Box 385, Union Metro
Park, Union NJ 07083; and Aljo Manufacturing Company, 81-83 Franklin
St., New York, NY 10013. Buying small quantities is a good idea for a
beginner.
The following
directions are for a 48-fluid-ounce (six cups or 1.4 liters) dye bath.
This is adequate for one full neck, saddle, or medium bucktail. You can
increase or decrease the bath size by using proportionately more or less
water and other chemicals. It's prudent to test dye a small sample of
material. Don't begin until you've read the safety sidebar and, of
course, all manufacturers' instructions and warnings.
For a leveling acid
dye, acidify the bath with a strong acid such as muriatic (hydrochloric)
acid. This will speed the dyeing and allow you to use less dye than will
a bath acidified with acetic acid (vinegar). You can buy muriatic acid
from a supplier of swimming-pool chemicals or at a building-supply
store. Add one-half teaspoon of the acid (use a plastic measuring spoon)
to the water and then add a quarter-teaspoon of Synthrapol and your
substrate(s). Allow the materials to soak and wet out thoroughly. In the
meantime, mix about a quarter-teaspoon of dye and a tablespoon or two of
hot water in a small plastic measuring cup. Add this to the bath while
stirring. Heat the bath to just below a simmer and swirl the contents
from time to time.
Some leveling acid
dyes will dye to exhaustion in 10 to 15 minutes, but others will never
exhaust completely. Use less dye for light tints, but remember that wet
substrates always appear darker than they will be when dry. You can
always add more dye if the tint is not dark enough. When you are
satisfied with the color, pour off the hot liquid and allow the contents
to cool a bit before rinsing. Rinse and dry substrates as instructed in
Part I of this series.
Follow the same
procedure when working with milling acid dyes, but use six tablespoons
of white vinegar in place of muriatic acid in the dye bath (use only
vinegar with a milling dye). As you heat the bath the dye will exhaust
in about 20 minutes. Then proceed as above: pour off the liquid, rinse
the substrate, and place it on paper towels to dry.
Dip-dyeing produces
more than one color on the same material. Dyeing feathers, fur, or hair
one color and then dyeing the tips of the material another color makes
for striking effects on streamer wings, tails, and throat hackle.
Dip-dyeing also lets you wind a mixed hackle collar with a single
feather
There are two
general methods of dip-dyeing, and they yield somewhat different
results. You can dye the entire substrate first with a milling acid dye,
and then dip it in a leveling acid dye. Or you can go the other way
around: dye first with a leveling acid dye and dip in a milling acid
dye-
If you dye a white
hackle feather in a light-yellow milling acid dye and then dip the tip
in a blue leveling acid dye, the tip will be a shade of green because
the milling dye will nor diffuse from the substrate when exposed to the
second dye bath; you will dye blue over yellow. This is my favorite
method because it allows me to achieve full color saturation very
quickly, which means I don't have to keep my hand over a hot dye bath
for more than a fraction of a minute. Predicting the exact results can
be tricky for a beginner, and keeping good notes will let you repeat
your successes and avoid repeating your failures.
If, however, you
dye an identical feather in a light-yellow leveling acid dye first and
then dip it in a blue milling dye, the tip will be a color very close to
that of the blue dye; the leveling acid dye will diffuse out of the
feather and be replaced by the blue milling dye.
I find a small dye
pot convenient for dipping; a large volume of liquid isn't necessary.
Use a more concentrated solution of leveling acid dye for dipping than
you would for normal dyeing; this will minimize the time you spend
holding the material over a steaming dye bath. A 10- to 15-second dip is
usually sufficient. Slightly longer times are required when a milling
acid dye is used as a dipping solution.
The results of
dip-dyeing depend not only on the colors you choose, but also on the
type of acid dye used for each step. If you dye a feather with a
leveling acid dye and then dip it in a milling dye, the original color
will diffuse out of the feather and be replaced by the color of the dip.
The feather at top was dyed in a yellow leveling acid dye and dipped in
a blue milling acid dye; note that the yellow color of the tip has been
replaced by the blue dip the bottom feather was dyed first in a yellow
milling acid dye (which will not diffuse when exposed to the dip bath),
and then dipped in a blue leveling acid dye; blue was applied over
yellow, and the result is a greenish tip.
Natural-product colorants ate commonly but erroneously called
dyes. The term "dye" denotes a substance that will impart color
straight-away (or at least very quickly), and most colorants derived
from plants and insects are incapable of doing so. "Natural-product
colorant," therefore, is the preferred name. And the title of this
series notwithstanding, natural-product colorants are anything but
modem; many predate synthetic dyestuffs by a thousand years or more.
If they're not truly dyes, and if they're not modern, then why
are we interested in natural-product colorants? Quite simply, they
produce many results that can't be achieved by other means. If you want
the blackest of blacks without any overtones of blue, then a natural
product is the choice Browns, golden-brown yellows, salmon pinks, straw
yellows, tans, and grays are also among the colors easily obtained with
natural colorants. The bluish reflex on a blue-black background-the tint
you see in the shell of a beetle-is also possible with natural-product
colorants. Colors derived from natural products are noted for their
fastness to water and to light, and often exceed synthetic dyes in this
regard. Finally, natural-product colorants, with few exceptions, arc
environmentally friendly and pose little or no health hazard.
Despite their advantages, natural- product colorants aren't
popular with contemporary fly tiers. They are not especially easy or
quick to apply, and require a preconditioning treatment of the
substrate. A more important reason, 1 suspect, is that not since the
days before synthetic dyes has anyone pointed out to fly tiers the
desirable and often unique results that natural products give. But these
age-old colorants are very useful, and well worth learning how to use a
The substrate needs
to be pre-conditioned before the color of a natural product will adhere
to it. This preconditioning is called mordanting, and comes from the
Latin mordere, "to bite," In other words; the mordant was once viewed as
"biting" into the substrate, thereby holding the color in place.
