Name: Penny

Region: New England, USA

Message: Hi!  I love the information you have about dyeing - thanks so much for putting it all together!

I'm working at a camp this summer, where we have tie dye every Friday.  We have always wet the t-shirts in a baking soda solution before squirting on the MX dyes, and the shirts always end up faded looking. I notice you recommend against using baking soda at room temperatures, but that soda ash is caustic.  We're looking for a safe option for campers that gives us better colors.  Would baking soda work if the shirts were dried in the sun then put in a hot dryer before rinsing?  Any other suggestions?

Thanks again!

It's not surprising that your colors are poor, if you're substituting sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) for sodium carbonate (soda ash or washing soda). I think you really should switch to soda ash or washing soda. Many thousands of children use soda ash for tie-dyeing safely, with supervision, every year at summer camp.

Soda ash is not too caustic to use safely. Just be sure the kids tie their shirts before soaking them in the soda ash, either that or wear gloves when they tie them. If anyone accidentally gets soda ash on their hands, just have them rinse their hands in a bucket of water or under the hose, or at least wipe the soda ash solution off with a rag or paper towel.

What happens if you leave soda ash pre-soak on your hands is that your skin becomes dry and slightly irritated. It's easy to avoid this by wearing waterproof gloves and by removing the soda ash soon after it gets on the skin. It is important to wear gloves if you are touching soda ash; it's a good rule to follow with most household chemicals, and a good lesson for kids to learn. If anyone does get soda ash irritation, they should, after washing their hands, apply hand lotion in order to moisturize the skin.

Some people soak their shirts in the soda ash before tying them, but it's easier to either tie the shirts while they are still dry, or moisten the shirts with plain water before tying them. (The water helps in making tight ties.) It's okay to drop damp shirts into the soda ash to presoak. Make your soda ash presoak on the strong side, by dissolving one cup of soda ash in one gallon of water, and then you don't have to worry about diluting it with the extra moisture in the shirts.

Drying the shirts will make the baking soda work even worse than it does now. The dye-fiber reaction cannot take place in the absence of moisture. It is important to keep the dyed shirts moist, in the presence of the soda ash, long enough for the dye to react, either by mixing urea with the dyes (it's safe), or by covering the wet dyed fabric with plastic wrap. It's best to leave the shorts damp with the dye overnight, or in your case perhaps over the weekend, before washing them out. Or you can have the kids each pop their wet dyed shirts into an individual plastic bag (ziplocks are good for this) to stay damp, with instructions to keep the shirts in the bags overnight, and then wash the shirts out at home the following day. Tell them to wash them once in cool water, and then twice in very hot water, to remove any excess unattached dye.

I think your results will be much better after you switch to washing soda or soda ash. Please let me know.

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