No! Don't do it!

pH-Up and similar brands are 98% pure sodium carbonate. It is chlorine-free. Your Aqua-chem is a home chlorination system. It is very useful for killing microbes, and might possibly bleach fabric, but it will NOT substitute for soda ash in tie-dyeing.

Also, if you are going to be squirting your dye onto your tied clothing with plastic bottles, please do NOT use all-purpose dye, such as Rit. I get a lot of sad emails from people who made that mistake. You can use all-purpose dye only in very hot dyebaths. It's no good for direct dye application. The dye to use, instead, is fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dyes. See my Sources for Supplies page, which lists many different companies which sell this type of dye.

Name: Christine Kilpatrick
Message: From your website..."we once made a fine homebrewed ale-mead flavored and colored with prickly pear fruit gathered from the wild..."

Could you please tell me how you made this brew? Sounds great!

I didn't even remember writing that, and had to check Google to find the page, "Hand drawing with fabric markers: Wildflowers of Texas". Yes, as it happens, we keep good records of all of the brewing we do. It turns out that this was not actually an ale-mead, because it contained no malt; instead, it's more properly known as a melomel. Here is the recipe we followed, over sixteen years ago:

Prickly Pear Mead
(ingredients cost $10 for 2 gallons)
10/10/1988

3 lb ripe prickly pear fruit
7 lb local clover honey
1/4 tsp irish moss
1 pkg Red Star sherry yeast

Singed, sliced prickly pears.
Boiled two hours, removed fruit, strained juice.
Heated honey to 170 degrees F., maintained for 30 minutes.

Notes:
Specific gravity was 100 at 90 degrees F. directly after brewing (equals 112);total volume of 2.5 gallons - too much water.
10/16/88: Racked; SG 70 @77 degrees F (equals 72); looks like pink lemonade
10/30/88: Chilled overnight and racked. SG 30 @40 degrees F. (equals 29); clearing
11/24/88: Bottled. SG 30 @68 degrees F. (equals 31 (?)); added 2 cups water SG 20 (equals 22)
[At bottling time, the yeast had stopped growing due to the alcohol concentration; adding plain boiled water at the end, without added glucose, allowed the yeast to produce carbonation.]
total 23 bottles.

If you're not already a brewer, you'll want to consult a good book on homebrewing before the above recipe can make sense. The sherry yeast contributed a very different flavor than ale yeast or champagne yeast could.

We probably based this on a recipe in Charlie Papazian's book on home brewing, but I can't find our old copy to check.

Name: sam
Message: Your website is lovely, I didn't know there were other dyes besides RIT...

Would you happen to know what kind of dye is leaves the most repellant stains on plastic? I want to stain plastic, and I'm worried that RIT will fade in the sun, or if water touches it.

A great deal depends on exactly which plastic you have there. The most useful guide is the recycling logo on the bottom, if there is one.

Products marked with the recycle logo containing a number 5 are polypropylene. You cannot dye polypropylene; colored polypropylene was dyed at the factory while it was still in liquid form. A better solution for this type of plastic might be a special paint for plastics, such as Kolorbond (see Parasol, Inc.). I have not used this product, but the manufacturer's claims are encouraging.

Products marked with the recycle logo containing a number 3 are PVC (polyvinyl chloride, or vinyl). PVC can be dyed by dye sublimation, or heat transfer, like polyester. I do not know if it can also be dyed by boiling it with disperse dye plus a carrier chemical, as polyester can. The manufacturer of Kolorbond paint recommends it for PVC as well. Hard plastic PVCs can be painted with a variety of different paints; Better Signs lists a number of them.

Plastics marked with the recycle logo containing a number 2 are HDPE (high density polyethylene), plastics marked with the recycle logo containing a number 4 are LDPE (low density polyethylene), and plastics marked with the recycle logo containing a number 1 are PETE (polyethylene terephthalate - e.g., Dacron, Fortrel, Mylar). These should all dye the same as polyester: see "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes". It requires either heat transfer, such as by ironing on), or extensive boiling with a noxious carrier chemical.

Nylon plastics are not marked with a recycle logo. Flying discs, such as Frisbees, and harder plastrics, such as lacrosse sticks, are frequently made of nylon. Nylon is much more easily dyed than any of the above plastics, because its chemical structure resembles that of wool. It can be dyed by simmering it in acid dyes. All-purpose dyes, such as Rit, actually contain acid dyes, mixed with another kind of dye called direct dye, so it is possible to use all-purpose dye on nylon. It is not sufficient to paint the dye on cold; the dye must be applied by soaking the nylon in HOT water with the dye. The dye should be washfast to cool water, but it's impossible to predict, without testing, how well a given dye will resist the sun. A number of different acid dyes are listed on my page about the lightfastness of dyes; the 1:2 premetalized dyes (including perhaps the Lanaset dyes) seem to be among the best.

Acrylic plastics, such as plexiglass, can be dyed only with disperse dyes (like polyester) or with a more hazardous type of dye called Basic dye (see "How to Dye Acrylic with Basic Dye"). I do not recommend that you bring Basic dye into your home. It does not belong in your kitchen or living areas, and its lightfastness may be poor. However, it is noted for being very good at staining any plastics or other surfaces it inadvertently comes into contact with. I have read about people using all-purpose dye to stain Lucite, but even with extended heat and time, the results seemed to me to be far from adequate.

All in all, unless your plastic is nylon, I think you might do best to look into a special plastics paint such as Kolorbond. The fact that it is claimed to resist ultraviolet light for two to five years is a major plus. Note that the apparently high prices at the Parasol Inc. website where I found it are in Canadian dollars, and thus not quite as bad as they might be.

Your site is a wonderful source of information. My question: Is it possible to do a batik-like method on terrycloth? I wanted to do custom beach towels for my sons. Because of the texture, I wasn't sure if there was a resist that would work. I'd prefer to do a pattern, rather than dip the entire towel (painting on dye, if possible). Any information would be appreciated.

