#tencel

I want to make a BJD wig with raccoon stripes in the hair, but I wasn't sure which method would work best on tencel so time for science.

Results:

Left to right: Rit Dye, Rit Dyemore, Gouache, Acrylic, Alcohol ink, Pastel

Rit Dye works on tencel, but it's too hard to control for this stripey hair design I want.

Rit Dyemore doesn't stick. Wasn't really expecting it to stick super well since tencel isn't 100% synthetic. but threw it in the batch just to have results

Gouache somehow both doesn't stick and makes the tencel very crunchy??? Also gouache can be reactivated with water. Low key baffled someone said they've colored a wig with gouache

Acrylic works very well. It got a little crunchy on the stripe I used the most paint on, but it feels soft enough on the other two. I can probably use a lighter hand since I am using black paint. It doesn't really need multiple coarts for opacity.

Alcohol ink works well. Stays soft.

Threading up the floor loom 56 ends in and there’s a lot to go.

Tencel uses much less water and land than cotton, and emits less total CO2, so it's supposed to be more sustainable. But of course, you have to look at the total lifespan of a garment: if your tencel t-shirt used a third of the water than a cotton shirt, but will fall apart after a year of use, then it seems more wasteful than that Dr. Who tee you got as a present twelve years ago and is still going strong. And here's where I'm confused.

If you google tencel, you'll get hundreds of articles and blog posts, most of them independent from Ecovero (the company that makes Tencel), claiming that it not only uses fewer resources than regular viscose, cotton or linen, but also lasts longer, looks better, doesn't shrink, and so on. But I own clothes made of Tencel! It behaves like viscose! Fancier viscose, sure, but it ages like milk! AND it doesn't feel cooling on the skin on hot days, which is another common claim, and it refuses to hold its shape properly!

I own a dress out of woven tencel, some t-shirts in both 100% lyocell and 50-50 blend with cotton, and a pair of trousers in a tencel-cotton twill.

The dress basically looks and feels like a cheap viscose fast fashion dress, the hems and seams twist and the fabric wants to tear at the seams and fray through them. I've already had to patch it near the pockets after two washes (in the delicate cycle!), because the fabric couldn't handle the weight of my phone.

The T-shirts are flowy, which can be nice, but the surface already looks really old, and again the necklines get twisted because the fabric isn't stable enough to hold its shape. They're serviceable, but that's about it, and if I need to look more polished or professional than my usual "just dragged myself out of bed and into the math department", I wouldn't pick any of them.

The trousers are pretty new and feel like slightly softer cotton twill, so I don't have any complaints so far, but again, the surface is showing some wear after a few washes, and they don't feel like they'll last me as long as regular cotton twill, or even the linen pants I wear every other day in the summer and still look and feel exactly the same as they did three years ago.

TL;DR: I've yet to meet a tencel garment that ages gracefully. If I have to keep replacing tencel clothes every year and they kind of look like like crap after the first month or two, I don't see how that's supposed to be better than sturdy clothes made from organic cotton and linen which will last me decades!

Winding the second warp.