Hand Dyed Fibers

My Heirloom Project

How to make sure your project lasts!

Pocketbook Finishing Directions

PocketBook Finishing Directions
by Colleen Madigan

Needlecase Finishing Instructions

by Colleen Madigan

Lightfast Testing on Cellulose - Introduction

The Effects of Household Lighting on Hand-Dyed Fibers By Victoria Clayton and Debba Rofheart

Lightfast Testing on Cellulose - Methodology

Methodology

Lightfast Testing on Cellulose - Results, Drink Mix

Lightfast Testing on Cellulose - Results, All Purpose Dye

Lightfast Testing on Cellulose - Results, Reactive Dye

Fiber Reactive Dye

Lightfast Testing on Cellulose - Conclusions

Conclusion

HDF to DMC colors

The HDF to DMC conversion lists!
How did I create these conversions?
The long answer is that I use a machine that scans the color and then gives me a lightwave read-out of it's particular and unique wavelength. I use that information to recreate that wavelength read-out on silk, by dyeing silk and scanning it until it emits the same wavelength of light as the color I originally scanned.
Although this sounds easy it's not. Each dye powder has it's own wavelength and when you add one dye to another, the wavelength changes. It takes a lot of trial and error to recreate each of these colors in a different dye, on a different substrata (the base fiber). On the positive side, the matches are excellent. There isn't any eyeballing, or human error.
Why do they look different to you then? Partly your perception of color, partly the light you're looking in, partly the way light reflects to your eye off silk. Silk fibers are prismatic in nature and therefore reflect light differently than flat or shorter fibers. Empirically though the light wavelength readings match.