Looking for a recipe to make PARCHMENT with Cushing dyes

Name: Barbara

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Country or region: Cape Cod, MA

Message: Looking for a recipe to make PARCHMENT with Cushing dyes. I also want to make INDIGO. Thanks.

If you would like to mix your own dye colors, you might do better to choose another brand of dye, one whose makers intend for their dye colors to be mixed.

W. Cushing & Company intends for their dyes to be used as packaged, rather than for blending your own colors. They say that this is why there are forty different colors available among their direct dyes, and over ninety different colors among their acid dyes. They believe that you should be able to find the color you need among the various mixtures that they have already blended.

Good alternatives to Cushing Perfection Acid Dye, for dyeing protein fibers such as wool, include the Lanaset dyes and the WashFast Acid dyes. A superior alternative to Cushing Perfection Direct Dye, for dyeing plant-based fibers, is fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dyes. A nearby source for all of these dyes for you would be PRO Chemical & Dye, in Fall River, Massachusetts; they sell many different types of dye both locally and online.

If you contact W. Cushing, they will send you a color card at no charge. You can also see pictures of their color cards on their website; like all color cards viewed online, they are less reliable than the printed version, so it's a good idea to ask for the card. For a parchment-like color, among their acid dyes, Cushing carries "Old Ivory" and "Ecru"; among their direct dyes, there is no close match, so you would need to use a very dilute amount of a brown color, such as their "Light Brown". For an indigo-like color, among the Cushing direct dyes you might choose either "blue" or "navy blue", while the Cushing acid dyes include both "blue" and "royal blue".

Not all dyes are compatible for mixing with one another. It is best to mix your own colors from dyes that are promoted by the seller as being suitable for using together. The Cushing representative told me that, if you wish to mix your own Cushing Acid dyes, their best colors to use as mixing primaries for light colors are Canary, Cherry and Peacock, and, for dark colors, Yellow, Blue and American Beauty. For Cushing Direct dye, the recommended mixing primaries for light colors are Scarlet, Light Blue or Copenhagen Blue, and Yellow, while the recommended mixing primaries for darker hues would be Blue, Cardinal and Canary. A neutral color such as parchment will require some of each of the three primary colors; since it's a pale color, you should use a smaller amount of dye powder than usual, for a given amount of fiber.

If you are using Cushing Direct dyes, for plant fibers such as cotton, you will find fiber reactive dyes to be longer-lasting and less prone to fading in the laundry. For more information on mixing fiber reactive Procion dyes, see my FAQ answer page, "How can I mix Procion MX dyes to get specific colors?". Discussions of mixing various dye colors with different classes of dye can be found in the "Color Mixing" forum topic of the Dye Forum.

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Posted: Wednesday - August 17, 2011 at 04:23 PM

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Looking for a recipe to make PARCHMENT with Cushing dyes

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