Lizard Toes

Dyeing Silk Hankies

Silk Hankies are cocoons of the silk moth that have been opened and stretched flat on a frame.  This gives them their square shape and dense edges.  Silk hankies are also a great way to try out dyeing and spinning. The drafting, which tends to be the hardest thing for beginning spinners to pick up on, is done for you, so all you have to do is spin and make yarn. You can spin the fibers and get yarn, or you can work them as is once they’re drafted out.  (see fig 1

fig 1 – a stack of dyed hankies and from the same hankies –(counterclockwise from top) a ball of silk roving, a knitted swatch using unspun roving and a knitted swatch using singles spun from the roving.  Each swatch is knit from one hanky.

Supplies:

undyed silk hankies

Acid dyes (food dyes or Kool-Aid work well)

Vinegar

A large glass bowl

A wire cooling rack

A glass baking dish

Gloves

Containers to mix dye colors in.

Containers to pour or squirt on the dye. (This can be the same as the containers you mix in if you’re able to pour a steady stream without making a mess.)

Bleach (to clean up the stained counter tops)

Clothes pins

Clothes hanger

The very first thing you need to do is take your silk hankies and place them in a bowl of warm water and vinegar. (see fig 2)  Leave them alone at least 12 hours. Silk is fairly water resistant and it takes a while to get ‘wet’ in the dyeing sense of the word.  How much water and vinegar?  Enough water for the hankies to float freely and a generous glug of vinegar.  Once your hankies are wet I recommend handling them with gloves on at all times to prevent snags.  Once they’re dry they’re a bit easier to handle bare handed (as long as your hands are smooth).

fig 2 hankies soaking in an acidic solution

Put on your gloves and mix up your dyes.  If you’re using acid dyes I’m going to assume you already know how to use them. If you’re using food dyes or Kool-Aid mix accordingly.  Knitty has a good article here on dyeing with Kool-Aid and Ravelry has a group dedicated to it.

Now that your hankies have had time to get wet (and you know they’re wet if there are no silvery/white spots left and the whole stack looks translucent) reach carefully into the bowl and lift the stack from below.  Place the cooling rack over an empty bowl or pot and lay the stack out flat to drain. Roll the square up from one side, (see fig 3a,b)

fig 3a

fig 3b

Now take the roll and fold it in half and stand it up to let it drain.  (see fig 3c)

fig 3c

You can give it a little squeeze if you want.  You want the hankies to be wet, but not dripping.  Silk won’t felt, but it’s best to handle the hankies as little as possible because they can easily begin to drift apart while wet and they’re easier to deal with dry if they’re somewhat ordered.

While the hankies are draining figure out what colors you need to mix up to get the colors you want. (If you don’t plan on doing any mixing go take a little break!)  If you’re unsure on how to mix colors to get a specific result do a search on color theory, there are a ton of tools and sites online that can help you figure out how to mix colors to a specific end.  Mix up these colors and place them into containers to pour or squirt the color on the hankies.  You can do this either randomly or in an ordered manner, it doesn’t matter either way.

To apply the dyes go over to your drained hanky stack and make sure it’s just wet and no longer dripping.  Unfold it and lay it back out on the cooling rack over the baking dish.  Make sure the edges are inside the parameters of the dish so you don’t make a bigger mess than you’re already going to do.  (see fig 4)

fig 4 – dyes mixed and hankies laid out ready to dye

Beginning carefully pouring or squirting on the dye where you’d like it to go.  Give it a moment to seep down into the lower layers. (see fig 5)  Because we soaked the silk in an acidic bath it will take up the dye very quickly.  This could mean that some areas on the bottom don’t get dyed.  Don’t worry about it, we’ve got it covered.

fig 5 – first dye applied

Continue in this manner until the entire hanky is as you want it. (see fig 6a,b)

fig 6a

fig 6b

Give the dye a few minutes to penetrate and drain as much as possible to keep the colors from running.  Once it’s no longer dripping pick it up by two corners and flip it over to the other side.  Notice in fig 7a there are a few pale spots.  You may have some, or more, or none at all.  If you have some pour some dye on them following the same process for the front if you wish. (see fig 7b)

fig 7a – notice the pale spots between colors – these won’t affect the final yarn, but you may be anal like I am, so feel free to fill them in as needed.

fig 7b – all filled in!

Allow the dye a few moments to penetrate and drip through.  Being very careful to not get any waste dyes on the hankies pour out the liquid in the bottom of the dish (if you want to be thrifty you can save any dyes by pouring them out of the baking dish as you use them).  Pick up your hankies by two corners and place in the baking dish. (see fig 8)  Bake this for 30 minutes at 185F.  This step is essential.  You can cover the dish or not, it’s fine either way, but it must be exposed to this temperature in order for the dye to be permanent.

fig 8

Use this time to bleach your counter tops or play with the dogs/kids/weasels.

Ok, we done?

Take the dish out of the oven and put it on the counter.  Fill your bowl with hot tap water and a tiny drop of dish detergent. (see fig 9a)  A very tiny drop, you don’t really want suds, just something to pull the excess dye out of the silk.  Put your hankies in this solution and let it sit for a few minutes. (see fig 9b)

fig 9a

fig 9b

After a few minutes, if there is excess dye, it will begin to leech out.  (see fig 10)

fig 10

Using your gloved finger tips push the hanky stack down and agitate it gently to help the soap move through the fibers and pull out the rest of the extra dye.  (see fig 11)

fig 11

Pick up the hanky stack and move it to the cooling rack so it can drain a bit.  Discard your wash water.  (see fig 12)

fig 12

Using clothes pins pin the stack to a hanger (see fig 13) and hang in a warm, dry spot to dry.  Outside on a sunny day is ideal; it’ll dry quickly in those conditions.

fig 13

Once your hanky stack is dry you can now begin to use them either spinning them or knitting and crocheting directly from the roving.  To get roving you need to draft the hankies out one at a time.  To do this, carefully separate an obvious layer from the stack. (see fig 14a,b) This layer will consist of several hankies. (see fig 15a)  Peel away the thinnest layer you can find. (see fig 15b,c)  Don’t worry if you have holes, it won’t matter.

Fig 14a

Fig 14b

fig 15a

fig 15b

fig 15c

You’ll notice that the edges are denser than the center, that all gets worked out in drafting, so don’t worry about it.

To draft:

Make a hole in the center with your fingers (see fig 16) and begin stretching the hanky into a large loop. (see fig 17)  Keep your hands about a foot apart while you’re stretching and move around the loop until you have it the thickness you want.  Once you have it the desired thickness, break the loop and roll it up into a ball (see fig 18) and move on to the next hanky, or start working on the one you just drafted out and balled up.

fig 16

fig 17

fig 18

Thanks for checking out my tutorial.  I hope it was helpful.  If you have any questions or something isn’t clear feel free to email me or find me on Ravelry as Lizardtoes.

Copyright 2009 Kellie Tatem/Lizard Toes - Creative commons license is granted for non commercial use only.
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