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For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
Anavy teddy bears
The fabric for this bear was my first attempt at hand-dyeing mohair. He is 28 cm.
FenBeary FolkHi Iva, what a lovely bear and he is such a wonderful colour
It looks really good and I adore the nose
Posts: 186I agree with Sue - its such a wonderful colour. Well done, Iva - he is just gorgeous 
Acid Attic BearsYou did a great job with the dying ! Beautiful bear !
Anavy teddy bearsThanks to all. The mohair is dyed with easter-egg colours (in powder) and I rolled it and tied in several times to make the lighter spots. But the egg colouring colours only protein based fibre, so the cotton backing stayed white. Did enyone of you try dyeing the backing with cotton dye? If I am right, it should not affect the mohair and you should be able to colour the backing and the mohair separately...
FenBeary Folk
gee, that sounds to complex to me, I have not gone down the dye road yet, not sure I will for awhile
:hug: :hug:
Anavy teddy bearsBut is quite simple in fact. The trick is, that the surface of an egg is from proteins and the dye dyes proteins. The mohair, as fibre grown on animal, is also protein and therefore the dye works. BUT cotton is cellulosis, which is a type of polysacharide (we can say more complex sugar) and that means, that the egg colouring would not penetrate (or how to say it) into it. Is that OK? 
FenBeary FolkIva, what a fab explanation, my mind is all a buzz with different ideas for dyes now, what is the make of dye you use? as it sounds environmentally ok as well
Anavy teddy bearsEh, that's a question! I bought the egg dye in a drug store and it has no manufacturer name on it. One packet costs about 15p and is enough to dye several fat quarters of mohair. They are available in several colours and you can mix them. I can send it to you if you want... And the environmental point - it's a food colouring actually, so it should be OK.
The packets:
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They have blue, orange, violet, red, yellow and green.
FenBeary FolkHi great price, never really thought of food dye, thanks for offering to send but I am sure we have lots over here. It makes you think about natural dyes, I am sure you can use beetroot as a dye (have some growing in the garden-he likes it) and other things like that??? do they need fixing I wonder?
:hug:
Anavy teddy bearsI think you can use it quite well.
Somethink about natural dyes - http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/naturaldyes.shtml
FenBeary FolkThanks what a great link :dance: :dance: :dance:
