Friday, September 5, 2008

The Dreaded "D" Word....

I'm thinking about one of my BJP pages and of all colors, I would really like to use a nice bright fuchsia and lighter tones, but of course, aren't nearly all pink to fuchsia beads dyed? Horrors! Who wants to put all that work into a project and have the color change right before their very eyes? So my question is for all the experienced bead embroiderers out there - have you dared to use dyed beads in your work, or even galvanized (not the new Toho permanent finish) for that matter, and did the color/finish hold up or did you regret the choice? Has anyone found a pink to fuchsia bead (preferably size 15/0, Japanese manufactured) that is color fast? Have you ever dyed your own beads? Does anyone have a not-too-complicated technique or bead treatment that aids color preservation that they are willing to share? Any advice would be dearly appreciated....

5 comments:

pam T said...

Hi Nancy... yes, I have dared to use dyed beads in one of my projects last year. It was on my December BJP page (you can see it on the BJP web site under my name Pam Truog) ... the bright green, it's also in my September page, same color. After I started beading and I noticed the green getting lighter and lighter, and I gasped in horror, I actually just coated them with clear nailpolish after I had them in place (touching them as little as possible!) Worked like a charm, if you consider coating your work in nail polish okay....!
pam T

KrispiS said...

Hi Nancy,
I used some pink beads last year that faded incredibly. Since I was creating flowers, it was ok to have them a little lighter. I'm glad that I didn't need them to remain a particular shade. You can go see them... on the Flickr site for last year.... under my name KrispiS and they are the October, February, April and May.

flying fish said...

I've used dyed beads...some of the japanese ones hold up pretty well. BUT, even though bead embroidery isn't worn, it is handled a lot in the making. I try to avoid galvanized beads, but will risk using dyed beads unless they fade while I'm sewing.

Susan Elliott said...

Which types of beads are dyed and which ones not? Are delica beads dyed? Thanks for your help. I use a lot of pink beads and was unaware of this problem...

Anonymous said...

Thanks to all for posting your comments. Even though you may have had some problems with beads fading, the projects you directed me to look just gorgeous! I thought about the nail polish trick but haven't tried it yet - it's a little scary! I'll figure something out - maybe I'll find a way to mix different colors to create an "implied" fuchsia - who knows!