how to dye a silk veil?

[testadmin]

Guys I am on a hurry for a performance where I am doing double circle veils...well I couldn't find the teal with yellow I was looking so i was wondering if any of you know if its possible to change the color of silk veils I have at home for a fast fix.
I have turquoise so I would just need to add a little yellow I think.
I imagine is super fragil and hard job but if you did it before do you know what kind of dye to use, if there is a simple solution for this?

I hope this is in the right post.
I would appreciate any information..
Thanks
Vivi

[testadmin]

Hi Vivi:

Am I understanding that you have veils in some other color that you'd like to redo in teal? Changing colors will be very difficult. First you would need to remove whatever dye is already in the fabric. You can't use bleach because bleach will completely destroy the silk (as in disintegrate it into little pieces). There are dye discharge/removal products that will work on certain dyes, but you probably don't know what kind of dye was used to make your veils. These products are mostly meant to discharge patterns or correct small mistakes. Also, these products are probably not going to take the fabric back to pristine white, which means the subsequent dye will be muted or muddy to some extent.

So my advice would be not to try to change the color of veils you already have.

I'm not trying to sell you any of my silk veils because I don't do circles. But honestly, you would be better off trying to find someting to purchase that could be express shipped to you. Maybe Jesennia has some circular veils in stock.

Sedonia

[testadmin]

or do you have a turquoise veil that you want to make teal, by overdying with yellow. That is more feasible.

I'd recommend procion dyes or jacquard acid dyes. Both can be done in your kitchen in a bucket, or in the washing machine. If the turquoise is light, you could just overdye with a teal color.

Sedonia

[testadmin]

Sedonia is absolutely correct. But if I understand correctly, you were looking for teal and yellow veils. You won't be able to overdye a turquoise veil to get yellow. Dye is not opaque, like paint -- you can't cover one color with another. Dye is more like working with pieces of colored glass. When you lay one on top of the other, you still see some of the bottom color (unless you overlay something very very dark).

By putting yellow on top of blue, you can come up with a shade of green, but you can't come up with yellow.

[testadmin]

I'd say - turning turquoise silk into teal is easy. If it"s a light enough turquoise, just overdye quickly in a teal green. I wouldn't even bother with yellow. If it's a darker turquoise, I'd probably try with a pure green - what is that called, emerald? I would start with a diluted dye bath for overdyeing (i.e. at most half of the dye called for in the recipe), rather than using a full strength dye. You can always do it again and add color, removing color is possible but more difficult.

And, acid dyes - www.dharmatrading.com is the way to go, they have instructions and dyes.

I have overdyed silk before - and it worked quite well.

You can also undye dyed silk - there are special non-bleach chemicals for that, available from Dharma Trading.

[testadmin]

Wow, that is a bit more complicated that I was thinking...I was not trying to make a turquoise veil yellow, but to add yellow to it to make a shade of teal. I asked Jessenia but she doesn't have anyhting in stock for right now, nor does many places, but i just found a place on ebay that can make a quick dye for me. So I think I won't touch my veils and let the hard work to the professionals.
I might see that dye place just in case...but its a lot of work..now I know why silk veil are expensive.
thank you SO much guys.
Viviane