Actually, what occurs is the formation of a reaction product called a
lake, an insoluble colored material comprising the colorant, the
substrate, and a metal atom, usually as the oxide. In other words, the
mordant combines with the colorant and forms the insoluble lake in the
fibers of the substrate. For the most part, metal oxides are insoluble
and are generated in situ from soluble salts that are dissolved in the
water at the start of mordanting. Lake formation occurs only in the
presence of the substrate, and it is commonly observed that the color of
the dyed substrate will differ from the color of the solution in the dye
pot. Sometimes the difference is very subtle, while at other times it is
quite pronounced. It should also be pointed out that dyeing with
natural-product colorants only works with natural fibers such as furs,
feathers, wool, silk, and hair-substrates made of proteins-because lake
formation requires the participation of protein amino acids.
Fortunately, it's
not necessary to understand all the details of dye chemistry. The
important thing to remember is that coloring with a natural-product
involves two processes. The first, mordanting, conditions or prepares
the substrate for the second process, during which the lake is formed
and color is imparted to the material. Without a mordant, you simply
cannot establish the molecular "glue" that makes the substrate accept
and retain the color.
Different colorants
require different mordants; some can be used with more than one mordant.
The following directions are for a 48 fluid ounce (6 cups or 1.4 liters)
bath, enough to treat an average bucktail, full hackle neck, or an
equivalent hulk of other substrates. You can make the bath larger or
smaller by using proportionately more or less water and other materials.
Aluminum No. I:
Dissolve ½ teaspoon of Synthrapol and ¾ teaspoon of cream of tartar in
the hot water in a stainless-steel or enamelware vessel. Add the
substrate and heat the liquid just below a simmer for about 20 minutes.
Then add 1 teaspoon of potassium alum or ammonium alum (potassium
aluminum sulfate or ammonium aluminum sulfate; the latter is a
grocery-store items that can be found in the spices-and-flavorings
department) and heat an additional 30 minutes. Allow the cloudy liquid
to cool, then remove the substrate and gently press out most of the
water before dyeing it, or allow it to air-dry for dyeing at a later
time.
Aluminum No. 2:
Use the method above, but substitute aluminum sulfate (available at
garden-supply centers) for alum.
Iron:
Substrates mordanted with iron and then dyed with logwood take on a
blackness virtually impossible to achieve with Rit, Tintex, or acid
dyes. The time-honored method is to mordant substrates with ferrous
sulfate as the source of iron and then to boil them in a logwood
decoction. Although this technique produces excellent blacks, I sought a
more convenient method, one that uses readily available chemicals in
liquid form. I found that Ortho brand (Chevron Chemical Co.) Greenol
liquid Iron 6.13 percent, a plant tonic I discovered at a garden-supply
center, yields rich blacks with logwood, and I used Greenol with good
results for years. Unfortunately, this product is no longer made, and no
other liquid-iron product sold at garden-supply centers (e.g., Lilly
Miller's Liquid Iron & Zinc Plus Chelate) gives the blacks I got with
Greenol. In fact, with the Lilly Miller product I got brown-blacks, and
when I mordanted natural gray squirrel tail with this material, the rips
of the hairs remained untouched.
So, until a suitable new liquid-iron plant tonic or similar
product comes along, we're back to preparing the mordant from entirely
solid ingredients. There are two ways to go about it. The first uses
Lilly Miller's Iron Plus Chelate, a granulated plant tonic sold at
garden centers, as the source of the iron. Dissolve 1½ teaspoons of the
granular material in 6 cups of hot water. Add ¼ teaspoon (more may cause
a precipitate) of Synthrapol, then add the substrate and ¼ cup of urea
and stir until the urea is dissolved. (Urea is a protein-deforming
agent, or chaotropic agent, which causes the pores of a protein
substrate to expand, thereby allowing a high concentration of other
materials to enter- It's available at garden-supply centers.
Unfortunately, urea interferes with many other processes and is little
used by dyers except for mordanting.) Heat to nearly boiling for 40 m 45
minutes, adding water as necessary to replace that lost through
evaporation. The solution will turn a dark red-brown and will contain a
lot of rust-colored particles, Turn down the heat, add and dissolve 1
teaspoon of the Iron Plus Chelate, and steep the substrate in the hot
liquid for another 45 minutes. Then turn off the heat and allow the
substrate to soak in the liquid overnight. The next day, rinse the
substrate briefly under running water and dye immediately.
Your other choice is to make something very similar to Greenol. To do
this, dissolve 0.8 gram of tetra sodium EDTA (Ethylene Diamine
Tetraacetic Acid, a chelating agent) in 475 milliliters of distilled
water, add and dissolve 138 grams of ferrous sulfate, and then to this
solution add 3.7 grams of copper sulfate dissolved in
1/8
cup of hot water containing 0.2 grains of the EDTA. Store the solution
in a brown glass bottle with tight screw cap. This Greenol substitute
differs from the original in that it contains no zinc, which is not
required for mordanting, To
mordant with Greenol Liquid Iron or your homemade substitute, add
1/8
to ¼ teaspoon (more may cause a precipitate) of Synthrapol and 1 cup of
liquid iron to 5 cups of warm water. Add and dissolve ½ cup of urea, add
the substrate, and heat the liquid to a near boil for 45 minutes, adding
water as necessary to replace that lost through evaporation. Turn off
the heat and let the substrate soak in the liquid overnight. The next
day, pour off the liquid, rinse the substrate briefly under running tap
water, and dye immediately.
Copper:
Add ½ teaspoon of Synthrapol to 6 cups of warm water, add the substrate,
and then add and dissolve
1/8
teaspoon of copper sulfate (also known as blue vitriol; it’s available
at garden centers or from Aurora Silk or Creek Water Wool Works, whose
addresses are in the table). After adding the copper sulfate, heat for
an additional 15 to 20 minutes. Allow the bath to cool to about room
temperature, then remove the substrate and gently squeeze out the excess
moisture. Dispose of the spent liquid into cat lit- tot for garbage
pickup. Tin: Add ¾ teaspoon
of Synthrapol, ½ teaspoon cream of tartar, and ¼ teaspoon stannous
chloride (available from Aurora Silk and Creek Water Wool Works) to the
warm water. Then add the substrate and heat at a low setting for no
longer than 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the substrate in the
liquid for one hour Remove the substrate from the liquid and gently
squeeze it damp-dry (don't handle it unless you're wearing rubber
gloves!), then dye it immediately. If you are striving for particularly
high color saturation, include ½ teaspoon of oxalic acid in the bath,
but think twice before using oxalic acid-it's a dangerous poison.
