I used to have grey dye and now it's not available. How do I mix the grey?

Name: Jasmine

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Country or region: United States

Message: I have dyed several items over the years. I used to have grey dye and now it's not available. I have white cotton shower curtains that I want to dye grey---How do I mix the grey? One site said Navy and Black? Do you have any other solutions?? Thank you so much!

It's better to buy a premixed gray dye than to mix your own, unless you are very skilled at color mixing. Most serious dyers purchase their dyes by mail-order, because that's the way to get much higher-quality dyes, in a much wider selection of colors, often for a much more economical price.

You didn't mention what type of dye you are using. Does this mean that you are using All-Purpose dye? This is a very commonly-used type of dye, because, in the United States, it is readily available at all sorts of stores, even grocery stores and pharmacies. Unfortunately, all-purpose dyes are very low in quality, and perform poorly. They contain dyes which bleed badly in the wash, fading quickly and ruining anything else they are washed with. There are other dyes which are easier to use, since they don't require the dye to be cooked with the fiber, and which last for years longer in the fabric,

The best type of dye for dyeing cotton is called fiber reactive dye. You can buy it under several brand names, such as Procion, Dylon, or Tulip. You might be able to find Dylon Permanent Dye or Tulip Permanent Dye at a fabric store, but chances are that they won't have every color you want. Instead, I recommend that you purchase Procion MX dyes by mail-order. You can buy many different colors from a dye supplier such as PRO Chemical & Dye, in Massachusetts, or Dharma Trading Company, in California. They each carry over a hundred different colors of Procion MX dye. See "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World", for links and contact information.

You will also need to buy soda ash or washing soda from either the dye company or your local hardware store (make sure it's sodium carbonate), and a large quantity of plain non-iodized salt from the grocery store, in order to dye your cotton shower curtain in the washing machine, which is the easiest method for obtaining a solid color. See "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?".

If you do want to mix your own gray color, everything depends on what color your original black dye produces when it is diluted. Since all-purpose dye consists of more than one type of dye, including acid dye which simply washes out of cotton, it's impossible to tell what color it will produce until you wash it out after dyeing. Only after you wash out the acid dye will you know what color the direct dye in the mixture leaves behind.

Many people complain that black Rit brand All Purpose Dye produces a purple shade. If your black dye produces a purple, you have to use yellow to correct the color and make it more neutral. However, if the black dye produces a greenish shade, you must instead add red to correct the color cast. If the diluted black is bluish, use orange or brown to correct it, and if the diluted black is brown, use navy blue to correct it. If you add too much of the correcting color, you'll go too far in the wrong direction and have to add more of the original color. The intensity of the color will be determined by the weight of the dye, divided by the weight of the fabric you are dyeing.

Mixing your own gray is a fascinating project for someone who is very interested in color, but for an infrequent dyer who doesn't want to spend days on this project, it would make a lot more sense to try to buy a gray pre-mixed color that is already the color that you want. You will also be surprised, if you switch from all-purpose dye to fiber reactive dye, by how much longer the dye lasts. Once you've washed out any excess unattached dye with hot water, fabric colored with fiber reactive dye can even be laundered with white clothes, even in hot water, without any dye bleeding from one item to another. You can never do that with all-purpose dye.

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Posted: Tuesday - November 30, 2010 at 08:15 AM

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I used to have grey dye and now it's not available. How do I mix the grey?

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