Archives for August, 2008

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Sunday, August 31, 2008

dyeing the fabric on an Ultrasuede couch

Name: Lisa

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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends

Fabric Crayons
contain iron-on
disperse dye

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Stainless Steel 10 Gallon Stock Pot with Lid

Message: Hi, I love your website, it's so informative! I have a couch that I bought from someone who said it's ultrasuede. I had only heard of microsuede before, and assume it's similar. It's a very light grey color, and I'd love to dye it darker, as my dog's foot prints really show. All of the fabric comes off the couch, including the arms and back fabric. Can I dye this successfully with something, or am I out of luck? I'm only looking to dye it a grey/teal color. Thanks so much! Lisa

Ultrasuede® is a brand name of a synthetic suede-like fabric which is made of polyester microfiber. Microsuede is a generic term for the same material.

Unfortunately, polyester is a difficult fiber to dye. It cannot be dyed with ordinary fabric dyes that work on natural fibers, and it cannot be dyed without boiling it. In order to dye your couch cover, you would have to buy a very large stainless steel or enamel cooking pot, large enough for the fabric to move freely in, and some of the special dye for polyester, which is called disperse dye.

Buying the dye for polyester is not difficult, if you are willing to order it by mail. You can order Disperse Dye from PRO Chemical & Dye or Aljo Dyes. You can also buy a new brand of disperse dye, called "iDye Poly", from Blick Art Materials or Dharma Trading Company. The problem is buying the cooking pot. You must never again use a cooking pot for food preparation after it has been used for dyeing fabric, because textile dyes will contaminate food. This means that obtaining the pot is a large investment if you are not going to be using hot water dyes again in the future. If, on the other hand, you do plan to do more hot-water dyeing, a good dyeing pot is an excellent investment. Stainless steel pots are the best choice, because they do not chip like enamel, and they don't change the color of the dye as aluminum or iron pots may.

There is, fortunately, an alternative to dyeing. You can use fabric paint. Use only fabric paints whose manufacturers claim that they will work on polyester, as some fabric paints will not stick well to synthetic fibers. It is best to remove the fabric from the couch before applying the fabric paint, because you must rinse the fabric after you paint it, and because it will dry better on a line, and because it is not good for upholstered furniture to be soaked with water. You can use any Jacquard Products fabric paint, such as Dye-na-Flow, or you can use a spray fabric paint specifically made for upholstery, called Simply Spray. Since you can remove your couch's covers, I think that my preference would be to use Dharma Trading Company's Dharma Pigment Dyes system, which is a fabric paint that can be used on polyester (as well as on other fibers); they say that it does not require heat-setting when used on polyester. No fabric paint will work well at producing a perfectly smooth single shade, but they can work very well for making a slightly more complex design which includes darker and lighter shades. You can also consider stamping a pattern onto the fabric with fabric paints.

For more information, see:
"Fabric Paints: a different way to color fibers"
"How to dye polyester"
"Can furniture be dyed successfully?"
"Scarlet Zebra's Instructions for Painting Upholstered Furniture"

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Saturday, August 30, 2008

We are trying to remove dye from solution dyed nylon 6 and 6,6 carpet without harming the properties of the nylon

Name: Ron

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Dye Removal Chemicals

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Rit Color Remover Removes Dyes

Use Rit Color Remover in the washing machine in hot water, or, for greatest effectiveness, heat fabric in Rit Color Remover on the stovetop.

Message: Paula, Hello. We are trying to remove dye from solution dyed nylon 6 and 6,6 carpet without harming the properties of the nylon. FYI, the nylon is dissolved in a solution of acid when we would like to remove the color. Any ideas? Our ultimate goal is to obtain clear or white nylon from recycled carpet.

This may or may not be possible, depending on the specific dye used in each sample of nylon. Manufacturers typically change what dye they use to produce a certain color without notice, and not all dyes can be removed. Some colors will remain unchanged no matter what you treat them with.

