Surface Design Smackdown: Paint vs. Dye

Call it "telephone tag" for the digital age: My friend Anne sent me a question about Dye-na-Flow. We've been back and forth with short Facebook messages exchanges, but haven't connected yet to talk about her question. She's far from alone in her puzzlement, so I guess it's time for a Surface Design Smackdown: Paint vs. Dye.

Anne wrote that she had sampled Dye-na-Flow on silk scarves "following all the directions." While she could see many possibilities for the product, she didn't like that it "leaves my fabric somewhat stiff, especially silk. Is this the nature of the beast, or is there something I could do to remedy the situation?"

She's not imagining this. Despite its name, Dye-na-flow is a fabric paint. Click to keep reading.

Like other paints, Dye-na-Flow sits on the surface instead of bonding on a molecular level as a dye would. That affects the hand of the fabric. It also affects the reflective quality of some fabrics, particularly silks.

Silk is the fabric of choice for many projects because of the way it reflects light. You can get plenty of "shiny" synthetics, but silk owns the territory around "luminous." When you want to preserve the softness and luster of silk, you may want to choose acid dye instead of paint. You can read about my acid redux dyeing adventures here.

Silk and wool love dye, and acid dyes make coloring silk almost as easy as spilling red wine on a white silk blouse. You can find complete acid dye instructions here, here and here. Don't let the steaming throw you. You can boil water. You can follow directions. You can do this.

But don't throw out your Dye-na-flow! This is my go-to product for many projects, including silk.

You can use it for heliographic printing and inkjet transparency transfers.

Dye-na-Flow makes it unbelievably easy to make a "crackle" style fabric. This is a technique I use a lot in classes. All you do is mix paints (from primaries, white and black or pewter) to get the color you want, slosh the paint onto barely-damp fabric, and leave it crumpled up to dry.

Gravity pulls the water in the paint down, leaving higher concentrations of pigment on the high points.

When the fabric is dry, heat set it with a dry iron on the hottest setting the fabric will accept to fix the paint. Then wash the fabric in mild soap, and maybe rinse it with some hair conditioner.

Dye-na-Flow is brilliant for a lot of other applications, including giving embroidery floss and other threads a quick color boost. And it works on a lot of different fabric types, not just protein fibers.

I like products that are really versatile, and products that are really simple. Dye-na-Flow is both. Acid dyes are not as versatile, but you don't have to keep the whole color collection on hand: Mix what you need from the primary colors, and revel in the undiminished luster of your hand-dyed silk fabric, yarn, ribbon and thread.

I root for both of them. How about you?

If You Can't Fix It, Feature It

There's no pretty way to put this: I'm messy. If there's wet paint or dye or a similar substance of any kind within three blocks, I'll brush up against it. If it can drip, I'll have it on my shirt. If it can slosh, I'll have it on my pants. If it can stain....Well, if it can stain, I call it surface design and take credit. Years ago I even did a lecture called "Luscious Laundry: The Dirty Secrets of Surface Design."

It's a good thing I have this enormous body of knowledge stacked up between my ears. Because the other day as I was folding laundry, I had trouble finding a long-sleeve T-shirt that didn't have any stains. Time to apply my Cardinal Rule: If You Can't Fix It, Feature It.

So here's what I did to make one T-shirt more presentable. It will take longer to write this post than it took to do the shirt.

1. Shoot. Shake a can of party string and shoot it at a shirt (or other fabric). The string will act as a resist for spray paint. Yes, I said spray paint.
2. Mask. I laid four pieces of plastic to mask the design area. Didn't tape it down or anything. Did I mention this was all happening on the floor of my studio?
3. Spray. I grabbed a can of black spray paint (yes, stuff from the hardware store). I know from past experience that this is permanent when you get it on your clothes. So I applied a light mist of black spray paint over the Silly String. It doesn't take much.
4. Remove. Take off the plastic mask. Lift off the Silly String, which will have paint on it. Try not to get paint on your pants.
5. Frame. The next day, I used a Tee Juice marker to add a frame around the image. And yes, I did put down masking tape first. That took longer than the first four steps. This marker needs to be heat set with an iron when dry.

That's it. What's next? Maybe a T-shirt with real spaghetti straps and a marinara medallion?

Two Green Threads

This week in the studio I haven't had much time for quiet stitching and contemplation. Instead, I've been doing all the prep work it takes to get me to that point -- design work, materials selection, Plan B, stuff like that. For this piece, I needed to paint some fabric. While I was at it, I painted some 35/2 linen thread I need for looping to embellish this piece using the leftover fabric paint thinned with water.

To get two different, mottled thread colors, I leave one thread wrapped on the card and loosely wind another with my ball winder. Then I smush the thread into a Dixie cup and let it soak up the paint. The card takes up less paint, the ball more. Then I stick the card into a crack between floorboards to dry. The ball gets turned several times while drying so the top doesn't get too dark.

I won't heat-set this thread or wash it before I use it. Normally I would try to wait at least a couple of weeks for the paint to oxidize before using the thread, but there isn't time. Past experience tells me I'll have a little color come off on my hands, but it shouldn't come off on the fabric.

I started painting my waxed linen for looping in 1998 after a workshop with Lissa Hunter. Now I paint all kinds of thread. Last year I even did an experiment with some acrylic yarn I inherited, soaking it with straight Dye-na-Flow and leaving the ball in a mesh bag to drip. Once the paint had cured, the hand of the yarn was more like hemp than acrylic.

Now that I know how quickly and easily I can paint thread, I keep more neutrals on hand (including stuff I pick up at thrift stores). Even if I'm not planning something specific for the thread, I'll paint some with whatever fabric paint is left over. While it oxidizes, I have ideas incubating.