I had an awful time once with batiking some heavy flannel. The wax didn't want to penetrate the fabric. The wax needs to be hotter to penetrate a heavy fabric than a light one.

What I'd rather do, in patterning 100% cotton terry cloth, would be to cut out large masks or stencils from cardboard or posterboard. Mix up good fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye, and place it into pump spray bottles. Do not use all-purpose dye, such as Rit! Pre-soak the fabric in soda ash, as in the tie dye recipe, then wring it out and spread it out.

(Alternatively, you can soak the towels in the soda ash solution and line-dry them before spraying on the dye, or you can mix the soda ash in with the dye in the squirt bottles if you work quickly and complete the project within an hour or two of adding the soda ash to the dye.)

Arrange the cut-outs on the towels - or pin them on, if you want to hang the towels on a clothes line to spray them - then spray the dye on. Be careful not to breath the dye spray; use a dust mask or respirator. Do spray dyeing outside, if possible.

As long as you are painting the dye on, almost any water-soluble resist should work, such as PROchem's Cold Wax Resist. These will not work with the soda ash presoak, however, because they just wash off in the soda ash solution; use them only on dried soda-ash soaked material, or else by mixing the soda ash with the dye itself.

Here's a link to a page showing a shirt I dyed in 1997 by spraying green and black Procion MX dyes. My husband still wears it. High quality fiber reactive dye lasts through years of launderings.

Name: rod

Message: can you tell me about dying blends like polyester/cotton? thank you

There is no single dye that will dye both the polyester and the cotton at the same time. Sorry.

Most people find it best to dye only the cotton, because that is easy, and accept that the polyester will not dye. Often the result is a heathered effect, or a pastel if the fibers are mixed closely. Cotton is easy and fun to dye with cool water fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dyes (the latter link is to this type of dye at Tied-dyed.com); you can dye it a single color in the washing machine, or dye it multiple colors with low water immersion dyeing, or tie-dye it.

Dyeing polyester is quite a pain, and expensive, too, since you must buy a large non-aluminum cooking pot to do the dyeing in, and never again use that pot for food afterwards. See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes".

PRO Chemical & Dye gives instructions for making a mixed dye paint that will dye both the polyester and the cotton in a cotton/poly blend at the same time: see the page "Direct Application on Polyester using PROsperse Disperse Dyes". Jacquard is now [as of 2008] selling a polyester dye called "iDye Poly", along with an all-purpose dye called "iDye", which they say can be mixed together to dye cotton and polyester blends at the same time, in a cooking pot on the stovetop. Unfortunately, you cannot dye polyester in the washing machine, because the water does not get hot enough.

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

[Updated June 8, 2008.]

Name: Donna Mager
Message: If a clothing item is accidentally bleached with Clorox, is there any way to 'unbleach' it? I understand you have a product that is called something like Mistake that does this, but I have been unable to find it.

I can't imagine what product you are talking about; I do not sell such a thing, and, to be honest, it is chemically impossible. Once chlorine bleach has destroyed dye molecules, they cannot be reassembled. The way that Clorox works is by actually destroying organic molecules, such as dye (and in some cases the fiber itself). The only product that is likely to appear to undo its effects would be a fabric marker in the correct color.

Please read the FAQs on my web site, including the very common one of "Help! I ruined clothing by spattering bleach. How can I fix it?".

Is Dharma Pigment Dye really as good for tie-dyeing as Procion MX dye?

No fabric paint can be as good as high quality dye, but it can still be quite good in itself. As Dharma Trading Company says, "It gives results completely different from the usual tie-dye." Whether this is good or bad depends on what your aims are.

Dharma Pigment Dye is actually not a dye at all. It is a fabric paint, which means that it is a combination of a pigment that has no affinity for the fabric, with a gluelike binder to stick it on. It has failed to attract the same degree of enthusiasm among serious dyers that fiber reactive dyes have - people who have used good fiber reactive dye on cotton tend to be fanatical about how wonderful it is, compared to other forms of dyeing! - but it has its uses. As a general rule, the people who like pigment 'dyes' best are those who have not yet used high quality fiber reactive dye.

There is certainly a place for pigment 'dyeing', particularly if you are dyeing/painting tapestries, which do not need to feel as nice or last through as many washings as tie-dyed clothing, or if you prefer an aged look, or if you are coloring synthetics. Michael Fowler, in his wonderful 'Art of Tie Dye' DVD, makes extensive use of acrylic fabric paints, such as Liquitex, for 'tie-dyeing' mandala tapestries. He sticks to Procion MX type dyes for cotton clothing, however, due to their superiority for that purpose.

The advantages of fabric paints, such as Dharma Pigment 'Dye', include the fact that they are pre-mixed, and, unlike Procion MX type fiber reactive dye, will not go bad quickly in water. They can also be used on a wider range of fibers, since there is no need for a special affinity between the coloring and the fiber, as there is with dye. They are much more convenient to use than the dyes that can work on polyester, which are much more difficult to use than the cool water dyes that can be used on cotton and other plant fibers. (Another often-cited advantage is the claim that fabric paints are non-toxic, but there is rarely any documentation presented to support this claim; it is best to assume that any art material is toxic unless MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) information or the ACMI non toxic seal makes it clear that it is not.)

The disadvantages of all fabric paints include a small but perceptible change in the softness of the fabric, and a tendency to color only the very surface of the fiber, which then wears off more quickly than good dye, since dye penetrates throughout the fiber. If you look in clothing catalogs, you will note that the garments advertised as being 'pigment dyed' are also described as looking old and broken-in very quickly. Dharma says, with their Pigment Dye system, 'On cotton and rayon, especially if you don't heat-set, you get a cool distressed or "stonewashed" look after washing, which is a soft faded look.' This is great if it's what you want, but is very different from the brilliant look tie-dyers generally desire. Some dyers complain about the limited color possibilities of the Pigment Dye system, as opposed to fiber reactive dye which will allow you to mix ANY color, bright or subtle.

