Name: Ellen
Message: I had an old light cotton white Indian dress that became spotted over the years.  I recently dyed it yellow with hot water and saffron.  It looks beautiful but I need to set it so that I don't turn yellow when I wear it.  What do you suggest?

Natural saffron, whose active ingredient is the chemical crocin, from the stigmas of the saffron crocus, is a substantive dye that can be used on cotton and linen as well as silk and wool. Unlike most natural dyes, it does not require a mordant, because it is a direct dye. The size of the molecule itself helps it to associate with the cellulose fiber. Like the dye found in turmeric, saffron as a dye color is called fugitive, which means that it will not last long, so it must be redyed regularly. The monks in Tibet who wear saffron robes dyed with turmeric are said to redye their robes every year. Saffron is very expensive, but turmeric is an inexpensive natural substitute.

Before wearing, rinse the dress in cool water only, to help remove excess dye that would rub off on you. It would be best to avoid sitting on light-colored upholstered furniture while wearing this dress, until you are sure that it is safe. 

To extend the life of this particular dyeing, dry your dress indoors after laundering, and store it in the dark, because bright light, particularly sunlight, may cause it to fade more quickly. Wash by hand in cool water only, or dry clean. Hot water will tend to wash out direct dyes. Treatment with a commercial chemical cationic dye fixative such as Retayne will probably increase washfastness significantly, but may impair lightfastness. Other so-called fixatives such as vinegar and salt will not help your dress at all. The way that saffron is encouraged to bond to the fiber is by soaking the saffron and fiber together in hot water, as you have already done.





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Name: Carolyn
Message: I'm coordinating a camp with 200 teenagers and they are all going to tie-dye t-shirts. How much dye will I need?! I can't find anything that says how much one jar of dye will do. Thank you for your help!

First, what kind of dye are you going to use? I strongly recommend against using a hot water dye, such as Rit all-purpose dye, when tie-dyeing. A cool water fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye, is much easier to use and will produce brighter, longer-lasting results. Be sure that the shirts you buy are 100% cotton and NOT treated with any stain-resistant or permanent-press finish, which will repel the dye.

A good way to check on how much of each ingredient you'll is to look to see what is included in a prepackaged tie-dye kit from one of the big suppliers. The tie-dye party pack for 100 that is sold by PRO Chemical & Dye includes two ounces each of six Procion MX dye colors, 6 pounds of soda ash, 4 pounds of urea, one quart of Synthraapol detergent, 36 eight-ounce squeeze bottles, two pounds of rubber bands, twelve pairs of disposable gloves, six dust masks, and six sets of directions. The only thing I'd change there (besides doubling, since you'll have 200 people) would be to get at least 200 pairs of disposable gloves.

The simplest (and probably most economical) thing to do would be to order either two packages of this kit from PRO Chemical & Dye, or order two packages of the rather similar Tie-Dye Big Group Kit from Dharma Trading Company. You'll be all set, then, with the addition of a few boxes of disposable gloves. If you live on the east coast, or outside of the US, you will want to order from ProChem; if you live on the west coast, order from Dharma, because ordering from the closest source will give you faster and cheaper shipping. In between the two coasts, it doesn't matter so much which you choose.

Alternatively, you can buy a large number of smaller tie-dye kits from your local crafts store. Check to see how many shirts a kit claims to dye, and do the math. The large Jacquard tie-dye kit will dye up to fifteen shirts, so you'd need fourteen boxes; the small Jacquard tie-dye kit will dye up to five shirts, so you'd need forty boxes of it. Jacquard is an excellent brand of dye. I recommend that you avoid the Rit brand tie-dye kit, because, as a hot-water dye, it is not suitable for parties. Tie-dye kits made by Dritz, Dylon, Rainbow Rock, or Tulip contain good fiber reactive dyes, but may be less suitable for your large project, because the dye fixer is often mixed with the dyes, so they will stay good for only an hour after water is added, as opposed to simply presoaking your shirts in a large bucket of soda ash water, and also because they are very small-scale kits.

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Name: Lori
Message: HI, I have a neat tie dye tshirt I would like to give my dad for father's day. Am wondering how do I put "World's Greatest Dad" on the front of it???? This has got me stumped. Didn't know if I need to free hand it, or what? or batik the letters in wax. Never done batik either. thx. Lori 

If the shirt is already tie-dyed, you can't use batik, since the way batik works is by preventing the dye from reaching the fabric. Instead, what you can do is either hand-paint your wording on, using an opaque or black fabric paint, or you can create an iron-on using your computer or a photocopying machine.

To the right (click on the picture for a page with more details and a link to a much larger image) is an example of a shirt that has been hand-painted using opaque puffy paint.

I hand-cut a stencil using self-adhesive shelf paper (Contac brand), stuck it on the shirt, then used a stiff brush to work the paint onto the shirt, getting it down into the fiber as much as possible (for durability). Without the stencil, the letters would have looked much less professional, although I drew the original letters in freehand with a pencil.

