Name: Tiffany

Country: USA

Message: I bought a fabric shower curtain (100% cotton) and I love the design but I wish that it wasn't white.  My friend told me about Salt Dye but I have no idea what he's talking about.  Wondering if it is at all possible to dye it and not ruin the design that is already on it?  

All right, you have two questions, the first being what you can do, and the second being what salt dye is.

If your shower curtain has been treated to make it water-resistant or stain-resistant, you won't be able to change its color at all, as neither dye nor fabric paint can adhere will to fabric that has ever been treated in either of these two ways.

If, on the other hand, a droplet of water sprinkled on your shower curtain material immediately soaks in, you have the choice of using dye or fabric paint.

Unfortunately, you don't describe how the design that is on your shower curtain was applied to it. Any printed pattern will be covered by the dye or paint, as well; it will continue to show through any color you add to it, but it may be significantly changed by the added color. You cannot completely obscure a printed design, but you should not expect it to be unchanged, either. If you have a black line design on a white background, dyeing the whole thing a uniform light blue, for example, will work great, but if you have a multi-colored printed design, the colors in the print will all be altered by whatever color you apply.

You can dye an untreated cotton fabric with the same cool water fiber reactive dyes, known as Procion MX dyes, that are used in good tie-dyeing kits. See "About Fiber Reactive Dye". You can apply this dye in the washing machine, along with large quantities of soda ash and salt, to smoothly change the entire surface of your shower curtain with the same color. See "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?". If you want a subtly multi-colored design, I strongly recommend you try low water immersion (LWI) dyeing, which is the easiest of all forms of dyeing, and which gives beautiful color variegation. See "How to Do Low Water Immersion Dyeing".

A more commonly available dye than Procion MX is the type of dye called all-purpose dye, such as Rit. See "About All Purpose Dyes". All-purpose dye is a hot water dye, best applied in an enormous cooking pot on the stovetop, at a high temperature, just below boiling, for half an hour or longer. It's much less convenient and economical than the cool water dyes such as Procion, especially since you should not plan to reuse a dyeing pot for food; cool water dyes do not require a cooking pot. The all-purpose dye also fades quickly, and bleeds whenever it gets wet, so it is, all around, much less satisfactory than fiber reactive dye. To find fiber reactive dye, go to an art supply, crafts store, or sewing store, and look for Procion MX dye, Dylon Permanent dye, or Tulip dye (either their One Step Fashion Dye or the Tulip Permanent Dye). If your local shops do not carry fiber reactive dye, look at my list of "Sources for Dyeing Supplies", for a good source from which to mail-order your dye.

Now, what is salt dye?

1. The main definition of a salt dye is a stain for biology which is a mixture composed of both an acid (anionic) stain and a basic (cationic) stain. Clearly, that has nothing to do with what you're asking about.

2. The next definition of a salt dye is a dye that is used to color salt. Again, not of interest in your  situation.

3. The next-most-common usage of the phrase "salt dye" appears to be the use of fabric paint with salt. If you stretch a piece of fabric tightly over any sort of frame, and apply whatever colors of fabric paint that you like, then sprinkle on a coarse-grained salt, the salt will osmotically draw the wet paint toward it, resulting in beautiful streaks of lighter color. This is a popular technique in silk painting. After the paint dries, you brush off the excess salt, and heat-set the fabric paint as directed by its manufacturer, so that it is permanent. See "Salt Effects in Fabric Painting". If you want to use salt effects, you can buy fabric paint from your local crafts store (I recommend Dye-Na-Flow or Setacolor), or mail-order it from a dye supplier such as Blick Art Materials or Dharma Trading Company; Dharma will also sell you the fabric paint in larger economy jar sizes. An advantage of fabric paint is that it will work on cotton/poly blends. Dyes intended for use on cotton won't work at all on polyester, resulting in pale shades.

Don't try other sorts of paints that are not labeled as fabric paints. Artists' acrylics and house paints are unsuitable for painting fabric, because they will turn it very stiff and scratchy; they also tend not to stick as well, when the fabric flexes. Thin fabric paints, such as Dye-Na-Flow, Setacolor, or Dharma Pigment Dyes, will act more like dye and will feel much softer than paints that are not intended for use as fabric paint.

4. A fourth possibility, sometimes called salt dyeing, is the use of a salt-shaker for applying powdered dye, mixed with salt to make it easier to handle. You can presoak untreated 100% cotton fabric with soda ash, as usual for tie-dyeing, and then sprinkle on Procion MX dye powder. The problem with this approach is that the powdered dye flies around in the room, and it is a bad idea to breath the powdered dye, since you may develop an allergy. If you want to try this, do it outdoors, not in your house, and wear a well-fitting dust mask and gloves, as well as an apron or lab coat to protect your clothing. Of course, you should use a cheap salt shaker for this purpose, never one that you plan to reuse for food. I purchased some plastic salt-shakers with flip tops that seal them well, which make it handy to save the leftover dye/salt mixture for another project.

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