Whether the pigment 'dyes' are truly easier to use than Procion MX dyes is certainly debatable, and a matter of opinion. Garments that are dyed with Procion MX dyes do not require heat-setting! Another potential issue is the cleanup problem: the glue in the paint is said to cause it to stain everything badly, including your bottles, eyedroppers, plastic buckets and tables, sidewalks - anything that you get it on - so be sure to wash it off of surfaces before it dries. MX dye will permanently stain fabric and grout, but rinses off easily from plastic, metal, or glass objects.

In conclusion, it might be fun to try a pigment 'dye' system in addition to dyeing other items with high-quality dye, to see what it's like or to get different effects, but it would be a great shame to skip the good dye altogether, and only try the pigments.

Name: Karen
Message: Hi! I am a batik artist. I use synthropol, procion dyes, cool water, table salt or glauber's, soda ash PHup and on occasion, urea. I find that my colors are rather dull, especially after overdyeing. What would you suggest to maintain really bright colors? I prefer to work with intense yellows, bright blues, turquoise, etc. I also do a lot of black and white. Sometimes my black is dull as well. Please, if you have an opportunity, give me some advise on maintaining bright color when batiking, tye-dyeing, etc. Thank you very much!!

Do you use water softener? Have you ever tried it? Hard water is a common cause of dull colors. The best stuff is sold especially for dyers, e.g. sodium hexametaphosphate (the link leads to this product at Fiber-arts.com). Use it when prewashing your fabric, when mixing your dyes, and when washing out afterwards.

Another possible cause of dull colors is backstaining, though this should not result in dull blacks. It will certainly dull down bright colors, if you are using direct application with different colors on different parts of the fabric, though obviously this is not an issue if you are immersion dyeing your entire piece of fabric in solid color dye baths. When backstaining is an issue, giving your dyes plenty of time to react, more than they need to attach to the fiber, so that all excess dye gets enough time to react with the water, can reduce this considerably.

Black requires a huge amount of dye, twice as much as another dark color. For mixing dyes for direct dye application, using MX dyes, PRO Chemical & Dye recommends 8 teaspoons or 20 grams of black per 250 ml cup; for dark 4 teaspoons or 10 mg of dye; for medium shades, 2 teaspoons or 5 grams per cup; and for pale shades, 1/2 teaspoon or 1 gram of dye.

Yet another cause of dull or pale colors is low reaction temperature. "Cold water" fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX, prefer to react with the fiber at temperatures above 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 C.). I like to make sure my 'batching' temperatures are above 78 degrees F., personally. Typically the MX turquoise, and all mixtures made containing it, will be noticeably paler than desired, when reaction temperatures are low.

Heat can damage your dyes, even in powdered form; dye that has been left in a hot car will lose most of its reactivity, and must be replaced. Dye solutions should be used within just a few days of their being made. They will last longer if refrigerated, but be sure to let them return to room temperature before use.

Colors will appear brighter when there is a contrast on your work between brights and darks, but I don't think the effect of this is great enough to explain your complaint.

Color choice is particularly important in overdyeing. If you want bright colors, do not layer a fire engine red onto a royal blue to make purple, or a golden yellow onto a royal blue to make green; instead, use colors as close as possible to the printer's primaries of cyan, magenta, and yellow. A purple made with layers of magenta and cyan will be vastly brighter (though perhaps less rich) than one made with royal blue and bright red. So will a green made with cyan and pure yellow, as compared to one made with royal blue or golden yellow. Procion turquoise MX-G makes a good cyan, while either Procion red MX-5B or Procion red MX-8B will make a good magenta. Use Procion yellow MX-8G as your mixing yellow. For the brightest colors, use only two of the primaries in one region of the picture; any region on your work which is dyed with all three primary colors will be less bright in color.

Finally, fabric choice can matter, as well. Be sure to properly pre-scour your fabric before dyeing using hot water, Synthrapol, and soda ash. (This is entirely separate from the soda ash used to fix the dyes.) Look for a source for PFD fabric ("prepared for dyeing"). Mercerized cotton and rayon both produce much more intense colors than unmercerized cotton. Very thin silks will not accept nearly as many dye layers as thicker weaves of the same fiber.

Name: Kelly
Message: I have old Sailboat Cushions that are a sad brown weave (light brown with dark threads)that I want to turn dark blue. The fabric is rough to the touch but in good shape.I don't know how to tell if it is polyester and have to assume a heavy cotton portion (sorry no lables ha ha) I can take off the covers, which are nicely done. My question is in how would I go about making them a darker blue. Your forum is for the artistic and very nicely done, but how about my simple goal of turning large covers from tan to blue. Any suggestions. I thank you in advance.

Not knowing what fiber the cushions' covers are made from is a major problem. It is probably unlikely that your sailboat cushions are made of a dyeable material, such as nylon, wool, cotton, or linen. They may be made of polypropylene (such as Olefin or Herculon), which is impossible to dye under any circumstances once it has left the factory, or of acrylic (such as Sunbrella), which can be dyed with basic dyes, but they are not suitable for home use, or they may be dyed with polyester, which can be dyed only by boiling them for an hour with disperse dye. (See "How to Dye Acrylic with Basic Dye" and "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes".)

Since you can take the covers off, perhaps you could snip off a bit of the fiber from an inside seam allowance to very carefully try a burn test. You can find instructions on how to do this at Fabrics.net.

If the fabric is not an easily dyeable fiber, you could just make covers for the cushions, either using a fabric that is truly dyeable (hemp or cotton canvas would be suitable), or using a fabric which is already the color you want. If you don't care to sew, you should be able to locate a seamstress or tailor who can do the work for you, or an upholstery shop.

If the cushions do turn out to be made of a cellulose fiber such as cotton, linen, hemp, or ramie, you can dye them in cool water with fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dyes. The light brown could be dyed to a brownish blue, and the dark brown threads to a darker brown. Dye is transparent and will not cover up the existing color pattern, but it will change it, if you can choose a suitable type of dye for the fiber.

