Tien Chiu

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Procion MX fiber-reactive dye samples on cotton

In 2017, I got together with two friends and dyed 1,500 samples of cotton yarn using Procion MX fiber-reactive dyes. (Kaye and I dyed the skeins; Carla wound the dyed skeins onto sample cards.) I have photographed them, color-corrected the photos, and posted the photos on the pages linked below.

The 1500 samples are divided into 6 groups of 250 skeins. Each group of 250 skeins is dyed with varying concentrations of  three “pure” (unmixed) primaries, in light, medium, and dark shades

If you feel lost, start with How to Read the Dye Sample Sets, which explains how the samples are organized. (You can also click on any photo to download the larger version; zoom in to see the concentrations written on the labels.)

Photos of the samples

Each link goes to a page with photos of 250 dye samples made with the listed colors.

Golden Yellow, Fuchsia, and Mixing Blue

Golden Yellow, Mixing Red, and Deep Navy

Golden Yellow, Mixing Red, and Intense Blue

Sun Yellow, Fuchsia, and Turquoise

Sun Yellow, Fuchsia, and Deep Navy

Sun Yellow, Mixing Red, and Mixing Blue

How I did it

Dye Sample Strategy – this explains my approach to designing the sample set. 

Dyeing Protocol – how I dyed the samples. If you want to dye your own sample set, I strongly suggest taking Carol Soderlund’s classes. It will save you a LOT of time and you will get a chance to work with an expert dyer and teacher. This sample project took three people over a year to dye all 1500 skeins and wind the resulting samples onto cards. (Winding the sample cards was nearly as time-consuming as the dyeing.)

Color combinations:

Each row in the table is a single combination of three colors. In each cell, I’ve listed the Pro Chemical and Dye, Dharma Trading Company, and Color Index (CI) names of the color.

YellowMagentaBlue
ProChem:
Sun Yellow
Dharma Trading:
Lemon Yellow
Color Index (CI):
Procion Yellow
MX-8G		ProChem:
Mixing Red
Dharma Trading:
Light Red
Color Index (CI)
Procion Red MX-5B		ProChem:
Mixing Blue
Dharma Trading:
Cobalt Blue
Color Index (CI):
Procion Blue
MX-2G 125
ProChem:
Sun Yellow
Dharma Trading:
Lemon Yellow
Color Index (CI):
Procion Yellow
MX-8G 		ProChem:
Fuchsia
Dharma Trading:
Fuchsia
Color Index (CI):
Procion Red MX-8B 		ProChem:
Deep Navy
Dharma Trading:
Nautical Navy
Color Index (CI):
Procion Blue MX-4GD
ProChem:
Sun Yellow
Dharma Trading:
Lemon Yellow
Color Index (CI):
Procion Yellow
MX-8G 		ProChem:
Fuchsia
Dharma Trading:
Fuchsia
Color Index (CI):
Procion Red MX-8B 		ProChem:
Turquoise
Dharma Trading:
Turquoise
Color Index (CI):
Procion Turquoise
MX-G
ProChem:
Golden Yellow
Dharma Trading:
Golden Yellow
Color Index (CI):
Procion Yellow
MX-3RA
ProChem:
Mixing Red
Dharma Trading:
Light Red
Color Index (CI)
Procion Red MX-5B 		ProChem:
Intense Blue
Dharma Trading:
Cerulean Blue
Color Index (CI):
Procion Blue
MX-G Conc.
ProChem:
Golden Yellow
Dharma Trading:
Golden Yellow
Color Index (CI):
Procion Yellow
MX-3RA 		ProChem:
Mixing Red
Dharma Trading:
Light Red
Color Index (CI)
Procion Red MX-5B 		ProChem:
Deep Navy
Dharma Trading:
Nautical Navy
Color Index (CI):
Procion Blue MX-4GD
ProChem:
Golden Yellow
Dharma Trading:
Golden Yellow
Color Index (CI):
Procion Yellow
MX-3RA 		ProChem:
Fuchsia
Dharma Trading:
Fuchsia
Color Index (CI):
Procion Red MX-8B		ProChem:
Mixing Blue
Dharma Trading:
Cobalt Blue
Color Index (CI):
Procion Blue
MX-2G 125

Each triplet requires 250 skeins, making a total of 1500 skeins.