Since you are decolorizing nylon, I strongly recommend against using ordinary household bleach (hypochlorite). Bleach will damage or destroy nylon. Instead, I recommend that you use a sulfur-based discharge agent. There are a number of different sulfur-based discharge agents, but all produce similar effects (effects which are quite different from the results of an oxidative bleach, as it happens). The page on my site that you should look at is "What chemicals can be used to remove dye?". Scroll down to the section on "Reductive discharges".

The different chemicals that can be used to discharge dye must be used according to specific recipes, in order to obtain maximum effectiveness. Once you have located a suitable recipe, you must experiment to determine whether it works for your situation. Most discharge agents are used under alkaline conditions. The one that I know can be used under acidic conditions is Formosul, also known as Rongalit and as Colour Index Reducing Agent 2. You can order Formusol from PRO Chemical & Dye in Massachusetts, and you can order Rongalit from Jacquard Products in California. (For contact information for these and other dye chemical suppliers, see Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World .)

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Friday, August 29, 2008

Is there anything I can do to "fix" Sharpie pen marks so the signatures don't run??

Name: Anne

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Message: I'm a novice... I'm making "handprint" coverlet for my daughter with squares of plain muslin, fabric paint, and signed with Sharpie permanent markers. One of the squares got wet and I see that Sharpie signature has run, bleeding into the surrounding fabric! Help! Is there anything I can do to "fix" the signatures on the other squares before washing so the other signatures don't run??

Thank you very much for considering my question---I couldn't find anything on your site that answered it, but I certainly understand if you don't have time to answer. I really wish I'd seen your site before I started this project---I'd do a LOT of things quite differently! But it's taken me almost a year to collect 50 squares and I cannot afford to start over.

I wonder if someone used a pen other than the Sharpie one you provided, because while I've seen Sharpie pen signatures fade over the years from washing, I have not seen them bleed.

I think you should take a two-pronged attack on this. First, get an actual fabric marker that you know will work fine. I recommend that you get a known brand, not a store brand or off-brand, if you see any of the latter. You could use the fine-point Jacquard Tee Juice Fabric Markers, Yasutomo Fabricmate Superfine Markers, Pebeo Setaskrib Markers, or Marvy Fabric Markers. Crayola Fabric Markers should be fine, too. The key is that the marker must specifically claim to be permanent on fabric. Being permanent on paper is not as good as being permanent on cloth. Look for permanent fabric markers from a crafts store, or possibly a fabric store, or order online from Blick Art Materials or Dharma Trading Company.

Once you've found a suitable fabric marker, trace over the signatures so that you are sure that they are present in good permanent ink. Let this ink dry for several days if possible. It is important not to wash marker marks as soon as you have made them. Then heat-set the ink by ironing the reverse side of the fabric for one to two minutes on the cotton setting. (Protect your ironing board with paper or unwanted cloth, just in case.) Some markers may not need to be heat-set. I don't know if heat-setting will help the original pen marks, but it's worth a try.

The ink in fabric markers is actually a fabric paint, not a dye, so it will wear off given enough abrasion. You may want to wash anything you decorate with fabric markers on a delicate cycle, and line-dry it, for as long as you have it, in order to reduce the wear that will remove markings.

After this, you can wash in hot water to remove the excess smeared ink that ran. Hot water is much more effective than warm water at removing unbound dyes and loose pigments.

Alternatively, you can probably "glue" some of the ink from water-soluble markers in place by painting over them with a transparent colorless fabric paint, such as Neopaque Flowable Extender or Versatex Clear Extender. I have had pencil marks on fabric made permanent by painting over them with a transparent fabric paint; the binder in these paints is essentially an acrylic paint. The clear fabric paint will leave a slight but perceptible feel on the fabric. I think it would be most effective to paint over both the back and the front of the fabric. Be sure to do a test run on a scrap of similar fabric to make sure that it looks and feels okay to you.

By the way, Retayne is a quilter's dye fixative that I do not recommend for your situation. It helps to lock non-washfast dyes in place; however, it is applied in a large amount of hot water, so it won't be any good for anything which will run and be ruined the first time it is immersed in water. Retayne and similar products are ideal for fixing poor dyes such as all-purpose or direct dyes, but only on fabric that is dyed a single solid color, since some dye is bound to run before the Retayne in the water can fix it in place.

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Thursday, August 28, 2008

Can you use the salt technique on cotton, or only on silk?

Name: Laurie

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Fabric paints
for both natural
and synthetic fibers

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Message: I love your site, so much information! I am wondering if you can use the salt tecnique on cotton or does it just work on silk

In the salt technique, crystals of salt placed on the wet colors pull the color around to make starburst effects. This technique can work on cotton, if you are using a thin cotton, stretched on a frame of some sort (or pinned onto a work surface), with a heat-set fabric paint or a steam-set fiber reactive dye. It is unlikely to work if the cotton is too thick, or not stretched at all, or if you use a fast-acting fabric paint or cool water fiber reactive dye.

The reason why the salt technique will not work as well with instant-set paints or cold water reactive dyes is that the dye or pigment will begin to bond to the fiber immediately, before the salt has a chance to move it around.

Dye-na-Flow is one of several good transparent fabric paints that can be used to produce salt effects on stretched thin woven cotton. Here are the instructions provided by the manufacturer:

1. Paint, squirt or sponge the Dye-Na-Flow on the fabric in an all over pattern.
2. Sprinkle the salt onto the fabric. The salt should be applied immediately while the fabric is still very wet. The salt crystals will begin to soak up the dye as it dries.
3. Let the salt sit on the fabric until the paints are dry. Brush the salt off of the fabric.
4. Heat set the fabric according to the instructions.

For more information on using salt effects, see "How do you use Silk Salt or other large salt crystals to make bursts of color?".

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Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Can I dye a polyester shower curtain using my washing machine which is a top loader with RIT powder dye?

Name: Robin

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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends

Fabric Crayons
contain iron-on
disperse dye

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Stainless Steel 10 Gallon Stock Pot with Lid

Message: Can I dye a polyester shower curtain using my washing machine which is a top loader with RIT powder dye? The shower curtain is white and I want to make it orange to match my rubber duckies.... I know to always wash anything you dye first for best results and use salt. I am just wondering if it will work before I take a chance.

No, it won't work.

For one thing, polyester cannot be dyed at temperatures below boiling, so it cannot be dyed in a washing machine. To dye something the size of a shower curtain with polyester dyes, you will need a huge cooking pot, probably larger than five gallons in volume. It's quite an investment, because you must never reuse a dyepot for food.

The other HUGE problem with this idea is that all-purpose dye, such as Rit, will not work at all on polyester. It will just wash out, no matter what temperature you apply it at. All-purpose dye is a combination of a fast-fading dye for cotton, called direct dye, with another kind of dye for wool or nylon, called acid dye. There is no dye in Rit that has any affinity at all for polyester. To dye polyester, you must use a special polyester dye called disperse dye, which you'd have to purchase by mail-order, since it's not available in your local shops.

If you are interested in an uneven, slightly mottled effect, you can try pigment dyeing, in which a fabric paint (pigment plus a glue-like binder) is substituted for dye. Dharma Trading Company sells a fabric paint system called Dharma Pigment Dye which can be used for coloring polyester, or you can use a Jacquard Products fabric paint such as Dye-na-Flow, a fabric paint which is designed to flow like a dye. Fabric paints can be applied at room temperature in a disposable bucket, with no need for boiling and no need for an expensive dyepot. Jacquard Fabric paints must be heat-set after they are dried, but you can easily do that with a hot iron or a commercial clothes dryer. (Home clothes dryers do not get hot enough.)

An alternative would be to use Disperse Dye Fabric Crayons (such as Crayola Fabric Crayons) to draw orange duckie designs on paper, then iron them onto your white show curtain. Fabric crayons are very unlike wax crayons, although they look similar. You can buy them in a fabric store. The high heat of the iron transfers the polyester dye to the white fabric.

See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes" and "Fabric Paints: a different way to color fibers". Also see "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Where does a person find the fabric used by companies such as Hoffman for batik dyeing?

Name: Deborah

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Message: Where does a person find the fabric used by companies such as Hoffman for batik dyeing?