Name: stacy
Message: i am wondering what would be best to die a silk tricotine dress that is ivory to aqua

Is tricotine the weave, and is the dress truly made of silk? If so, the silk can be dyed with a type of dye called acid dye. One of several good mail-order sources for acid dyes is Tie-dyed.com; instructions for using it the washing machine can be found at Jacquard's web site. For a list of additonal companies that sell dyes, see my page of "Sources for Dyeing Supplies".

Don't do this if the dress is not washable, though. Unlined silk dresses are often washable, but lined ones practically never are. If the dress is labeled "Dry Clean Only", then it is probably not washable.

Name: Ahren
Message: Hi, I like your web page. I'm trying to make an "alien" with tie-dye. Can you recommend any web pages that talk about how to do that?

No, I have not seen this on any web site. However, an 'alien' face is just like any other symmetrical shape. Fold your shirt vertically and draw the outline of one side of your alien's face with a pencil or a truly washable marker. Draw on the eyes and mouth as well. Tie the little eye and mouth regions before tying the outline of the face and neck. Then, starting at the bottom, pleat following your line, carefully turning the direction of your gathers as your line curves. When you have finished gathering along this line, taking great care to keep the pleated fabric flat like an accordian, not with some regions bunched up over other regions, tie it off with synthetic sinew or whatever string you like to use. Carefully apply dye along the ties, and use different colors on one side of the tie than the other. Consider whether you wish to apply the same color to the front and back of your design, for solid colors, or apply a different color to the front than the back in order to get little interwoven stripes.

If you need more detailed instruction than this, I'd suggest you look at True Tie Dye's video series. Their 'Tie Dye 202' DVD, part of their 'Advanced Tie Dye Techniques' set, shows exactly how to create an 'alien' face design on one side of a shirt, and a space ship on the other side. Note, however, that the DVD is in NTSC format DVD, standard for North America; your equipment in Ireland may not display it. You undoubtedly know more about that issue than I do. True Tie Dye does accept international orders, and their web site includes this message: 'If you want to be notified as soon our "How To" videos are available in your language and in native PAL and SECAM formats on DVD and VHS, please contact us.'

Name: fasika mengesha
Message: please try to tell me briefley about,fault in reactive dyeing due to dye hydrolysis and the improvement to be taken. please i need this information in brief.

I suspect that you are involved with the textile industry; I am not, and cannot claim to be any sort of expert on industrial techniques. My perspective is that of the individual artist who works with dye. If you need this information for a textiles class, my answer may not be sufficient.

Fiber reactive dye can react with a cellulosate anion, or with a hydroxide ion. When the latter occurs, the fiber reactive dye can no longer react with the fiber. It can still be used as an acid dye on wool, silk, or nylon, but it cannot be used as a reactive dye.

Fiber reactive dye can also react with the moisture in the air, which is why it goes bad with time even when unused. In solution, fiber reactive dyes such as the dichlorotriazines last longest in a neutral solution, and break down more quickly in an acid or alkaline environment. Bicarbonate may be used in the print paste, instead of carbonate, for a less basic pH which will slow the reaction of the dye, allowing it to last hours longer before hydrolysis. If the fabric is then heat-treated, bicarbonate is converted to carbonate, which increases the pH further for rapid reaction, if moisture is still present; urea is frequently added to maintain moisture.

For the reaction between a specific dichlorotriazine dye with cellulose, see the May 19, 2005 entry in my Dyes & Dyeing weblog, "Chemical reaction for a dichlorotriazine dye with cellulose". Simply substitute a hydroxide anion for the cellulosate anion to obtain the reaction for the hydrolysis of this dye.

Name: Catherine
Message: I am a chemistry student doing a project on the chemistry of tie-dying. I understand parts of the reaction, like how the cellulose loses hydrogen atoms and the dye molecules lose the chlorine atoms because of your website. But I am not sure how to formalize it into a chemical equation. Could you possibly give me the equation, using one of the dyes, like the blue MX-R or red MX-8B found on your webpage? If you have time, I would really appreciate it. Thank you,

This is from Chapter 4 in the book Cellulosics Dyeing. The book was edited by John Shore, and the chapter was written by him; see my page of 'Books and Videos on Hand Dyeing and Fabric Painting'....

"[Reactive dyes] based on nitrogen-containing heterocyclic rings bearing halogeno substituents undergo nucleophilic substitution. The heteroatoms in the aryl ring activate the system for nucleophilic attack because of their electronegativity. The attacking neutrophile can be either a cellulosate anion or a hydroxide ion, the former leading to fixation on the fibre and the latter resulting in hydrolysis of the reactive dye."

I drew the following illustration of the reaction of reactive red 2 (Procion MX red-5B) with a cellulosate anion, based on an illustration of a generic dichlorotriazine reaction in Cellulosics Dyeing:

Name: RUDY
Message: hello, my name is rudy i live in canada i'm searching for a canadian company or your self carry the art tie-dye dvd from mike fowler.

I don't know of a Canadian source that carries it yet.

You could try calling and asking the Canadian suppliers listed among North American suppliers on my Sources for Dyeing Supplies page, to ask if they carry it yet. It is not yet on the websites for G&S Dye in Toronto, or Maiwa Handprints in Vancouver, but it is new, and they might have it. If not, your calling might convince them to carry it.

If not, you can still purchase it right away. PRO Chemical & Dye sells the video (see their New Products page), and ships internationally. So does Amazon.

Name: Jon Davis
Message: I've been reading your web site with great interest; however, there is one question I have that I haven't seen addressed on your web site (I apologize if it is there and I missed it).

My question: After dyeing, what is the best way to dispose of the left over dyeing solution (after removing the fabric)?

I would like to try your Low Water Immersion technique on muslin to create photographic backdrops. Given the large size of the fabric (9' x 12'), I plan to do this outside. When I'm done, can I just dump the leftover dyeing solution water on the ground? Will it have an adverse effect on plants (other than coloring them)? Is there something that can be done to neutralize it before disposing of it?

