Can you explain the stages of the dye process, particularly, when the color takes effect?
In order to get a first hand understanding of the dye procedure, I recommend getting one of our dye kits from our store. Basically, when the liquid comes out of the snail its a murky clear substance; in light and oxygen it slowly turn yellow, green, blue and finally settles at almost blackish purple. This is what we call the “dyestuff”. We then take the dyestuff and put it in boiling water with a base which helps to dissolve the meat in the dyestuff – the solution at this point is blackish purple. Then a reducing agent is added which causes the dyestuff to “reduce” and the solution becomes a yellowish liquid. Following this an acid is introduced to neutralize the pH of the solution (the color doesn’t change). The wool is then soaked in the solution and when it is removed it has the yellow color of the reduced solution. Slowly as the solution oxidizes it turns either purple (if the reduced solution was kept in the shade) or blue (if the reduced solution was exposed to UV). – Mois Navon.
