Passive Solar Fabric Dyeing

Passive Solar Dyeing

The weather this week has been very unusual for the Midwest. It's barely gone below 90° F at night, and, with humidity, the highs have been greater than 101° F (32° C and 38° C, respectively). I decided to capture some of this free energy by dyeing linen thread using passive solar heat. Like a slightly toxic, colorful version of sun tea, if you will.

The dark blue enamel makes it hard to tell that the dye is wine red.

The setup is very simple. You just need direct sunlight, a dye container, and a clear or dark colored cover. Anything you will never use for food in the future and don't mind being stained will work as a dye pot, and a piece of glass, clear plastic, or even trash bags will work as the cover. I used my trusty enameled dye pot and a clear bin I had lying around.

Capture the summer heat to dye yarn or fabric.

I wound my linen thread into a skein and loosely tied it with some blue warp scraps. Then I plopped the skein in the premixed Rit dye and put the cover on top to concentrate the sunlight and to keep mosquitoes and thirsty critters out. I left the skein in the dye bath all day and overnight, moving it to keep it in direct sunlight, and stirring every few hours.

Here's what it looked like after rinsing.

Not a perfect coverage, but good enough for the project I have in mind. Dyeing it outside definitely helped me keep the inside of my house cool! Next time I'll pre-soak the skein, tie it looser, and stir it more often and see if that helps get the color more even.

Quite a successful experiment in saving energy and making the killer heat useful!

Easy DIY Light Box for $15 or Less

or How to Build Your Own Tracing Table in Seven Easy Steps!

Step 1: Want to own a light box (also know as a tracing table and not to be confused with a soft box).

Step 2: Realize that light boxes cost anywhere from $50 to $200. If you can afford it, skip the rest of the steps and go buy a light box.

Step 3: Decide to build your own. If you have wood or metal working tools, experience (or the courage) with working with wiring, and perhaps some soldering skills, find a good tutorial on the web and go build your own. It will probably cost more than $15 but hopefully less than $200.

Step 4: Hunt in thrift stores until you find a glass topped table. It will probably be around $10.

Step 5: Aim a lamp so that the light shines through the glass towards your eyes. A desk lamp with a bendy neck works best. You may already have one on your desk! If not, hunt one up in a thrift store for $5.

Step 6: Optional. In order to not shine a bright light directly into your eyes, you may want to frost the glass using a special spray paint or use etching paste. Warning: both are toxic and the etching paste can seriously burn you. Follow all safety instructions. You can also glue or tape vellum (pricey), tracing paper (somewhat pricey), or parchment/baking paper (cheap and in every grocery store) t 0o the side of the glass you are not tracing on. If you want to be very frugal, just make sure you keep what you are tracing directly over the light.

Step 7: Trace to your heart's content!


Important Safety Information and Disclaimer (aka Use Your Common Sense):

The table you purchase may not be at optimal drawing height. Either raise the table so that it is or take frequent breaks (around every 15 to 30 minutes). Repetitive motion injuries are no joke, long lasting, and quite painful. Also, the table you buy will probably be topped with glass. Use common sense and don't put excessive pressure on it or play slap down card games. Follow this tutorial at your own risk!