Because stannous chloride is a fairly strong reducing agent, and
because feathers are particularly rich in sulfur-containing amino acids
and susceptible to damage by reducing agents, I recommend tin mordanting
of furs, hair, bucktail, and similar substrates, but not of feathers.
Dispose of the spent liquid by pouring it into cat litter for garbage
pickup.
The following directions are for a 4½ cup dye bath. In each case, begin
by placing the mordanted substrate in the bath and adding ½ teaspoon of
Synthrapol to the water. Then add the colorant and heat according to the
instructions.
Cochineal: Use 1 to 1½ teaspoons of the dried insects. Simmer for 30 to
45 minutes,
Fustic: Use 2 to 2½ teaspoons of fustic powder Simmer for 45 minutes to
an hour.
Osage Orange: Use 2 to 4 teaspoons of sawdust. Simmer for 45 minutes to
an hour.
Logwood: Use 2 to 4 teaspoons of saw- dust. Simmer for 25 to 45 minutes.
When finished, the substrate should be jet black with no tinges of blue
at the tips of the fibers. Tinges of blue indicate that the mordanting
was inadequate, in which case you can mordant the substrate again (be
sure to use urea) and repeat the dyeing process with fresh logwood.
Cutch: Use ½ to ¾ teaspoon of crystals. Simmer for 20 m 30 minutes.
Henna: Use 2 to 3 teaspoons of sawdust. Simmer for 30 minutes to an
hour. Brazilwood: Use 1¼ to 4 teaspoons of sawdust, Simmer for 30 to 45
minutes.
Kamala: Use 2 to 4 teaspoons of sawdust. Simmer for 30 to 45 minutes.
Madder: Prepare a decoction of the dyestuff adding 1½ cups of the dried
and broken-up roots to the water and hearing the mixture just below a
slim- met for an hour. Decant the liquid through a strainer and use the
liquid as the dye bath. Heat the dye bath and substrate to just below a
simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, then add ¾ teaspoon of powdered limestone
or 1/8 teaspoon of calcium
acetate and heat for another 5 to 10 minutes.
Weld: Use 2 cups fresh) leaves, stalks, and seed pods cut into small
pieces, or 3 cups of dried materials, also cut into small pieces. Follow
the method used for madder-prepare a decoction, pour it through a
strainer, and use the liquid as the dye bath. Simmer for 30 minutes to
an hour.
Lady's Bedstraw: Use 2½ cups of fresh roots cut into small pieces.
Simmer for 30 minutes to an hour
Natural-product colorants frequently leave heavy residues of colored
lake in the dye pot. Boiling a concentrated solution of Comet cleanser
will remove some of the residues, but not all. For example, the only way
to remove an iron-plus-logwood residue is with a lot of old-fashioned
elbow grease and a scouring pad.
Remove particles of
sawdust by rinsing the dyed substrate under warm running water. Then
soak the substrate for 15 to 20 minutes in a warm solution of 1½
tablespoons of Synthrapol its 2 pints of water. This removes gummy
residues that often accompany natural-product colorants, especially when
an excess of cream of tartar is used. Rinse and dry the dyed substrates
following the method outlined in Part I of this series.
So far, we've examined dyes and dyeing techniques that are used to color
protein fibers from birds and animals — feathers, fur, wool, and hair.
Although these substrates account for many, perhaps most, of our
fly-tying materials, there are other very useful materials than can be
colored by amateur dyers.
The most well known of these materials is silk, which tiers usually
encounter in the form of floss. Floss is difficult to dye without
damaging the fine fibers, however, and we'll focus our attention on
dyeing tussah, noil, combed top, and combed top fibers from "bricks" —
various forms of "loose" silk (that is, silk that hasn't been made into
floss) which make excellent dubbing, either by themselves or in blends
that contain other materials. These forms of silk are available from a
number of suppliers.
The other substrate we'll examine is called ramie, a cellulose plant
fiber derived from a member of the nettle family. These fibers are used
in some parts of the world to make cloth; in this country, undyed ramie
(which resembles very loose floss) is available from purveyors of
weaving supplies. In its "floss" form, ramie can be wrapped around a
hook to create a fly body, but its larger use is as dubbing material,
which is made by shredding dyed ramie. Like silk dubbing, ramie is
easily blended with other materials. Both ramie and silk are pleasant to
work with; unblended, they are wonderful to use on small flies. Because
their fibers are very fine, both are exceptionally versatile dubbing
materials that let you create a variety of body textures, from
tight-and-slim to thick-and-shaggy.
Coloring silk and ramie requires using different dyes and techniques
than those we use for fur, feathers, wool, and hair. The dyes commonly
used for these materials are a relatively recent development, and come
to us from the textile industry. Before the mid-1950s, the only way to
achieve consistently successful results when dyeing cotton was with
substances called vat dyes. But dyeing with vat dyes is a complicated
process, and chemists sought to perfect a family of dyes that could be
applied to cotton as easily as acid dyes are applied to wool. In 1956,
dyes called fiber-reactive dyes were perfected. The new dyes bound
strongly to cotton and could be easily applied, and it turned out that
they do an equally fine job with silk and ramie.
The success of
fiber-reactive dyes lies, of course, in the nature of the dye-substrate
chemistry. Very strong chemical bonds known as co-valent bonds link
fiber-reactive dyes (FRD, in dyer’s shorthand) to cellulose. For these
bonds to form, however, the dye bath must be made strongly alkaline
during the last half of the dyeing process — and this is why FRD cannot
be used with the fly-tying materials we get from birds and animals.
Earlier in this series, we noted that an alkaline dye bath will dissolve
non-cellulose substrates such as feathers, wool, fur, and hair; these
keratin proteins are rich in sulfur-containing amino acids (the building
blocks of proteins), and alkali destroys these amino acids. Silk and
ramie, however, are devoid of sulfur amino acids, and are unharmed by
the alkaline bath used with a fiber-reactive dye. (Silk, incidentally,
can be dyed with acid dyes, but with inferior results; the chemical
bonds aren't very strong. Ramie cannot be dyed with acid dyes.)
Fiber-reactive dyes are applied in either cool-to-lukewarm dye baths or
hot (nearly boiling) baths. Every FRD must be used at the right general
temperature. All Procion H and Procion HE dyes are applied from hot dye
baths. Remazol, Levafix, Drimarine, Cibacron, Procion M, Procion MX, and
Sabracron dyes are applied from cool-to-lukewarm dye baths. In general,
FRD applied from warm baths give less saturated colors than those
applied from hot dye baths, but because fiber artists and weavers prefer
dyes that can be applied without heat, you will find that warm-bath
dyes, particularly Procion MX, are the most readily available.
Unlike the one-step process used with acid dyes, dyeing with a
fiber-reactive dye is a two-step procedure.
The first step is called the
exhaust step. By themselves, FRD have little affinity for substrates
(they don't want to stick), and this first step consists of adding
common table salt to the dye bath to force molecules of the dye from the
solution into the substrate. This is a physical process by which the dye
molecules are, in effect, shoved into the microscopic pores of the
substrate; the color is not yet chemically bonded to the material.
During this phase, the dye has a chance to level; that is, it becomes
uniformly distributed throughout the substrate.
The second part of the process is called the dye fixation step. This is
Accomplished by adding an alkali such as washing soda (sodium carbonate,
which is available at grocery stores) to the dye bath. The soda raises
the pH of the dye bath to about 11 (strongly alkaline), and initiates a
chemical reaction between the dye and the cellulose molecules in cotton
and ramie, or between the dye and certain amino acids in silk. The
covalent bonds that form are very strong; much stronger, for example,
than the bonds between acid dyes and keratin substrates.
It so happens, however, that FRD also react chemically with molecules of
water, and when this occurs, the dye that reacts with water is no longer
capable of reacting with the substrate. Fortunately, this reaction is
not extensive unless you do the wrong thing — and the wrong thing is
trying to speed your work by heating a cool-to-lukewarm dye. If you do
this, most of the dye will react with water, and not with the substrate.
When a fiber-reactive dye reacts with water, the resulting reaction
product is the same color as the dye and will loosely adhere to the
substrate, which then appears to have absorbed the color. But the color
will come off instantly when you wash the substrate. The point is never
to apply too much heat to a warm-water dye bath. (Dyers refer to the
rubbing-off of color as crocking, and a certain amount of this will
normally occur with a material colored with a fiber-reactive dye. Since
you want to remove loose color before using a material on a fly, wash
your FRD-colored substrates in a Synthrapol solution before drying
them.)
The recipes below
call for three pints of water, enough to dye four feet of ramie or two
large hands-full of silk. You can adjust the liquid volume up or down by
using proportionately more or less water and other substances. For the
warm-water dyes you'll need a stainless-steel saucepan or glass bowl for
the dye pot. I recommend electrically heated enamelware Crockpot for
hot-water dyeing.
Wrap bunches of ramie loosely with single wraps of string every six
inches or so to keep all the strands together so they don't tangle. Silk
will tangle no matter what you do; but you'll need to pull it apart to
shred it afterwards anyhow, so don’t worry about it.
Warm-Water Dyes:
Dissolve a quarter-teaspoon of Synthrapol in the water and then
add and wet out the substrate thoroughly. Now add and dissolve the dye —
one-half tea-spoon for lighter shades, three-quarters of a teaspoon for
maximum saturation. Next, add and dissolve three-quarters of a cup of
table salt. Stir the dye bath occasionally during the next 45 minutes to
an hour. This is the exhaust step. To fix the dye, dissolve one
tablespoon of washing soda (sodium carbonate) in about three-quarters of
a cup of warm water and add this to the bath while stirring. When you
add the alkali, the color of the dye bath may deepen a bit. Stir the
contents occasionally for the next two hours. Then pour off the liquid
and soak the dyed substrate in a quart of hot water containing
three-quarters of a teaspoon of Synthrapol. Finally, rinse the substrate
under warm tap water and dry it on paper towels.
Hot-Water Dyes: Use the same
method, with the following modifications. In the first step, use one cup
of salt instead of three-quarters of a cup. Heat the dye bath to a
near-simmer for 15 to 20 minutes to effect dye attachment in the second
step. Then remove the substrate, wash it in a Synthrapol solution, rinse
under warm tap water, and dry.
Fiber-reactive dyes are used extensively in the fiber arts (silk
painting and fabric dyeing) and shouldn't be difficult to obtain from
local sources; look in the phone book under Dyes and Dyeing, Weaving and
Spinning Supplies, and Artists' Materials and Supplies. My sources
include Cerulean Blue Ltd., Box 21168, Seattle, WA
98111; Rupert, Gibbon, and Spider, Box 425, Healdsburg, CA
95448; The University Bookstore, 4326 University Ave. NE,
Seattle, WA 98105; The Weaving Works, 4717 Brooklyn Ave. NE, Seattle, WA
98105; Pro Chemical & Dye. Inc., P. 0. Box 14, Somerset, MA
02726; Dhrama Trading Co., Box 15916, San Rafael, CA
94915; and Aljo Mfg. Co., 81-83 Franklin St., New York, NY 10013.
Ramie and silk substrates are available from The Weaving Works (see
above); Creek Water Wool Works, P. 0. Box 716, Salem, OR
97508; Rubin & Russ Handweavers. Inc., 533 North Adams St.,
McMinnville, OR
97128; and Aurora Silk, 5806 North Vancouver Ave., Portland, OR
97217.
Most of my suppliers are located in the Northwest, where I live. A
little research should turn up suppliers in your area. Art-supply
stores, craft shops, and the art department of a local college might be
able to provide leads.