Fiber reactive dyes themselves probably won't hurt the plants, but the soda ash probably will. In my experience, the dyes lose their color on the ground within just a few days, probably broken down by soil bacteria.

There are two problems with the soda ash: the high pH, and the sodium content. The high pH can be easily neutralized with vinegar or citric acid (use pH paper to test to find out when you've reach a neutral pH of around 7). Small amounts of dye solutions do not need to be neutralized before disposal, as simply washing them down the drain with plenty of extra water will serve to lower the pH adequately, but large amounts should be neutralized first.

However, plants can be quite sensitive to the salt, even after the solutions are neutralized. This is something that you will also notice if you use salt on your sidewalks to melt ice in the winter (urea is a more expensive de-icer, but better for the plants). You can actually use salt water to kill weeds, though it also kills desirable plants, so you don't want this anywhere where you want anything to grow, ever again. It is best to dispose of your neutralized solutions into the sewer or a septic system, so that the salt will be diluted into harmlessness.

A little bit of soda ash will probably do no harm if watered in well, unless you have particularly salt-sensitive plants. I have not noticed grass dying under my mesh dyeing tables outside, though we do move them around quite a bit. A small amount of soda ash, mixed with dye, drips down while I dye.

Another alternative for you might be to dye your backdrop indoors in the bathtub (the dye can easily be scrubbed out of a porcelain enamel tub, though it must be kept off tile as it can stain grout). This would enable you to avoid carrying a large (and heavy!) amount of water to an appropriate drain.

Would it be so bad to use my silk dyes on wool and cotton? I know in the long run its probably more expensive to use silk dyes on wool, but this is just for a few skeins.

Exactly what brand of silk dyes are they? The answer to your question will vary dramatically by type.

Most silk dyes are acid dyes, most of which will not work on cotton at all (that is, they will not produce a washfast result), regardless of technique, but will work fine on wool. In contrast, Procion H will work fine on cotton, with steaming (it is much less reactive than Procion MX, so needs the greater heat to react with the fiber). Remazol (or vinyl sulfone) dyes, such as Jacquard Red Label Silk Colors and PRO Chemical & Dye's Liquid Reactive Dyes, are said to work on cotton at room temperatures, again using a high pH, but I haven't yet tried this myself, and they will probably work better at 140 degrees F. (60 C); they will certainly work on wool, however, and as true reactive dyes, too, at hot, mildly acid conditions. (Do not subject wool to a high pH.) On cotton and silk, the Remazol dyes make the best dischargeable blacks.

However, Aljo's Alcohol/Water dyes, which are used for silk painting, are Basic dyes (which means they hold a positive charge, unlike other dyes), and will not work at all on cotton unless it is mordanted. Oddly, you can accomplish this mordanting by dyeing the cotton first with direct dye (I don't know if this is true of all direct dyes), as well as by the traditional mordanting techniques used with natural dyes.

I also have some wood and reed dye in my stash and am thinking those might work well, too.

Jacquard Wood and Reed Dye appears to be Basic dye, like Aljo's Alcohol/Water dye. I find the toxicity of some of the dyes in this class to be sufficiently alarming that I advise against using Basic dye in a kitchen; I think it should be used only in an art studio or laboratory in which no eating is ever allowed, in addition to the usual precautions, respirators, fume hoods, etc. It is very possible that some members of this dye class are actually much safer than the ones with which I am familiar, but I have no information yet indicating that this is so. For reasons why I find these dyes so alarming, see my doctoral thesis....

Name: Guy
Message: Can you recommend a place to have a nylon jacket I own dyed. I live in Eastchester, which is a suburb or NYC, can you help me out. Thanks

You can look for a dyer on my Custom Dyers' Listing. Some companies which will dye garments a solid color include True Color Fabric Dyeing, Dye Pro Services Inc., and Color Creek.

Contact the company first to work out the details, then mail them your jacket, and they will dye it and mail it back to you.

Name: Diane
Message: Hello,
Thank you for your informative website. I have learned so much and was very impressed with your designs. I loved the violet & blue mandala. However, you said that you would have dyed the shirt first instead of after dying the mandala. Would you have retained a white section or overdyed it? How did you keep the mandala from taking up the violet & blue dye? Anyway, I was just curious if you have a second. That is a beautiful shirt!!!

Thanks!

The reason why I've decided to do my backgrounds first is that it is difficult to get the background to go all the way up to the edge of the detailed hand-work section, without running over and obscuring part at the edge. When I am finished, I usually do not want any white between my central image and the background. This is easier to manage by doing the precision hand-work last.

I prefer to retain an undyed white central section. I like to use a full range of colors in the mandala design, and this is possible only when dying on a white background.

I've done this for other projects, such as ironing a picture on the center of a shirt dyed by LWI, by tying off the center circle, and placing the rest of the shirt, all but the center, in a small bucket, into which I then poured various colors of dye, and soda ash. If you tie-dye via the soda ash presoak method, tying off a circle in the front of the garment, and then squirting dye only on the rest of the shirt, you could allow the shirt to dry, unfold it, and then apply small amounts of dye directly to the central circle. The soda ash would remain in the undyed region to fix the dye when you apply it. Or, you can wash the shirt out as usual, then either soak it in soda ash as usual and let it dry before adding the tiny drops of dye for the detail work, or mix the soda ash in with your dye. (The disadvantage of the latter method is that the dye will 'go bad' and become ineffective for further dyeing, an hour or two after the soda ash is mixed with it.)

Instead of leaving the entire central region white, you can also tightly tie the center, repeatedly, and tie-dye it all; the tight ties will leave white areas within which contrasting colors can later be placed.

Message: Hi! Your site is very informative, keep it up! I've been looking for a certain gold color for my football team's jersey but most stores don't have them. We can have it especially dyed but the minimum order is too much. So i just decided that i'll just dye the fabrics myself to save time and money. Since this is my first time to dye, I just would like to ask how i could achieve the same gold color on nylon and rayon fabrics for my football team's jersey. In your site, I read that dyes react differently on certain fabrics. Since both fabrics will be used for a jersey, their color should be the same. Which kind of dye should i use on both fabrics and could i dye them together or separately? Hope to hear from you soon!

