Name: karen
Message: My question is...I have been using Jacquard silk colors (green label) to dye my silk fabric and I would like to know if I can use that dye to dye my wool roving as well or do I have to use another type of dye?

Yes, this should work. Jacquard Green Label Silk Colors are Remazol-type fiber reactive dyes, with acid and some other chemicals added to make it easier to use without steaming. Since wool is a protein fiber like silk, I think that you should be able to use it on wool in just the same way that you do on silk, either with steaming to set the dye, or with the chemical fixative called Jacquard Permanent Dyeset Concentrate. The Permanent Dyeset Concentrate produce slightly less intense colors than those that steaming can produce with the same dye, but is more convenient to use. 

For wool, I would prefer to use Jacquard Red Label Silk Colors, or the less expensive (but more concentrated) Liquid Reactive Dyes sold by PRO Chemical & Dye. These all contain the same type of dye. The Jacquard Red Label dyes must usually be special-ordered, from the same places that stock Jacquard Green Label Silk Colors; it is often easier, and always more economical, to order ProChem's version. The advantage of Jacquard Red Label Silk Colors, as compared to the Green Label Silk Colors, is that the Red Label dye is twice as strong as the Green Label dye, and does not contain the chemicals which make Green Label Silk Colors unsuitable for immersion dyeing on the stovetop, due to the fumes that are produced. (Unlike the Red Label Silk Colors, you cannot use Green Label Silk Colors on cotton and other cellulose-containing fibers, because the Green Label dyes contain acid, while cotton requires a high pH to react with these dyes.) Red Label Silk Colors are little besides pure dye, dissolved in water, without the additives of the Green Label dyes; they can be used on any natural fiber. ProChem's Liquid Reactive Remazol dyes are at least four times as concentrated as Jacquard Red Label Silk Colors, but otherwise extremely similar.

An excellent way to dye wool with Remazol type dyes is by immersion, in a cooking pot (one which, like all dyepots, should never again be used for food preparation). You make the dyebath with water, Remazol dye (either Jacquard Red Label Silk Colors or ProChem Liquid Reactive dye, not with Green Label Silk Colors), plus Synthrapol, and an acid (citric acid or vinegar or sodium bisulfate), and boil the wetted wool gently in this dyebath for an hour. Reportedly, the additives in the Green Label Silk Colors should not be boiled in a dyebath, because they produce fumes which can be quite irritating to the user. Steaming is not supposed to create the same level of problems with fumes as boiling in a dyebath, and is more suitable for setting multiple colors of dye on hand-painted roving.

Remazol Dyes are true reactive dyes, not acid dyes, and will form a more permanent bond with wool than acid dyes can do. They can be washed in water at any temperature, many times, without fading.


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