Dyeing Tencel fibers, with Rit dyes

I really liked how well the Bamboo fibers dyed in the last two posts, so I went back to Fancy Tiger to look for more shiny type fibers. I bought some Tencel and some Nylon.

I bought two ounces of Tencel, and it was $2.50/ounce. I only used about 1 1/4 ounce for this, so have some white left over.  

Tencel has a cellulose base, so can be dyed with Procion MX or Rit dye.  I used Rit since it was faster and easier. I have Azure Blue, Lemon yellow, Golden yellow, and Black. I mixed a very concentrated amount of dye with about a half cup of water. I added the fiber and put it in the microwave for one minute. The first one I did, I tried two minutes, but it made a weird popping sound and sprayed dye all over the inside of the microwave.  One minute seemed to be okay, but do it at your own risk. After microwaving, I took the fibers out, added more water to the same container of dye, put in another fiber section, and nuked it for one minute. That is how I got a light version and dark version of each color.  As you can see, there is not a lot of different between the lemon yellow and golden yellow. It took a lot of rinsing to get the extra dye out. I was doing the rinsing in the sink. I'd fill the sink with an inch of hot water, let them sit for a while, move them around in the water, then squeeze them out and put them on a paper towel. I did this multiple times, and even in the end, there were still some color stains on the paper towel. The black was the worst. I probably did ten rinses. Here they are after drying.

 And after I fluffed them up.

 Tomorrow, I'll show the Nylon, it is super sparkly!