I will assume that your rayon is viscose rayon, a cellulose-based fiber which dyes just like cotton. This is the fabric we usually call rayon in the US. (There is a different sort called rayon acetate, or just acetate, which is not dyeable at home; it is a shiny synthetic material often used in linings.)

The kind of dye that is best to use on cotton or rayon is fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX type dye. Other dyes are not very permanent to washing.

Mixed dye colors will come out differently on nylon than on rayon, but the pure colors of Procion MX type dyes will come out the same on the two fibers. If one of the pure colors that this dye comes in is the right color for you, you will be all set. You must use a completely different recipe to dye nylon with Procion MX type dye! We use soda ash to fix MX dye on cotton and rayon, but we use vinegar to fix dye on nylon or wool. You cannot use the vinegar method on cotton, and you cannot use the soda ash method on cotton or rayon.

Look at a good mail-order dye supplier such as Tie-dyed.com (or see my "Sources for Dyeing Supplies" page for other dye supply companies) to see if any of these pure unmixed single-color dyes is the color you want:
Sun Yellow (Procion yellow MX-8G)
Lemon Yellow (Procion yellow MX-4G)
Tangerine Yellow (Procion yellow MX-GR)
Golden Yellow (Procion yellow MX-3RA)
Strong Orange (Procion orange MX-2R)

I'll stop here for now. If you want more information on how to do this, write back and tell me whether your rayon is dyeable viscose rayon or undyeable acetate rayon, and whether any of these pure unmixed yellows looks like what you need.

Name: Marsha
Message: I want to dye a Purple Satin Comfortor to a rose color. Is this possible?

I don't know. You'll have to tell me what fiber the comforter is made of, before I can advise you. Satin is a smooth weave of cloth which can be woven from cotton, silk, nylon, rayon acetate, polyester, and other fibers. The different fibers are extremely different in their dyeing properties.

Here is the description from Specialty Linens, which is where I purchased it from: "Purple Highest quality satin, very smooth, slick and silky. 100% Acetate Nylon Bridal satin self reversible comforters are very tightly woven, luxurious, durable, silky satin which gives it the highest quality available."

The answer, then, is no. You will not be able to dye acetate. What you can do is buy a comforter cover, or duvet cover, that is made of 100% cotton, 100% rayon, or 100% silk. Those fibers can be dyed, if they are washable. If an item is not washable, though, it cannot be dyed.

Another problem is that you cannot dye purple to make it pink. Purple is a darker color, and rose is a lighter color. Dye can be used to make dyeable fabrics darker, not lighter. Also, lavender is a secondary color, while rose is a primary color, so, although pale lavender would be no darker than rose, and rose can be made into lavender by adding blue dye, you cannot use dye to subtract the blue from lavender to make rose. Unfortunately, the products that can lighten the color of fabric, such as chlorine bleach, will only damage synthetic fabrics.

Here's a link to a possible source for 100% dyeable duvet covers.

Name: keisha
Message: what is the best way (if it can even be done) to dye sun bleached fabric? i want to dye (black -they are now grey) outdoor cushions that discolored in the sun.

It depends entirely on what fiber the fabric is made of. Different types of fabric take entirely different types of dyes.

Sunbrella is a brand name for a type of acrylic fiber which resist fading because the dye is added to the liquid the fiber is made from, before it is ever turned into thread; it is popular for use for the covers of outdoor cushions. You cannot do this sort of dyeing at home. Aftermarket dyeing of acrylic fabric (or yarn) is not appropriate for doing at home, either: see "Dyeing Acrylic with Basic Dye".

Perhaps you could, instead, paint them with fabric paint.

Name: Trish
Message: Hi
I am trying to tie-dye cotton material for head wraps. What is the best way to achieve a dark red? We used the RIT dye in cold and it came out pinkish. We boiled the water and it did come out darker.
We would like to batik most of them. The hot water will not work with batik.

The best way to achieve a dark red on cotton is to use a more appropriate type of dye. The best dye to use is fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX, Cibacron F, or Drimarene K dye.

All-purpose dye, such as Rit brand dye, does not work in cold water. To use all-purpose dye, you must simmer the fabric in the hot dye, dissolved in water, for half an hour or more. All-purpose dye is not at all appropriate for use in batik.

It is sometimes possible to find fiber reactive dye sold as Dylon Cold Water Dye (do not get Dylon Multi Purpose Dye!), or in the form of a tie-dye kit made by Jacquard or by Rainbow Rock. For the same amount of money, you can get considerably more dye, and a greater range of possible colors, from any of the mail-order companies listed on my Sources for Dyeing Supplies page. One good choice for your project would be PRO MX Turkey Red. You will also need soda ash (sodium carbonate) to fix your dye. For instructions, see "How to Batik".

Name: Sandy
Message: Hi, I have recently purchased a flokati rug online (goat's wool?) and it is died a bright red colour. I was thinking it was a darker red and was wondering how difficult it would be to either dye it a darker red or even possibly brown? The other problem is its size which is 10ft x 8ft so it would have to be a cold water dye. Thanks for your help.

It should be possible to dye your rug a darker color, though getting any particular shade may be more difficult. If you apply a dark brown dye, you should obtain a dark brownish red, or dark reddish brown. The biggest problem is that most wool dyeing recipes require heat.

PRO Chemical & Dye has instructions for dyeing and painting a wool carpet using their Washfast Acid dyes. In this recipe, the dye is set with a carpet steamer.

Alternatively, you can dye wool by wrapping it in black plastic and leaving it in the sun. See "Garbage Bag Dyeing with Wool using PRO MX Reactive Dye", and "Cold Batch Dyeing of Wool with Reactive Dye".

