Hi Karin,

Your post was forwarded to me, and I understand why!  Sounds like you're
having a unique problem.

I am with the manufacturer of a weird cleaning product (well, we don't
think it's weird) that might be just the thing you're looking for.  I
will describe how it's normally used, and then I'll describe how it
might help you, so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about and see
if you're interested.
The product is called HOST, and it's normally used as a carpet cleaner
or grout cleaner.  But it's also one of the only kinds of that class of
products that is safe enough to use on natural fiber carpets and
textiles (it's been tested by the WoolSafe organization for efficacy,
pH, color loss, etc.).  It's a little bit on the acid side.  It is not a
liquid product; it is a compound that looks like wet sawdust that is
usually brushed through the carpet or on the textile with a commercial
machine, hand brush, or even fingers, and then extracted.  In your
situation, however, it may be used as a poultice and then vacuumed off
when dry.
We do have distribution in Europe and I can have them send you a sample
if you think you'd like to play with it.  Let me know!

~Debbie

Deborah Lema
Research and Education
Racine Industries, Inc.
www.hostdry.com

Karin von Lerber, Prevart GmbH wrote:

> We are desperately trying to remove blead out dye from over 200 textile
> objects
> which have suffered water damage during the last years flood in
> Switzerland. The textiles have been submerged in dirty, muddy water for
> over three days. The salvage took about one day during which time the
> textiles were kept wet before they were rinsed thoroughly with tap water
> (which looked clean, but considering the circumstances certainly was
> not: canalizations run over, mud, leaking oil tanks everywhere, so
> probably traces of it in the tapwater, too).
> Almost all textiles dated 19th c. and some 18th c. had some dyes
> bleeding; mostly red, some purple, the 18th c. some oliv greens). Even
> though the textiles were kept wet, these blead dyes could not be
> rinsed out.
> The textiles have been air-dryed (those with bleeding colours between
> layers of household paper towels).
>
> Now, a year later, we are beginning to re-rinse those textiles again
> that can make it through an other wetting process, in order to remove
> remaining dirt.
> Together with a student form Cologne, Constanze Zimmer, I am performing
> tests right now.
> If possible, we would like to remove some of the staining from bleeding
> dyes. As far, we think that at least 3 different dyes seem to be
> present: acid dyes, direct dyes and alkaline dyes. Most of the textiles
> are silk, the 19th c. ones contain some cotton. We have gone through
> lots of literature and through the
> whole arsenal of solubility testing during the last few days:
> water
> polar solvents
> wetting agents (nonionic, anionic)
> salts
> complex binders
> buffers (acid and alkaline)
> and even Sodiumdithionite (with a very bad conciousness...)
> all on their own and in combinations.
> The rationale behind was to beginn with water as a carrier and play with
> polarity, pH, complexbinder, salt content and detergents.
>
> So far, the combination of diluted ammonia (pH 8-9) and EDTA works best.
> This meaning that their is a slight hue of red dye on our white
> blotter... but lots of red still remaining in the fabric.
> Ammonia and Triammoniumcitrate works slightly less. EDTA, Triammonium
> citrate and Ammonia also work on their own, but less than in combination.
> Blankit IN (Sodiumdithionite) as a reducing agent had only a very slight
> effect.
>
> Water, Water Ethanol (both with and without detergent) show no effect at
> all, minimally do Sodium sulfite (Glauber's salt) or Sodiumcarbonate
> (Soda).
>
> We are now a bit at a loss. Can someone point us to something we missed?
> To more literature?
> Does somebody have some great tricks up the sleeves?
> We are working on a suction disc, with blotting paper and even with
> poultices. The choice of application so far did not influence the
> solubility results.
>
> Hoping to recieve lots of mails with great  ideas ....
>
>
> Karin von Lerber and Constanze Zimmer
>
>
> --
> Karin von Lerber
> Prevart GmbH
> Oberseenerstr. 93
> CH-8405 Winterthur
> Tel. +41 (0)52-233 12 54
> Fax. +41 (0)52-233 12 57
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> www.prevart.ch
>