A dye listed in parentheses will produce the same color as the dye
listed immediately above it.
|
TRADE NAME* & NUMBER |
COLOR INDEX NAME |
COLOR |
DYE BATH |
|
|
Cibacron Blue 3-GA1 |
Reactive Blue 2 |
Dark blue |
Cool to lukewarm |
|
|
(Basllen Blue E-3G) |
|
|
|
|
|
Procion Blue H-ERD2 |
Reactive Blue 160 |
Light blue |
Hot |
|
|
(Orco Reactive Blue 1RD)3 |
|
|
|
|
|
Procion Blue MX-R |
Reactive Brilliant Blue MR |
Dark sky blue |
Hot |
|
|
Levafix Brilliant Blue PRI4 |
Reactive Blue 145 |
Blue-black |
Cool to lukewarm |
|
|
Remazol Brilliant Blue R5 |
Reactive Blue 19 |
Silver Doctor blue
|
Cool to lukewarm |
|
|
(Orco Reactive Brilliant Blue R Spec) |
|
|
|
|
|
Remazol Turquoise R-P |
Reactive Blue 21 |
Turquoise |
Cool to lukewarm |
|
|
Remazol Black B |
Reactive Black 5 |
Gray to blue-black
|
Cool to lukewarm |
|
|
Drimarine Brilliant Green X3G6 |
Reactive Green 12 |
Aqua green |
Cool to lukewarm |
|
|
Procion Red H-E3B |
Reactive Red 120 |
Fire-engine red |
Hot |
|
|
(Cibacron Red 4GE; |
|
|
|
|
|
Orco Reactive Red 13B) |
|
|
|
|
|
Procion Scarlet MX-BA |
Not listed |
Medium scarlet |
Cool to lukewarm |
|
|
Cibacron Brilliant Yellow 3G-P |
Not listed |
Lemon yellow |
Cool to lukewarm |
|
|
Procion Yellow H-B3G |
Reactive Yellow 81 |
Bright yellow |
Hot |
|
|
Procion Yellow M-8G |
Reactive Yellow 85 |
Straw yellow |
Cool to lukewarm |
|
|
Remazol Golden Yellow Gl20 |
Reactive Yellow 17 |
Bright golden yellow
|
Cool to lukewarm |
|
|
Procion MX Warm Black 1128**7 |
|
|
All Procion MX |
|
|
Procion MX Fire Engine Red 030 |
|
|
dyes are |
|
|
Procion MX Brilliant Orange 020 |
|
|
applied in |
|
|
Procion MX Bright Scarlet 028 |
|
|
cool-to-luke-warm |
|
|
Procion MX Lilac 192 |
|
|
dye baths |
|
|
Procion MX Robin's Egg Blue 201** |
|
Silver Doctor blue |
|
|
|
Procion MX Ice Blue** |
|
|
|
|
|
Procion MX Hot Pink 035 |
|
|
|
|
|
Procion MX Cerulean Blue 070 |
|
Deep blue |
|
|
|
Procion MX Chocolate Brown 119** |
|
|
|
|
|
Procion MX Warm Black 1128**7 |
|
|
|
|
|
Procion MX Fire Engine Red 030 |
|
|
|
|
|
Procion MX Brilliant Orange 020 |
|
|
|
|
|
Procion MX Bright Scarlet 028 |
|
|
|
|
|
Procion MX Lilac 192 |
|
|
|
|
|
Procion MX Robin's Egg Blue 201** |
|
Silver Doctor blue |
|
|
|
Procion MX Ice Blue** |
|
|
|
|
|
Procion MX Hot Pink 035 |
|
|
|
|
|
Procion MX Cerulean Blue 070 |
|
Deep blue |
|
|
|
Procion MX Chocolate Brown 119** |
|
|
|
|
|
Procion MX Lemon Yellow 004 |
|
|
|
|
|
Sabracron F Reactive Dyes8 |
|
Sun Yellow |
All Sabracron F |
|
|
|
|
Golden Yellow |
Reactive dyes |
|
|
|
|
Medium Orange |
are applied |
|
|
|
|
Flame Scarlet |
from |
|
|
|
|
True Red |
cool-to-lukewarm |
|
|
|
|
Fuschia |
baths. |
|
|
|
|
Magenta |
|
|
|
|
|
Turquoise |
|
|
|
|
|
National Blue |
|
|
|
|
|
Brilliant Blue |
|
|
|
|
|
Royal Blue |
|
|
|
|
|
Azure Blue |
|
|
|
|
|
Intense Blue |
|
|
|
|
|
Deep Navy |
|
|
|
|
|
Blue Violet |
|
|
|
|
|
Royal Purple |
|
|
|
|
|
Rust |
|
|
|
|
|
Earth Brown |
|
|
|
|
|
Dark Brown |
|
|
|
|
|
Rich Brown |
|
|
|
|
|
Sea Green |
|
|
|
|
|
Leaf Green |
|
|
|
|
|
Olive Green |
|
|
*See Part II of this series for explanations of trade names and their
meanings and of the Color Index system.
Notes:
1.
Cibacron dyes are manufactured by the Ciba-Geigy Corporation.
They're distributed by
Pylam Products Corp., 1001 Stewart Ave., Garden City, NY 11530.
2.
Procion dyes are made by ICI America, Inc., and are distributed
by Pylam Products Corp.
3.
Orco dyes are made by Organic Dyestuffs Corporation, P.O. Box
4258, East Providence, RI 02914.
4.
Levafix dyes are available from Mobay Chemical Company, P.O. Box
385, Union Metro
Park, Union, NJ 07083, and Pylam Products (see note 1),
5.
Remazol dyes are available from Pylam Products Corp. (see note
1).
6.
Drimarine dyes are made by the Sandoz Color and Chemical Co., and
are available from
Pylam Products Corp.
7.
One-half and one-ounce quantities of Procion MX dyes are
available from Rupert, Gibbon, & Spider, Inc., Box 425, Healdsburg, CA
95448. The dyes marked with a double asterisk (**) are dye
blends, which yield different colors (not merely different shades of the
same color), depending on the amount used. In other words, a weak
solution will not produce a lighter shade than a strong solution, but
will instead yield a substantially different color. Experimentation and
careful record-keeping are the best ways to learn how to work with dye
blends,
8.
Sabracron F reactive dyes are available from Pro Chemical & Dye,
Inc. The colors listed are those in the catalog.
The whole point of dyeing is to change the color of a substrate with
which we're otherwise happy. We all have fly-tying materials that have
excellent shapes and textures, but which we wish were different colors.