Read the recipes, decide which one best suits your needs, and then mail-order all of the ingredients required. Batik Oetoro is an Australian source for both acid dyes and Procion MX dyes, as well as any necessary chemical auxiliaries. See "Sources for Dyeing Supplies".

Name: Chanelle
Message: Where can I get Dye???

The best and cheapest sources of high quality dye are all mail-order. See my Sources for Dyeing Supplies page; there is a link to this page in the navigation links at the bottom of every one of the 600+ pages within my hand-dyeing web site.

One of several excellent sources for a tie-dyeing kit is Tie-dyed.com.

Name: Vicki
Message: I have some Procion dye powders that have been stored in a dark, dry place for 6-7 years. Will this affect their potency? Do I need to replace them? I'm having several gals from my applique group over for a dyeing session and I don't want it to be a flop. Thanks.

To be sure that your results will be good, it would be best to buy fresh Procion MX dye.

In theory, Procion MX dye powders are supposed to be replaced after one year, because some of the dye will react with moisture in the air and will no longer be capable of bonding to cotton.

In practice, I have used some pretty old Procion MX dye on cotton, but I wouldn't want to use them for anything critical, such as a group dyeing session. It is quite possible that it has all gone bad, in which case it will not stay in the fiber you dye at all! What I have done is use an excess of dye, since a large fraction of the dye powder can be assumed to no longer work. You should be sure to get everything in the dye reaction perfect: leave the dyed items in a warm place overnight, and use the right amount of soda ash. Then, afterwards, it becomes much more important to do an initial washing in cool water, without any detergent except for Synthrapol if you have it (use no detergent at all in the first washing if you don't have Synthrapol), before doing any washing in warm or hot water. A hot first washing, before you get rid of the soda ash and any salt, would encourage the old reacted dye to associate loosely with the fiber in much the same way as the direct dye in all-purpose dye does. Once this has happened, it seems to take forever to wash out the last remnants of excess dye! An initial washing in cold water, before using the hot water needed to really get the rest of the excess dye out, helps quite a bit with this problem.

Old Procion MX dye can still be used as an acid dye with vinegar on protein fibers such as wool, pretty much forever. Procion H dye powders will probably still be good for use on any natural fiber, since they are much less reactive, but you have to steam them to fix the dye.

I have absolutely no experience in dyeing, but need a really quick solution. My daughter is in a play this week-- she will be wearing a fuschia tutu and leotard. I have white tights and slippers and would like to dye them to match as I cannot find a place that sells them in this color. I can't find a RIT dye that is anywhere close --- I have thought of possibly using food coloring/easter egg dye or cake dye but have no idea how to obtain the color needed. Any help you can offer will be great!!!! I realize this is last minute and if you don't get to it in time that's o.k.

What fiber are the tights and slippers made of - nylon, cotton, acetate, polyester? It makes a big difference to the methods you can use to do this.

I can't find anything on the slippers telling the fiber. They are actually bedroom slippers that look like ballet slippers. They are like a really soft, very fine terrycloth. The tights are nylon and Lycra spandex.

Okay, well, because the tights are nylon, and not another synthetic or cotton, they can be dyed with any acid dye. Rit dye contains acid dye, but so do food colorings, Kool-aid, etc. The red in little bottles of coloring typically has some yellow mixed in and is not good for mixing fuchsia. However, it should not be too difficult to find some Kool-aid, or a generic version thereof, that is a raspberry color.

Buy several packets of UNSWEETENED Kool-aid or similar product. Don't get any with sugar in them! You want the kind that tells you to add your own sugar. Artificial sweetener would be better than sugar, but you should be able to buy some with no sweetener at all. Use your largest cooking pot that is not made of aluminum or iron - stainless steel or enamel is ideal - and add one-third cup of white vinegar to one gallon of water. Mix in one packet of artificially colored drink mix, stir until dissolved, then, using a thermometer if possible, heat the dyebath until it is quite hot, about 150 degrees, well below a simmer. Put in the tights and stir, then remove to check the color. Leave the tights in the dyebath longer, or add another packet or two of the drink mix dye, if they are not dark enough. When they have reached the desired color, remove them from the pot and rinse with cool water until the water is no longer brightly colored. Wash these tights only in cool water in the future, as hot water will encourage the dye to wash out.

It is impossible to say whether the slippers are dyeable. They may be made of an undyeable synthetic. Other synthetics are not easily dyed like nylon is. I would recommend that you go to an art supply store and buy some acrylic artist's paint of the appropriate color, dilute it in water, and paint it on the slippers with a brush. Start soon so that they have time to dry thoroughly before your daughter's play. I suppose you could try dyeing them with the tights, in case they contain some nylon, and then paint them if that does not work, but only if they are thin enough to dry reasonably quickly, and only if they do not appear to be glued together at all, since the glue would probably fail when wet.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! You're a lifesaver :)

So....how did it work out?

Well, I never could get the fuschia right. I tried with 3 different pairs of tights, then decided to go with yellow to match the sunflower on the tutu. I used food coloring and they came out beautifully..!!

Name: Kevin
Message: I would like to know what site or what book you would recommend for learning how to do a star???

There are not many sources available that explain how to do this. One is my page on "Tie-dyeing Mandalas and Stars ".

I have never seen any book that explains how to tie-dye a star, but there is a DVD, Mike Fowler's The Art of Tie Dye, which demonstrates folds for a Star, a Kaleidoscope, and a Mandala. The Mandala is also illustrated on a web page, and there are downloadable video clips for sale deomnstrating the Kaleidoscope fold and the Mandala Tapestry Fold.

Name: Nicole
Message: I recently purchased 3 different RIT dyes. I believe they are used mainly to dye clothing all over by putting the dye in the washing machine. I bought them in hopes I could use it to tie-dye but I am confused on the steps since I don't have everything. Obviously I will put the dye into an empty bottle just like you would normally do. Before that do I still need to seperately buy soda ash to soak? Will this dye even work or is it a different type of dye? Please advise.

