Dye Printing Fabric

This is not merely a dyeing workshop. This class will teach you to use a wide variety of equipment to print your own designs.

Overview

We will be experimenting with scrapers, brushes, foam rollers, stencils, silk screens and stamps. Thickened Procion dyes will be applied to cotton and linen and silk fabrics. You will be encouraged to experiment, use your imagination and play!

By the end of this course, you will have a basic understanding of the various chemicals utilized in the dyeing process. Familiarity with the equipment used in printing fabric as well as several yards of fabric printed to your specifications.

Pre-requisites: none
Materials: listed below
Please note, this is an in-studio program.
Please contact programs@niagarapumphouse.ca for any questions.

Materials List

-Wear old clothes and bring an apron that you won't mind getting dye on
-Rubber gloves
-Old wash cloth sized rags to wipe up with
-notebook, journal or camera to document process
-Bucket or pail
-Small foam paint roller (available at Home Depot or Lowes) I recommend buying a pkg of four rollers to use with different colours of dye
-3 or 4 scrapers of varying sizes (paint department at Home Depot or Lowes)
-2 or 3 wooden spoons
-Roll of duct tape for taping out silk screens if they are not already done
-6 to 10 quart size plastic yogurt or other food
-Silk screens of various sizes at least two or three (I found the best deals on Amazon I believe)
-Scissors
-Rotary cutter: small size is best but regular size works. Also rotary circle cutter if you have one.
-Things for printing….stencils, cut outs, things with slightly raised surfaces
-A piece of cardboard 3 feet by two feet.
-Small Squirt bottles
-Xacto knife
-A hunk of batting. Enough to cover a 6' to 8' table
-spray bottles

FABRIC
- please bring 10-20 yards of fabric cut into 1 yard and 1/2 yard sections. It is amazing how much fabric you will go through so please bring more if you desire.
- PFD cotton (prepared for dyeing fabric) I use Test Fabrics #419 (testfabric.com) but any PFD is acceptable. Please note that testfabrics.com is a US site so please allow extra time for delivery of material.
-commercially printed fabrics can also be printed over
- old linen table clothes are great for printing!
-light weight canvas and silk can also be printed on.

HOW TO PREPARE YOUR OWN FABRIC
-In a large bucket mix 2 gallons of water and 2 cups of sodium carbonate (soda ash) which can be found at pool supply stores. Other locations to purchase soda ash include G&S Dyes in Richmond Hill, you can also purchase Arm and Hammer So Clean Super Washing Soda Detergent at Canadian Tire, this has a high soda ash content and will work well!
- Add in 2-3 yards of cotton fabric and let soak for 15- 20 minutes.
-Ring out lightly and hang on line to dry.
*******DO NOT PUT TREATED FABRIC IN DRYER******
It will smoke and catch fire, and also ruin your dryer!
-Do Not iron when dry, just smooth out and then fold.