Thanks for the link! Thought that using kakishibu on yarn had to be easier than all the other kind of dyeing. I'm thinking the wet yarn must be heavy - hense the hefty drying rack in the pictures. Maybe I'll have to get me some silk yarn to dye.

Heat really alters the color of kakishibu.  If you tried to overdye a kakishibu cloth in a procion dye, I don't know what the hot water will do to the kakishibu.  I tried to steam set a kakishibu cloth once, and all the kakishibu kind of melted off of it.  If I recall, the piece wasn't dry yet.  It was shocking to take out what was once a nice, dark kakishibu color and was now a pale, anemic peach color.  After that experience, I've kept my kakishibu cloth away from boiling water.  It would be worth trying again with a fully dry kakishibu dyed piece - something just dipped, not with a surface design or any time investment in it.

I've overdyed kakishibu with indigo and it definitely tinted the kakishibu.  Just haven't tried a chemical dye yet.

You can overdye conventional/chemical dyed cloth with kaksihibu no problem.

Love to see & hear about what you come up with.

Again, apologies for the delay.  I had some out-of-season kiddings that were a total surprise and have thrown my world out of whack.  Should be semi-normal now - at least until Madrona next month.

Welcome Darcy! I'm not sure how the new post escaped me, but it did.  Apologies for the delay in responding.  Hope you'll find like-minded creative folks here and we can learn from everyone's projects.  Looking forward to hearing about your adventures in kakishibu and other pursuits.

Thank you!
Darcy

Wow, your wood duck is wonderful!

Hello,
I am guessing that you currently work with Procion dyes, but if not, I just want to mention that there are two different kinds of dyes - MX series, which does not require heat, and H series which needs to be steam set. This means a steamer which is an enclosed contraption you put your fiber into and cook for a specified amount of time, depending on what the fiber is. I use both H series and MX in my work and find that the colors of the MX dyes do benefit from being steamed. Another plus is that when you iron say, fabric, and your iron spits, the steamed cloth will not show water marks whereas unsteamed will.

You also need the appropriate auxilliary chems to help the dyes bond to the cloth. I use soda ash, but I believe you can use citric acid as well. Complete instructions for a variety of applications are available on Dharma's website. Let me know if you need the link.

I have overdyed henna and walnut fabric with MX dyes with success. In the photo posted below the greenish area surrounding the wood duck is the henna/MX silk.

Darcy

I'm interested to know who's on the forum:
How did you hear about Kakishibu?
   I subscribe to the Dyer's List, moderated and maintained by the University of Michigan. Someone posted the link there.
Have you tried working with Kakishibu?
  No,but am looking forward to trying.
What have you applied Kakishibu to (or, to be artsy, 'what medium do you kakishibu?')
  N/A
Do you have experience with other dyeing/ staining techniques?
   I work with natural fibers, primarily silk, and do hand dyeing, printing, painting and a variety of surface design techniques. I hope to move into more of the "Natural Dye" realm as time goes on. Have used walnut husks and henna, both with good results, on silk.
Any other craft/art/fiber addictions?
   I enjoy making paper when I have the time, also etching onto copper. I have printed some of the copper plates onto silk successfully.
Want us to know anything else about you?
  Just that I am very happy to have found this forum - looking forward to learning all about kakishibu.

Woo-hoo!  More exposure for kakishibu.  Please see the article "What You See is NOT What You Get" at Weavezine - the online weaving magazine.  You can find the article at: 

http://www.weavezine.com/winter2008/wz_wi08_ChrisConrad.php

Hi, Kris, thank you for your helpful reply.  Procion dyes do not need hot water- that is one of the best things about them.  They are suitable for plant based materials, cotton , bamboo, hemp, tencel, and slik (although technically, silk is an animal based fiber, I think?) etc.    Here is a link to Dharma Trading who has the best prices.

http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/3796-AA.shtml?lnav=dyes.html

I wish I could start dyeing right this instant, but I have 2 big projects due Oct 10, so until then I will read your book and think about what i woudl like to do in the future!

Does the procion dye require heat/boiling water?  I tried putting some shibori kakishibu cloth in a steamer to "set" the color and wrinkles from the shibori and succeeded only in steaming the kakishibu out of the cloth and ending up with a pale remnant of the original color.  If I recall, the kakishibu hadn't dried.  Perhaps if I'd used the heat on dry kakishibu dyed cloth, it wouldn't have run out.

I haven't tried overdying kakishibu with a hot vat dye, but my guess is if you have to immerse the kakishibu cloth in a boiling vat of dye, you might lose the kakishibu.  Certainly worth trying.  Are there other pigment or chemical dyes that don't require heat for overdyeing kakishibu?  That would also be worth experimenting with.

I have overdyed kakishibu patterned cloth with indigo and yes, it does tint the kakishibu portions.  The kaksihibu doesn't waterproof so much as to prevent overdyeing.  I soaked the kakishibu cloth thoroughly in water before overdyeing with indigo.

You can start at the other end and do the shibori with chemical dyes, then overdye with kakishibu.

Good questions to explore.......

Has anyone else played around with "mixed media" dyeing with kakishibu?  What results did you get?  I'll certainly put this on my "to experiment with" list.  Anyone with pics, please share!