Name: Suzie
Message: Dear Paula, I love your site.  Someone gave me some sabracon dyes.  I dye with mx dyes currently, but want to try the gift.  Can I use hot water or must it be heated over a period of time?  My experience is limited using the mx dyes which seem to be destroyed with heat. 

Sabracron dyes, from PRO Chemical & Dye, are the same as Cibacron F dyes. Use them exactly like Procion MX type dyes; you can even use them together with your Procion MX dyes, at the same time, even mixing colors together. They work very well at a warm room temperature, say 80 degrees Fahrenheit or above. You should avoid using hot water, just as with Procion MX dyes; they are slightly less sensitive than the Procion MX dyes, but their reactivity will be used up very quickly at a high temperature. Dissolve them in room temperature water. If you microwave them with soda ash, they will react very quickly; this can work okay for rapid setting, however, for both classes of dyes, if they are first well absorbed into the fiber you wish to dye.

The Cibacron F dyes have some possible advantages over Procion MX type dyes. The different colors are all of the same color strength, which makes color mixing easier. They last longer after being dissolved in water than Procion MX dyes do, as long as they do not get any soda ash in them. One of my very favorite single color dyes is the Sabracron Intense Blue F-GF; it's a lovely glowing royal blue color.

There's more info on my site under Fiber Reactive Dyes; see http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/fiberreactive.shtml .

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