Life would be easy if all the materials we wanted to color were white,
but they're not, and often we must remove color from a substrate before
it can be dyed the hue we need. Fortunately, removing one or more colors
from a substrate is often possible; we'll examine a couple of methods in
a moment. But first, we should understand something about the nature of
the colors we want to remove. In most cases, we want to remove a natural
pigmentation. Once we know some of the properties of colored molecules
we can go about devising ways to remove the color. Pigmentation is a
direct result of the arrangement of double bonds in molecules. You've
heard about double bonds before, though you may not have associated them
with color. Polyunsaturated vegetable cooking oils are molecules with a
lot of double bonds. But cooking oils are not colored like pigments
simply because the double bonds aren't arranged the same way. What we
must do in order to remove the color from our substrates is rearrange
the double bonds so they are similar to those in vegetable oils — when
we do, little or no color is left. Bleaching is the process whereby we
rearrange the double bonds.
Liquid bleaches of the sodium hypochlorite (Chlorox, for example)and
chloroisocyanate types dominate the home-laundry bleach market. These
bleaches work just fine for cotton and most synthetic fabrics. When it
comes to wool, furs, feathers, and the like, however, bleaching is best
done with peroxides. There are two reasons for this. First of all,
household liquid bleaches are strongly alkaline-around pH 11.5. As we
noted in the first part of this series, furs and feathers contain many
amino acids, which are destroyed by alkalinity. Sulfur-containing amino
acids (such as those found in feathers)are particularly susceptible to
damage by any alkaline solution. It’s no wonder, then, that most
household liquid bleaches are very rough on protein-based substrates. If
you have ever used liquid bleach to “burn" the flues of peacock herl or
remove the fibers from a hackle feather (to prepare body material for a
Red Quill, for instance),you've employed the ability of chlorine bleach
to break down amino acids.
The second reason that chlorine-based bleaches are not recommended for
natural substrates is the permanent yellowing that may occur with
certain materials. This is result of chloramines, yellow substances
formed from some amino acids.
When you use a peroxide method, the reactions leading to pigment loss
are different and occur under less harmful conditions. Two
peroxide-based methods are presented below. Method I is started at the
pH of distilled water (about pH 8 for bottled water exposed to air) and
bleaching gets underway at about pH 8.5. In the second method, the pH is
buffered(maintained) at 9.4 throughout the process. Both methods are
called free-radical bleaching processes because of the nature of the
chemical reactions that take place. Of these I won't say
much more, except to mention that products called free radical,
are formed and that these change the arrangement of the double bonds in
pigments. In Method I the free radicals are generated when hydrogen
peroxide reacts with the iron atom in ferrous sulfate; this method is
used to remove color from feathers. Fluffy feathers-marabou, pheasant
rump, and the like — respond fastest to free-radical bleaching, but
Method I can also be used to remove color from other feathers, including
saddle and neck hackles. In Method II, which is used to bleach fur or
hair, free radicals are formed by the activation of hydrogen peroxide by
a proprietary activator.
This reaction requires ferrous sulfate in solution — "liquid iron," in
other words. The chemist's term for this is solubilized (or chelated)
iron. For many years, I used Ortho brand Greenol Liquid Iron 6.13%,
which I purchased at a garden-supply center, as the source of iron. I
recommend using Greenol if you can find any on the shelves of your
favorite garden-supply center; unfortunately, it is no longer made,
which means we need a substitute.
One substitute is homemade. You'll need tetra sodium EDTA (Ethylene
Diamine Tetraacetic Acid, a chelating agent), ferrous sulfate (moss
killer), and copper sulfate (blue vitriol). EDTA is available at some
garden-supply centers; you might also find it at shops that sell
hydroponic-gardening supplies. Ferrous sulfate is used to kill moss, and
can be found at gardening centers. Copper sulfate, or blue vitriol, is
an agricultural product and is often available where farming supplies
are sold. To make your own liquid iron, dissolve 0.8 grams of the tetra
sodium EDTA in 475 milliliters (a tiny bit more than a pint) of
distilled water. Add 138 grams of the ferrous sulfate (moss killer) to
the solution and dissolve it. In a glass measuring cup, dissolve 0.2
grams of EDTA in 1/8 cup (29.6 ml) of hot distilled water, to which is
next added 3.7 grams of copper sulfate (blue vitriol).
Add the contents of
the measuring cup to the larger solution and mix. Store your homemade
liquid iron in a Brown glass
bottle(to protect it from light), and use it according to the directions
for Greenol.
Another liquid-iron preparation is a product made in Texas and called
Greenlight 4.6% Soil Acidifier; I found it for sale at a True Value
hardware store. Except for lower iron content, Greenlight is virtually
identical to Greenol. Since the iron content is lower you need to use
more of it. Substitute l.5 ounces of Greenlight for 1 ounce of Greenol,
and follow the rest of the instructions below.
In place of Greenol, Greenlight, or a homemade substitute, you can use
Lilly Miller brand Liquid Iron & Zinc Plus Chelate, which is available
at garden-supply centers in the West (a few readers from the East have
reported trouble finding this brand). Note that the procedures below
differ according to the source of iron — one procedure is for Greenol,
Greenlight, or your homemade liquid iron, the other is for the Lilly
Miller product — so be sure to follow the appropriate directions. Each
set of instructions will produce a solution adequate for bleaching the
rump feathers from an average ring-necked pheasant, a quarter-ounce of
stung marabou, an average hen neck, or an equivalent bulk of other
feathers. You can adjust the volume up or down by using proportionately
more or less water and other materials.
Be certain to use distilled water
whenever called for. Tap water may contain undissolved minerals that
will interfere with bleaching.
Before bleaching, thoroughly rinse the substrate under warm running top
water, then soak it for about an hour in two quarts of distilled water
(available at the grocery store) that contains 1 tablespoon of
Synthrapol. Rock the vessel from time to time to mix the contents.
Pour 1 fluidounce of Greenol Liquid Iron or homemade liquid iron (use
1.5 ounces of Greenlight), 1 teaspoon of Synthrapol, and 1 quart of
distilled water into a glass or enamelware (not metal) vessel. Remove
the substrate from the cleaning solution, gently squeeze it damp-dry,
and add it to the iron-containing bath. Allow it to soak for an hour and
a half at room temperature; stir it occasionally. The greenish to
yellowish liquid will turn yellowish to brownish, accompanied by a fine
suspension of insoluble ferric (iron) salts.
