Watch me dye 45 yards of raw silk!

A customer asks me if I can color match this swatch of raw silk. "Sure", I say..and I do. I match it perfectly on my own raw silk.

Next question- "Can you dye 50 yards of it for me?" "Sure", I say.

Next question- "Can you dye it on my silk which is upholstery weight raw silk and wider than yours?" "Ummmm...sure", I say,"... but it has to fit these parameters..." which are then spelled out and all I can do is try.

The silk arrives and it is wider, heavier and worst of all- BLEACHED white. Not a part of the parameters. All I can do is try. I do. I get it but not without dumping unprecedented amounts of dye and soda ash onto the mix.

Next question- "Can you dye it in 9 yard panels?" Staggering a bit...I reply, "All I can do is try." And I do.

First step-Cut the fabric into one 9 yard, 15 inch panel to test it before committing. This stuff is going to shrink like crazy. And it did. And it worked. Okay. Price is going to double as the time and dye quadruped in order to get the depth of color on the bleached silk.
Here is 2/3 of the amount of dye I will need to use to dye this order.

Here are all but 2 of the boxes of ash that I will need to dye this order.
The messes I make are colossal. One yard, or 45, the outcome is always the same- huge pile of mess and this project was no different from any of the others.

Here is one 9 yard panel pre-soaking in warm water while I mix the 8 cups (yes) of dry dye powder and 8 cups (yes) of dry soda ash.
Just a part of what the dye sinks looked like while I was working.
Midway though one of the dye sessions I came up for air and had a chat with my dear husband. Never once did he mention my dyed face. Not one time. I happen to take a bathroom break and noticed (it was shocking) how I looked. When questioning him on why he failed to mention my dyed face, he said, "You always look like that." Not true. Anyway...my hair is blue in the front. This is still on my face. It will have to wear off with time.
Of course it would start raining about the time I was ready to pull panels out of the machine. What you do not see are the new laundry lines I installed in the dye studio that run the entire length of the work space. I have to be more prepared for crappy weather. Anyway- I hung the full 45 yards inside in the dye studio and then the sun came out, of course, but anyway- no birds were able to poop on this stuff which certainly has happened in the past.

Here it is ironed and folded. 45 yards. When the final price was quoted the customer decided 45 would work rather than 50, so okay.
Here it is boxed up and ready to ship to Mexico City. Hopefully when everything is said and done I will post a photograph of the silk as the finished project- a couch.

I am going to take this thing to UPS now...wish me luck. It weighs 38 pounds. Steve is going to help me.

This project was stimulating and challenging and a stretch in many ways but in other ways I have to smile-this might have killed me 20 years ago but when you have as many miles clocked in as I do, you learn some things...like what happens when one tries to dye bleached things. Like what happens when upholstery weight comes into play rather than dress weight. Like how to laugh it off when the dye has soaked into your nails and skin and you have an appointment with a hand therapist the next day. Like how much to account for when you know a fabric will shrink but you do not know HOW much it will shrink. It's all good.

It's true that something special kicks in when you have 10,000 hours logged in regarding a craft or an art or a specialty or whatever. Something else kicks in when you have logged 100,000 hours. I don't know how to describe it but it goes something like this-you just know that you know that you know you can do it and...you do.

Okay. What's next?