Dyeing Rope
Dyeing Rope - By Dilligaff
Dyeing Rope Dyeing Rope Dyeing Rope
It’s all about the colours...
Do It Yourself (Dyeing Rope) – by Dilligaff - June 2013
I bought a reel of hemp for the sole purpose of dyeing it in various colours.
This piece of writing are my observations and thoughts.
Attempt #1
Firstly, I wanted to do a large batch for my own use.
My girlfriend of the time suggested purple, and this was the chosen colour. I measured an approximate length of 80m – I measured 1 metre, doubled it over to make 2m, and in turn turned it back on itself to make 4m. I repeated the doubling method until I had measured 64m, marked the rope and restarted the method to measure the remaining 16m.
Now I cut the desired length, and taped the ends to prevent unravelling in future processes. I made loops of the cut trope until I had gathered it all together in one hand loosely bound like loops together with 2 sacrificial short lengths of rope to “keep it together”.
I then weighed the coiled rope and calculated how much dye I would need. 80M of rope weighed 2.2kg and accordingly I bought 3 sachets of Dylon Intense Violet dye http://dylon.co.uk/product.php?alias=fabric-dye-for-machine-use&products=p, at a local store and some salt from a local supermarket (1kg).
While out shopping I put the coiled rope into my washing machine on a 40' wash cycle with the lowest spin setting. The reason behind this, after reading the manufacturer's information, is that the dyeing product needs to be wet and that I wanted to remove any excess fibres from the rope.
When the initial wash cycle was completed, I emptied the machines filter
(I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS STEP TO AVOID THE MACHINE STOPPING FOR A CLOGGED FILTER LATER ON!).
I followed the dye manufacturers instructions in loading the machine, put in the rope, selected the same wash cycle and sat back.....
The wait was excruciating! Eventually the cycle ended and I opened the door – WOW, what a colour it was, really intense – but I couldn't stop there, as the rope needed to be washed. I put the rope back in the machine and restarted the wash cycle.
I heard the machine stop, and as I rushed to see the results, I was shocked to find the machine hadn't finished and was having an error! Upon examining the operators handbook, I found that the filter had blocked and that there was still liquid in the drum. UH OH!
After figuring out how to drain the machine, and clean the filter, I wanted to make sure it was cleaned completely, so I sent it through another washing cycle.
Finally the rope was finished washing. As I opened the door, I was greeted by the worst sight possible – a bundle of knotted rope of epic proportions ARGHH!
I set about trying to untie this cat's cradle into some semblance of order – after much swearing I had the rope into order and proceeded to hang it to dry in my garage between the rafters.
I looped the rope between two rafters so that it was tight, and hung a weight in the middle (bucket of water) – this weight was to stretch the rope to it's original length.
I left the rope overnight to dry, and went back the following morning to examine the results....
The rope hadn't dried completely out, and had drooped under the weight of the water bucket, so I removed the weight, and went about re hanging the rope between the rafters again,
so that it was tight, and reapplied the weight and allowing it to dry.
Finally the rope felt dry! I took it down from the rafters and coiled it by hand – and left it over a drier inside my home to fuller air. The rope was ready!!!!!
Upon examination, the rope had dyed throughout, but cutting through it, left a small centre core undyed :(
The stretching of the rope has had it's desired effect – reducing the diameter from 8mm+ back down towards the original 6mm diameter (not 100% though). Perhaps if I was to increase the weight whilst drying, it would take care of this “error”. Next time I will think on this.
Attempt #2
I followed the same steps as I had previously taken in measuring the rope (this time 64m measured in the same method), weighing, and washing it prior to dyeing again. This time I chose Tulip Red Dye http://dylon.co.uk/product.php?alias=fabric-dye-for-machine-use&products=product-info&alias-product=tulpin-red-1 from Dylon.
Remembering the errors in not cleaning the filter each wash cycle, I dyed the rope.
Once completing the dyeing and washing stages, I again hung the rope in my garage to dry under tension.
Once again, I re tensioned the rope after letting it dry overnight, and let it dry for another day/night. Like with the previous attempt, after the second night of drying I brought the rope inside to finish airing.
Stretching was adequate, and the weight was approximately the same, so I guess it all depends on how quickly it dries (how warm a day) as to how much stretch the rope has/reduces it's diameter.
Please be advised that this writing is NOT a set of instructions on how to do something. Always check for yourself, read any instructions and seek advice if you are unsure.