Discard the liquid after an hour and a half and rinse the
substrate once or twice with distilled water. Then resoak he substrate
for an hour in 1 quart of distilled water that contains 1 fluidounce of
Greenol or homemade liquid iron (use 1.5 ounces of Greenlight), 1
teaspoon of Synthrapol, and 1 teaspoon powdered ascorbic acid (grind up
some Vitamin C tablets). After it has soaked for an hour, remove the
substrate and rinse it in distilled water.
Now pour a pint of 20-volume (10 percent) hydrogen peroxide
(available at beauty-supply stores) into a glass or enamelware vessel
and add 1/2 teaspoon of Synthrapol. Add the treated and rinsed
substrate. Gently rock the vessel as you add unscented household ammonia
a drop at a time. When the liquid just begins to foam (it may also turn
a brownish to purplish color), stop adding ammonia, but keep rocking the
vessel from time to time. In just a matter of minutes blue-eared
pheasant rump feathers will begin to lose their color, and bleaching
will be complete in 15 minutes or less. Ring-necked pheasant rump
leathers take considerably more time to bleach — 45 minutes to an hour.
Don’t be alarmed if the feathers are slightly tan instead of completely
white; we'll take care of this shortly. Once the color has disappeared
from the feathers, remove them from the solution and rinse in distilled
water.
Pour 1 pint
of Lilly Miller Liquid Iron, 1 pint of distilled water, and 1 teaspoon
of Synthrapol into a glass or enamelware vessel. Remove the substrate
from the
Prepare another bath, this time of 1 pint of Lilly Miller Liquid Iron, 1
pint of distilled water, 1 teaspoon of Synthrapol, and 1 teaspoon of
ascorbic acid(vitamin C). Soak the feathers in this mixture for one
hour, then remove them and rinse in distilled water. Discard the liquid.
Pour a pint of 20-volume percent (10-weight percent) hydrogen peroxide
(available at beauty supply stores) into a glass or enamelware vessel
and add 1/2 teaspoon of Synthrapol. Add the substrate. Gently rock the
vessel while adding unscented household ammonia drop at a time. Stop
adding ammonia when the liquid just begins to foam (it may also turn a
brownish to purplish color), but keep rocking the vessel from time to
time. As we noted in the instruction for bleaching with Greenol,
different feathers lose color at different speeds. When you’re satisfied
that the bleaching is complete, remove the feathers from the solution
and rinse them in distilled water. Don't worry if they’re not snow
white; a slight tannish stain is easily removed.
Usually, pigment loss will precede any significant damage to protein
amino acids. But if you observe fine floating particles at anytime in
the process, remove the substrate and rinse it thoroughly under running
tap water; the appearance of loose, floating particles is a signal that
you’ve over-extended your bleaching time. It's a good idea to time your
bleaching and keep a record of your results — the next time you bleach
the same type of material, you can stop before floating particles are
seen. Ideally, your feathers will lose very little or none of their
downy fluff. You can check your results by examining the feathers under
a 10-power magnifier before and after bleaching them.
A residual tannish color on your feathers is due to occluded ferric
oxide, and usually poses no problem when dyeing. But if you are striving
for snow-white substrates you can remove the tan stain by soaking the
feathers in a dilute solution (one half of a package in 1.5 quarts of
distilled water) of a rust remover for fabrics, such as the RIT product
you can find at the grocery store. A somewhat less harsh method, and the
one I prefer, is to soak the stained substrates in a dilute solution of
oxalic acid (1 teaspoon per pint of water). Your neighborhood pharmacist
can probably get oxalic acid for you, but use it carefully: it's
poisonous.
You'll get the best results with bleached feathers by using leveling
acid dyes, though you can also use natural-product colorants. After your
substrates have dried, color them according to the instructions in part
II (leveling acid dyes) or III (natural-product colorants) of this
series.
Be careful with 20-volume peroxide. Wear rubber gloves and eye
protection and wash immediately with running water if you spill any on
yourself. If you wait longer than just a moment before washing, your
skin will take on a white speckled appearance, accompanied by a sharp
tingling sensation. This will quickly pass, though the skin may redden
before returning to normal in a day or so. Don't ever be careless with
any chemicals used to dye or bleach fly-tying materials.
Spent liquids can be safely disposed of down the drain. You might,
however, want to consider applying the solutions containing just the
Greenol, Greenlight, or Lilly Miller Liquid Iron & Zinc, all of which
are plant tonics, to your lawn or garden, using the information on the
containers as your application guide. Don't pour solutions that contain
hydrogen peroxide or ammonia on your garden.
Removing pigments from fur or hair calls for different procedures than
those used for feathers. Any one of several methods used in beauty
salons to bleach human hair will work with animal hair.
One method is to prepare a mixture of 1/2 cup of Lady Clairol Basic
White Bleach Activator (sold in beauty-supply stores). 3/4 cup of
20-volume (10-percent) hydrogen peroxide (wear rubber gloves and eye
protection), and 1/4 teaspoon of Synthrapol, blended in a glass
container until a thick creamy paste is made. The substrate is rinsed
first in tap water, then in distilled water containing a little
Synthrapol. Work the paste into the substrate with a plastic spoon. The
paste will begin to foam; keep working it into the fibers. Bleaching
will be done in less than 20 minutes with soft, porous substrates such
as deer and caribou body hair, but most other substrates will require
one to three hours; the more frequently you work the foam into the
substrate the more rapidly the bleaching will be finished. The time
required depends not only on the type of substrate, but also on the
nature of the pigments. Light-to dark-gray pigments fade sooner than
Soft, thick fibers such as deer and caribou hair can pose a problem.