Any opaque fabric paint will work, if the color contrasts sufficiently with your background colors. A transparent paint will work only if the background is much lighter in color than the lettering.

To the left is another example which shows the use of a non-opaque inkjet transfer paper to add words to a hand-dyed shirt with light colors. (Click on the picture for a page with more details and a much larger image.)

I used a non-opaque inkjet transfer paper because I wanted the color of the shirt to show between the letters, but this works only if the color of the shirt is light enough. If the shirt is too dark in color, the letters will not show up, and you will have to get opaque inkjet transfer paper, and include the background around the letters in your design. While I often prefer the look of black lettering on a tie-dyed shirt, you are not limited in the colors you use with an opaque iron-on inkjet transfer. Here, to the right, is an example of a dark-dyed cotton canvas totebag onto which I applied photos using the opaque inkjet transfer. (The image is linked to a larger copy of itself.)

Note that both fabric paint and iron-on inkjet transfers can show significant wear after a number of launderings. Be sure to turn the shirt inside-out before every washing. It is best to wash gently, either by hand-washing, or machine-washing in a lingerie bag.


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Name: Sherree
Message: I saw your photo of the batiked hammer-head shark.  I believe that I am wanting to batik some t-shirts similar to that - with a fish and sand dollar on them.  However, I have never batiked anything before, nor have I tie-dyed anything before.  Do you paint the melted wax onto the fabric before the pre-soak, after the pre-soak, or after the tie-dye?  I would think that you would want to do it before the tie-dye, since the fabric will not be white enough to leave the impression after the tie-dye.  Is that correct?  How do you get the colors that are sprinkled into the shark?  Is that from the wax cracking during the dyeing process?  You can see that I have a lot of questions.  I really hope this is one of the emails that you answer.  Thanks a lot.

I think it's a bit simpler than you're imagining. I'll describe my whole process so that you can see. Note that you shouldn't apply melted wax to any fabric that is not bone-dry, as even a tiny bit of moisture can keep the wax from sticking properly. I always paint the wax onto prewashed, dry, clean 100% cotton or rayon fabric. If you're using t-shirts, be sure you don't get the type that is stain-resistant, because the anti-stain finish on the fabric will repel the dye.

To start, I drew my designs on the shirts with an ordinary pencil, and then applied hot (probably 230°F) batik wax with a tjanting. The batik wax I used was 15% microcrystalline wax and 85% paraffin (I will be using real beeswax instead of the microcrystalline wax in the future, for a slightly lower melting point). After I was done drawing on the wax, I let it cool until the wax was solid and hard, and then I crumpled the waxed fabric to make more "crackle" lines, such as you saw on my shark t-shirt; these are caused by cracks in the wax. Later, when it was convenient, I mixed up my dye mixtures and put them in plasic squirt bottles, and put soda ash and water into a bucket for the presoak. I presoaked the waxed shirt in the soda ash water for about ten minutes, then took it out and let most of the soda ash drip out of it. I lay it out flat on a grid-top table, and squirted on several different colors of dye. A day later, I rinsed the dye from the shirt very thoroughly in cool water, then I immersed it in a three-gallon pot of boiling water with liquid soap (not detergent) until the wax floated to the top, then allowed the whole pot to cool until the wax layer was solid and could be removed, leaving the shirt in the water underneath.

The kind of dyeing I did is not, strictly speaking, tie-dyeing, since I did not tie the shirt. Everything else was exactly as in tie-dyeing, however, including good Procion MX type dye, and soda ash. You can order a tie-dye kit, as long as it contains this kind of dye, not all-purpose dye. Do not try to use the Rit tie-dye kit, as it contains only hot water dyes. To work with wax, you must use cool water dyes. You can use a tie-dye kit made by Jacquard, or Tulip, or Dritz, or Dylon, if you find any of these. Or, you can mail-order everything you need from any of the dye companies listed on my page of dye suppliers around the world. You'll need Procion MX dyes, soda ash, urea (optional), plastic squeeze bottles, a dust mask, beeswax and paraffin, and disposable gloves. I like to use a cheap thermostatically-controlled electric frying pan to melt my wax, as a double boiler does not get hot enough, and melting wax directly on the stove is dangerous.

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Name: Luciana
Message: May Crayola Fabric crayons fix over time without any addition of heat? 
I want to add some details in my plush bears made of 100% polyester with crayola fabric crayons, but I am afraid the fibers may be damaged by iron.
Please help me!

No. That will not work. Like all disperse dyes, Crayola Fabric Crayons require very high heat, the temperature of a hot iron, to transfer into the fiber. Even a "warm" iron, which at 248°F is certainly hot enough to easily burn your skin should it touch you, is inadequate for dye transfer with disperse dye fabric crayons. Some synthetic fibers, such as modacrylic and polypropylene, will melt at the high temperatures required.