No! It is very fortunate that you decided to write to me before trying this doomed project. Many others have written to me only when it was too late, when their Rit dye that they'd used in squirt bottles had just washed out of their shirts. It's very disheartening to go to all that work, only to have it just disappear.

You CANNOT tie-dye with Rit dye by putting the dye into squirt bottles! Rit dye is a hot-water dye. It will not work AT ALL if you apply it cold. You cannot use Rit dye with squirt bottles. You might as well try to tie-dye with water-soluble markers. It will just wash out! Soda ash will do nothing to make Rit dye last. Soda ash works only for a totally different type of dye.

If you want to tie-dye with Rit dye, you must dissolve the dye in water, and HEAT each dye color in a separate large cooking pot (which will never again be used for food). You then tie your shirts and either drop them into the dye, simmering them for half an hour, or, for multiple colors, you stand there and hold the shirt partially-submerged for half an hour, then rinse it out and repeat by holding a different part of the shirt partially submerged in another dyebath. Also see more detailed instructions on how to tie-dye with Rit dye.

If you want to tie-dye using the room temperature technique and squirt bottles, you must buy a completely different kind of dye, one which can be used without heat. This kind of dye is called fiber reactive dye; one type is Procion MX. You can go to a crafts store and purchase a tie-dye kit, if you can find one made by Jacquard or Rainbow Rock. Or, you can mail-order a tie-dye kit from a company such as Tie-dyed.com (see the small tie-dye kit or the standard tie-dye kit), or from any of the other companies listed on my Sources for Dyeing Supplies page. Unlike all-purpose dye, this dye, when used correctly, will not bleed onto your other clothes in the laundry, and clothing dyed with it can be washed a hundred times without fading! And, it is just so much easier to use, and the colors are much brighter and prettier.

Name: april
Message: i bought a pair of black satin shoes for my wedding and decided to go with a white wedding dress my question is .. can i dye them white and if so what kind of dye would i use

You must either buy another pair of shoes, or wear black shoes to your wedding. There is no way for anyone to turn your black shoes white.

Dye is a transparent, colored substance that can only make things darker in color, never lighter. You cannot dye black shoes in order to make them white.

Dye that has been applied to natural fibers, such as cotton and linen, can sometimes be decolorized or removed by the use of discharge agents such as chlorine bleach or sodium hydrosulfite (Rit Color Remover). Some black-dyed materials will lose their color; others will lighten only to brown or orange, or lose no color at all.

However, your satin shoes are almost certainly made of polyester. There is no way to remove color from black polyester at home, and there is no commercial service that will do this for you.

Name: Donna
Message: hi,
my name is donna and I am doing a science project on using Kool-Aid as a dye for cotton yarn and how different conditions can result in a more intense color. one of these conditions is pre-wetting the yarn in water before soaking it in the Kool-Aid dye. i've found that pre-wetting the yarn has a great effect on color intensity than not pre-wetting it. i was wondering if u know why this is so and the chemistry behind it. it'll be great if u can get back to me as soon as possible. thank you so much!

First, an important point: you cannot use Kool-aid to truly dye cotton! Kool-aid is colored with acid dyes, which work on wool, but not on cotton. At best, you can only stain the cotton. This is not dyeing. Dyeing requires the dye to actually make a long-lasting bond of some sort to the fiber. If it washes out, it is not dyeing. It is just temporarily dirtying the yarn.

If you want to dye with Kool-aid, get yarn that is made of protein or polyamide, which means, wool or silk or nylon (but no other synthetics). Wool and silk are both made of proteins, secreted by animals. Food colorings are acid dyes, and are no good for plant (cellulose) fibers such as cotton. They work quite well on wool, however. Why don't you go buy some wool yarn, and use it for your project? Kool-aid makes a fine dye for wool, and wool yarn is easy to find in stores.

However, it is, of course, possible to investigate how best to penetrate cotton with a temporary stain, although the practical applications are highly limited. Of course you get a darker color when your coloring material better penetrates the yarn, regardless of what material the yarn is made of. The issue is hydrogen bonding. Hydrogen bonding is what makes it possible to fill a glass of water slightly above the top; it bulges out above the top of the glass without spilling, because water molecules are attracted to other water molecules, helping the mass of water to cling together. It also makes water not "want" to leave other water molecules in order to penetrate yarn. Once the yarn is wet, hydrogen bonding no longer keeps water from being attracted to the yarn. Pre-wetting the fiber makes it easier for the dye to penetrate it.

You should see an even greater effect if you pre-wet with water that has a small amount of detergent *or* rinse agent dissolved in it. Rinse agent is the stuff used to help prevent water spots on glasses in the dishwasher; a popular brand is Jet Dry. Both rinsing agents and detergents help water (or dye dissolved in water) to penetrate the fiber; they do this by reducing the hydrogen bonding forces in the water, which make it want to stick to itself, rather than to anything else. Just a drop or two should be sufficient. If you use detergent, use hand dishwashing liquid, not dishwasher detergent, because dishwasher detergent is quite caustic, and so is rather dangerous to handle, although it does not work any better for your purposes than hand dishwashing liquid.

Name: jennifer
Message: Hello. I have a 100% acetate dress with a 100% nylon lining. Do you think it is possible to dye it? It is also dry-clean. I have read your other answers to dry-clean problems and I might try wetting a bit of the dress that would be hidden if it goes wrong. Many thanks for your help.

No. You can't dye it if it's not washable. If you want to dye a garment, wash it first, and then bother with trying to dye it only if it survives. Dyeing requires extensive and repeated washing.

However, you've got an even bigger problem in that acetate is not readily dyeable. It can be dyed only by boiling for 30 to 45 minutes with disperse dye. See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes, at <http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/dispersedye.shtml>, as acetate dyeing is similar to polyester dyeing.

Even a washable dress is unlikely to survive such harsh treatment as being boiled for half an hour! Plus, the cooking pot you use to boil the dress in, which will be very expensive if it is big enough to allow the fabric to move freely, must never be used for food again, because the dye is not food-safe.