What kind of dyes do you recommend for dyeing pulp?

Name: Kim

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Country or region: US

Message: What kind of dyes do you recommend for dyeing pulp? We are currently using Rit Dye, but is very expensive.

If Rit dye is working for you, but costs too much, then there's a ready solution. You can buy the same dye for plant fibers that's included in the Rit dye mixtures, for a lower cost than any other type of dye. The tiny packages or bottles of Rit dye are extremely expensive, simply because they contain mostly salt and detergent, but very little dye. If you buy direct dye in bulk, you can save much more than half of the money that' you've been spending on Rit dye.

Rit dye is a type of dye called an all-purpose or union dye (see "About All Purpose Dyes"), composed of two types of dye mixed together: a dye called direct dye that works on cotton and on other plant fibers such as paper pulp, and a dye called acid dye that works on animal fibers such as wool. Direct dye (see "About Direct Dyes") is the type of dye that is traditionally used for dyeing paper pulp. It is the least expensive of the types of dyes available. It's ironic that the form in which most people meet it, Rit dye, is one of the most expensive of all dyes, per pound of material dyed. You might be interested in seeing a chart I made, "Comparison of dye costs", which you can see in the Dye Forum community of dyers.

A good recipe for dyeing paper pulp with direct dyes can be found at the website of PRO Chemical and Dye. See their "Coloring Paper Pulp using Diazol Direct Dyes". Unfortunately, PRO Chemical & Dye no longer sells direct dyes, but there are other sources. (See my page listing "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".) Look at this page to see whether you can still buy Diazol Direct dyes at clearance prices from ProChem: "Clearance Diazol Direct Dyes!" It looks as though they still have quite a few colors.

Note that the packaged direct dyes are highly concentrated. Their package sizes are 8 ounces or one pound of direct dye. You need only 5 grams (one teaspoon) of direct dye powder to color one pound of paper pulp to a medium shade (less for paler shades, more for very intense or dark colors). One pound of Diazol direct dye, or any other industrial-strength direct dye, will color 90 pounds of paper pulp. One box of Rit dye contains no more than about 5 grams of direct dye powder! One bottle of Rit liquid dye is equivalent to only twice this.

The most economical source of direct dyes may be Dharma Trading Company, whose line of "Industrial dyes" is direct dye. You can buy one pound of direct dye powder for $6.89 (plus shipping), that will contain the equivalent of at least 90 boxes of Rit Dye, which would cost you closer to $200 to buy.

Another good mail-order source of dyes, in the US, is Aljo Mfg., in New York. They sell direct dyes similar to the Diazol dyes formerly sold by ProChem. Their line of direct dyes is called Aljo® Cotton & Rayon Dyes. You can see their dye selection on their website, but to order you must call them on the phone.

There are other brands of direct dye on the craft market, under the names iDye, Deka L, and Cushing Direct, but their prices are closer to those for Rit dye than to the other sources I've already listed. On the other hand, if you are willing to buy very large quantities of dyes, ten pounds or more of each color, then you can find even better prices per pound by buying in bulk from an industrial supplier such as Standard Dyes, Keystone Aniline, or Dystar.

When you buy your direct dye, you will probably also want to buy the cationic dye fixative, Retayne, or another brand of this sort of product, to fix the direct dye in place. Dharma and ProChem sell this; most dye suppliers do. See my page, "Commercial Dye Fixatives", for more information about this dye fixative.

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Posted: Thursday - February 03, 2011 at 07:15 AM

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What kind of dyes do you recommend for dyeing pulp?

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