Instead, you should use fabric paint or fabric markers. Ordinary artists' acrylic paints will work for this if you do not mind their scratchy, harsh feeling after they dry. Dilute them a bit with water first. (Try them on a rag to see how they feel to you.) All Jacquard fabric paints, such as Lumiere, Neopaque, and Dye-na-flow, are claimed to work well on polyester. So will a number of other brands of fabric paint; try a test on a similar fabric or a less well-loved toy first. I am not sure how well fabric markers will work on 100% polyester, but at least they should be more suitable than disperse dye fabric crayons.

The heat required to heat-set fabric paints is lower than that required for disperse dyes. If you use Jacquard fabric paints, there is an additive called Jacquard Airfix which can be used as a substitute for heat-setting. Also, many fabric paints will slowly set at room temperature, and after a month or more of curing will be as permanent as if heat-set. Do not wash until after the heat-setting or an extended curing time is completed. Even after it is safe to wash items colored with fabric paints, be sure to hand-wash only, gently, because fabric paint can wear off of the surface of the fabric.

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Name: Rosemary
Message: Who sells Lanaset dyes? You have all types of companies but I do not see any that sell Lanaset.

Lanaset dyes, an extremely well-liked range of premetalized and reactive dyes for use on silk, wool, and nylon, are sold by a number of different mail-order retail suppliers. The same dye range is sold under the names Sabraset and Telana, in addition to Lanaset.

In the US, two of the companies you can buy these dyes from are PRO Chemical & Dye, and Earth Guild. These are the only two companies that supply Lanaset dye that I've actually purchased dyes from myself. ProChem has significantly cheaper prices per pound, as well as the most reliable instructions, and includes several convenient pre-mixed colors as well, but Earth Guild allows you to buy as little as half an ounce of each color you choose, and carries one different orange Lanaset dye. A web search with "Lanaset" or "Telana" will turn up several more US mail-order suppliers.

In Canada, a good source for Lanaset dyes is Maiwa Handprints. Kraftkolour in Australia also carries them. I do not know about retail sources in other countries.

Favorite books with recipes for use of Lanaset dyes include Deb Menz's Color In Spinning (pictured at right), Dagmar Klos's Dyer's Companion, and Karren Brito's Shibori: Creating Color And Texture on Silk (pictured at left).

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Name: Kelly
Message: I have been trying to figure out why RED dyed items are always most suspetible to bleeding than any other color. I have searched and searched and cannot come up with any sort of concerte answer that the common person can understand :) can you help me? 

It's actually just a coincidence. Red dyes in general are not more prone to bleeding than similar dyes of other colors. The problem is that red-dyed commercial garments are often dyed with a kind of dye called direct dye. Direct dye, whatever its color, tends to bleed in every wash, unless the clothing has been treated with a special cationic dye fixative. Using only cool water for washing will help, because higher temperatures decrease the ability of direct dye to remain associated with fabric.

Some retailers are careful to specify that their manufacturers must use colorfast dyes in their products, or at least use the right fixative to improve colorfastness. Others are less reliable and do not deserve our business. You should return garments for a refund if they cannot be safely washed when you follow the instructions on the care label.

If you are dyeing at home, you can avoid the problem of bleeding dyes by using a higher quality of dye. Avoid direct dye, as well as all-purpose dye, which contains direct dye. Instead, use a fiber reactive dye such as Procion MX dye, and carefully follow a recipe intended for the dye you use, including washing out excess dye before wear. Do not try to dye a garment that contains polyester.  Be careful to match the type of dye that you use to the fiber content of whatever you are dyeing.

If you have purchased a commercially red-dyed garment that seems likely to bleed, you can reduce the bleeding by using Retayne or another brand of cationic dye fixative, such as Dharma Dye Fixative. Do not attempt to use vinegar or salt, as neither will help.

If the amount of dye bleeding is not too bad, you may want to try a product that attracts the negative ions of commercial dye in the laundry, such as the Shout Color Catcher.

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Name: David
Message: Hello!
We are making sheets and comforters for [a major American retailer] in Pakistan. Their specification calls for reactive prints on 60% cotton / 40% polyester percale. The printers are telling us that it is impossible to print reactive on fabric that has any quantity of polyester and they will have to use pigment dyes. Is this correct?


Yes, it is. Polyester will not accept reactive dyes. Reactive dyes printed onto a 60% cotton fabric will be only 60% as bright or as dark as the same dyes printed onto 100% cotton. In addition, cotton will not accept the disperse dyes that will work on polyester. The only choice that will work on cotton and polyester simultaneously would be pigment dyes. Since these are not true dyes, but instead a type of fabric paint, which means that pigment is held to the fiber by a binder, they are much less particular about what fiber they are used upon.

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