Although these materials bleach rather quickly, it doesn't take much in
the way of over-bleaching to damage the fibers. Most other substrates
are more forgiving; squirrel tail, for example, requires a touch longer
time to bleach, but its texture isn’t significantly altered by the
procedure. When bleaching a difficult substrate, it's a good idea to
include a small extra piece of material, which you can use to monitor
your progress by removing it from time to time, rinsing it, and quickly
blowing it dry with a hair dryer. If you detect no damage and the
material is not completely bleached, return it to the mixture, continue
for a little longer, and then check the test sample again. When you are
satisfied with the results, remove the substrate from the bleach(wear
rubber gloves!) and rinse it first under tap water, then in about a
gallon of water containing 1/4 cup of vinegar, and finally again under
tap water.
If you plan to dye a substrate after bleaching it, you should be
aware of a curious tendency on the part of some bleached furs and hairs
(red fox tail for example) to lose their natural softness and become
matted and tangled on being removed from a heated dye bath and dried.
This problem can be easily corrected. All you need to do is wait a day
or two after the substrate is completely dry and then hold it under
running tap water while gently brushing out the tangles with a hair
brush. Gently press out the excess moisture and allow the substrate to
dry naturally at room temperature. After it has dried, the material will
feel pretty much as it did before you bleached and dyed it. The one- to
two-day waiting period between dyeing and brushing appears to be
necessary; my experience has been that if you brush a substrate
immediately after removing it from a dye bath, it will still mat and
tangle.
I must admit that I don't completely understand why this is so. I do
know that similar observations have been made by people who dye certain
bleached fabrics. This condition has been ascribed to changes in the
properties of fibers induced in the bleach bath, which are apparently
intensified by the heat of the dye bath. But these changes appear to be
reversible, and over a one- to two-day period the material seems to
"relax”.
Remember too, that if your goal is to impart hot, intense colors to
bleached furs and hairs, you should always use leveling acid dyes (these
were covered in Part II of this series).Milling acid dyes will generally
yield soft pastel shades instead. Bleached substrates can also be dyed
with natural-product colorants (Part Ill); however, if jet black is your
goal, starting with an unbleached
substrate appears to work best when dyeing with logwood.
And so we come to the end of this series of articles. I hope you've
enjoyed them as much as I have. If you’ve read the entire series, you
should have an understanding of basic dyeing chemistry and of the
procedures that will allow you to color fly-tying materials safely and
effectively. There’s no substitute for experience, so practice and keep
careful records of your methods and results. Like fly tying, dyeing can
become an avocation; there's a great deal of satisfaction to be derived
from a job well done. And there's nothing quite like the satisfaction of
catching a fish on a fly that you know is unique, because even the
colors are the results of your skill.
Happy dyeing and tying
All dyes are
chemicals and must be handled and used appropriately. Use only
stainless-steel or enamelware vessels for dyeing. The toxicological
properties of many dyes are unknown, and it's prudent to keep dyes and
related chemicals away from areas where food is prepared or eaten. Using
an electric crock pot or hot plate in your garage, basement, or workshop
is preferable to heating the dye bath on the kitchen range.
Prevent physical
contact with dyes and chemicals. Wear rubber gloves and eye protection,
and use a plastic (not metal) spoon to dispense dyes; many are finely
powdered and will form airborne dust if you simply pour them from their
containers. Be very careful with muriatic acid; just because it is a
common swimming-pool chemical and cement and brick cleaner doesn't mean
you can handle it carelessly. It is a volatile, corrosive liquid. Use a
plastic or glass cup to measure and dispense muriatic acid, avoid
breathing the fumes. And always wear rubber gloves and eye protection
when you use it. If you spill a dye solution or other chemical on your
skin or clothing, rinse the area immediately in running water, then
remove and discard contaminated clothing.
You can safely
dispose of a spent dye bath by pouring it down the drain while running
plenty of fresh water to dilute the chemicals and sweep them out of the
plumbing. Acids biodegrade quickly, and any residual dye will be
absorbed by particulate matter and should not harm the environment. Keep
your work area clean, wash up spills immediately, and keep all of your
dyeing equipment, dyes, and related chemicals locked up, out of the
reach of children.
None of this is
meant to scare you. But even common household chemicals can be dangerous
when used carelessly. Dyeing should be fun and accident-free, and it
will be if you pay attention to details and keep safety foremost in your
mind.
Become familiar with safe and effective procedures before you use
mordants or natural-product colorants. Mordants such as copper sulfate
and stannous chloride (tin) are environmental pollutants and toxic, and
must be used carefully and disposed of properly. Liquids left over from
these mordants should not be poured down the drain; instead, they should
be poured into a large volume of cat litter and disposed of in an
approved landfill. Mordants containing aluminum or iron can be poured
down the drain while running the water.
Liquids left over from dyeing are disposed of according to the
mordants used with them. If the substrate was mordanted with copper or
tin, pour the used dye bath Into a large quantity of cat litter and
dispose of it in the trash, Baths In which substrates mordanted with
iron or aluminum were colored tan be poured down the drain, with plenty
of fresh water. All
natural-product colorants are chemicals, and although most dyers
consider them safe, treating them as completely innocuous isn’t wise,
Avoid physical contact with any dyeing chemical, and always wear rubber
gloves sod eye protection. Do the entire family a favor and don't use
the kitchen range as your laboratory; it's much better to set up an
electric hot plate or rock pot in the basement, garage, or workshop.
Dyeing should be safe and fun and it will be if you exercise care and
common sense.
You should understand safe bleaching procedures before your open your
first bottle of 20-volume hydrogen peroxide. Do not assume that products
available from beauty-supply stores can be handled carelessly — hair
bleaches are powerful chemicals that can injure your skin and eyes.
Always wear rubber gloves when working with a peroxide solution. Eye
protection is mandatory; a mere drop of strong peroxide in your eye can
have serious consequences. If you spill peroxide on yourself, rinse the
area immediately with plenty of water.
Although liquid-iron solutions present no special health hazards when
used properly, they can stain clothing, cement, and painted surfaces, so
be careful. The commercial bleach activators mentioned in the article
will release ammonia, and it’s wise to use them in a well-ventilated
area.
When you’re done bleaching your materials, you can safely dispose of the
spent solutions or pastes down the drain. Any remaining peroxide will
quickly break down into oxygen and water, and iron-containing compounds
and rust removers present no threat to the environment.
Always keep your work area clean. Wash up any
spills immediately. Keep all chemicals out of the reach of children.