Name: Rebecca

Message: I have two basic questions - with a couple of small additions!

First, I plan to use IPA (90% from drug store) to prevent sodium alginate clumping and gelation. I will scour the t-shirts, tie when wet, immerse in the urea chemical water for about 30 minutes, then squirt the dye on. I'm assuming the IPA doesn't cause any problems down the line with the dye dissolution or reaction processes - is this true? (I'm worried that my chemical water/dye solution will not well dissolved and am trying to plan ahead.)

You must be using IPA as an abbreviation for Isopropyl Alcohol, not an abbreviation I've seen much. A small amount of alcohol will not interfere with the dye reactions at all. You don't want to try dissolving Procion MX type dye directly in undiluted alcohol, because the dye is less soluble in alcohol of any sort than in water, but that's not something you would be trying. You don't need to use more than a relatively small amount of alcohol, or vegetable oil, to suspend the alginate and remove clumps, before adding it to water to make your alginate solution.

Do not presoak your shirts in the urea chemical water! That will not work at all. In the recipes you have been studying, you soak the shirts in soda ash water! You use the urea chemical water for dissolving your dye. Instead of urea chemical water, I usually just use water with urea added (one tablespoon per cup, or 15 ml per 250 ml), or even just plain water, to dissolve the dye. The only true essentials are dye, water, soda ash, and a natural fiber to dye. Other chemicals such as urea, water softener, and alginate can be helpful, but they are not required the way that soda ash is. I recommend that you look at the entries in my hand dyeing FAQ under 'dye auxiliary chemicals'.

Alginate is completely optional. Some tie-dyers like to use it, others prefer not to. The amount used in the True Tie Dye videos is relatively small.

In order to avoid problems with dissolving dye, first add just a small amount of water (or chemical water with urea etc.) to the dye, and stir it until it forms a smooth paste. Use lukewarm water to dissolve cool water dyes such as Procion MX, as hot water may encourage the dye to hydrolyze (go bad) more quickly than you want. You may add one drop of Synthrapol or hand dishwashing detergent for particularly difficult-to-dissolve colors. The recipe for mixing alginate in alcohol, which is given on Sodium alginate, Superclear, and other dye thickeners page (http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/FAQ/alginate.shtml), calls for adding the alginate in alcohol to the chemical water. You may add the chemical water to your pasted-up dye before adding the alginate, if you prefer. Or, you can skip the alginate altogether, depending on your goals. I almost never use alginate, and prefer not to, since I like the watercolor effect. but many tie-dye artists like alginate or Superclear very much.

Second, how can I estimate how much/concentration of dye solution to prepare for tie-dyeing? I'm using the pure Procion MX-dyes recommended for beginners on your site, 100% cotton t-shirts, and following the first example in the Tie Dye 101 DVD (simple spiral). I know I need to weigh the dry shirts, but I'm not sure what concentration of dye to use to have vivid colors. (I bought a microwave at a garage sale to increase the temperature for the dye reaction since it is cold here now. I plan to heat for just 3 to 5 seconds since this is a 1200 Watt oven).

The instructions in the True Tie Dye videos work well. If you are using them, follow them as closely as you can. I myself do not use their concentrate system. Instead, for intense colors, I just mix my dye directly in water with urea (also add sodium hexametaphosphate if the water is hard) at a concentration of 2 to 4 teaspoons of dye per cup of water. Use four to eight teaspoons of black dye, because black always requires more dye.

You do not need to be precise in your dye amounts for tie-dyeing. Expect to use roughly one ounce of dye, total, per 6 shirts or per 3 yards of fabric. The only time you really need to weigh your shirts is if you are immersion dyeing and trying to get a reproducible color. Tie-dyeing is never entirely reproducible. Keep notes on how much dye you use, so you can decide afterwards whether to use more or less next time. It would make sense to make a note of the total weight of your shirts, as well, in case you are doing small shirts one time and extra-extra-large another.

If you are going to use a microwave oven, because your dyeing studio is too cold (under 70°F) or because you are in a hurry and do not want to wait overnight, you must wrap your dyed items individually in plastic. Let the dye soak into the garments before heating them, for at least fifteen minutes, or up to an hour, as otherwise you might dye only the outermost portion of each fiber in your shirts, resulting in a defect called "ring dyeing", which will result in very rapid wear and loss of color when the garments are worn. After the rest period to allow the dye to soak in, I prefer to seal the plastic bags, after first pressing out excess air. You must watch closely to stop the microwave as soon as the steam from the wet dyed garments begins to inflate the bags. You must not let the bags explode. Even more importantly, you must be sure that your garments are wet and stay wet throughout microwaving, as dry garments will catch on fire when microwaved. The plastic bag keeps the moisture in and allows you to SEE when your items have been heated enough, from the steam. However, I do not think that 3 to 5 seconds will be sufficient. Try it, then touch the outside of the plastic bag. If your dyed items in the bag are not hot, then you've accomplished nothing, and must microwave longer in order to hasten the dye reaction.

You don't have to overthink tie-dyeing. Better to start with a trial run in order to get a feel for it, using a basic recipe. The details will make more sense once you've gotten the basics down. You might want to try it without a thickener such as alginate the first time, then try it with the thickener the second time to decide which you prefer. Add Metaphos or Calgon T (sodium hexametaphosphate) to your mixtures if your water is hard; don't worry about it if your water is soft. Add urea to help keep your fabric moist while it reacts overnight, or else wrap your items in plastic: either one will retain moisture, you don't have to use both urea AND plastic bags. Don't bother using salt at all for tie-dyeing. Do not forget to use soda ash! Dissolve your dye up to one week in advance of dyeing, but don't let it contact the soda ash before you are ready to apply the dye to the fabric.

It would be good if you would join the Dye Forum to discuss your experiences with tie-dyeing. Being able to discuss your work adds a lot.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)