Look for Hoffman cotton lawn 1377. The number should be on the end of the bolt, if you can find it in a local store. This is an extremely popular material for dyeing with fiber reactive dyes, especially for low water immersion dyeing. There are also many online sources in the US for this fabric. You can find it among the offerings of most suppliers of brand-name PFD ("Prepared For Dyeing") fabric.

eQuilter.com calls this fabric Hoffman's Dyers Cloth, product ID HOGREGDS, and says that it is the exact same cloth Hoffman uses in Bali to make their batiks. They also have a good selection of other dyeable white fabrics, prepared for dyeing (PFD).

Hana Lima Hand Dyes is another online source of good PFD fabrics for quilters to dye, including Hoffman PFD and the various PFD fabrics used by hand dyers such as Lunn Studios, E E Schenck, and Ricky Tims.

Other online sources for Hoffman Cotton Lawn PFD include Fiber on a Whim, Some Art Fabric, Mamaw's Handdyes, Dollmakers Ink, and Phil Beaver's Quilters Merchandise.

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Monday, August 25, 2008

substitutes for sodium silicate

Name: Loraine

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Sodium Silicate

Sodium Hydroxide
also known as caustic soda or lye

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Trisodium Phosphate (TSP)

Message: Hi there
Love your site, it has been so helpful. I am just starting out withe Batik. I purchased some dye from my instructor (in Asia). Apparently, to set this dye I need sodium silicate. It seems as though most suppliers of dye here don't require sodium silicate so it's super hard for me to find. If you know of anyone that supplies it OR if you know of another chemical that could replace it, that would be super helpful for me. Thanks a bunch in advance.

Do you know exactly what type of dye you are using? Knowing this might be useful in selecting the best substitute for your sodium silicate. [See "Sodium silicate as a fixative for dyeing", added to this site in March of 2010.]

Sodium silicate solution is used to produce a high pH in order to set fiber reactive dye on cotton or silk. It is often used as an after-fix, by painting the dye onto the fabric, letting it dry, then painting on the sodium silicate, leaving the silicate to react with the dyed fabric for an hour, then washing it out. It is very important not to let the sodium silicate dry on the fabric.

Sodium silicate solution is sold in the US by PRO Chemical & Dye (under the names 'PRO Fix LHF' and 'PRO QuickFix') and by Dharma Trading Company (under the name AfterFix), in Australia by Batik Oetoro (under the name Drimafix), and in Spain by Tobasign Dyes (under the name Tobafix). I don't know of specific sources in Asia, though I do know that it is available there for industrial use. Other names for sodium silicate include Water Glass, Soluble Glass, Silicate of Soda, and Egg Preserver, according to J.T. Baker's materials safety data sheet.

Since the purpose of the sodium silicate is to raise the pH to approximately 11, there are several good substitutes for it.

The most commonly-used pH-increasing chemical is soda ash, also known as sodium carbonate; it is found in washing soda, as well. An advantage of sodium carbonate (or soda ash or washing soda) is that using a little too much or too little will not change the pH much. Sodium carbonate is a relatively weak base, so it tends to produce a similar pH even if you use more than you need to. It is usually used by presoaking the fabric. For batik, you can apply the wax to the fabric and let it cool, then soak it in soda ash (mix one-half to one cup per gallon, or 36 grams per liter); squeeze out the excess liquid so that the fabric is damp but not dripping, then apply your dye. Keep the dye moist on the fabric overnight in a warm place. The required temperature for the dye reaction depends on the specific dye you use. It is safe to let soda ash dry on cotton, unlike sodium silicate. for more information see "What is soda ash, and what's it for in dyeing?".

Another good substitute for sodium silicate would be trisodium phosphate (TSP). This is a powder that produces solutions that are more basic than those produced by sodium carbonate, so it results in a somewhat higher pH. This means that it is a little more caustic and irritating to the skin, and less suitable for use with children, but it is easy to use safely if you are careful. I like to use TSP with Remazol dyes (vinyl sulfone dyes); they will set on cotton or silk with soda ash, but I have the impression that the higher pH of TSP works better for me. TSP is mixed with water for use as a cleaner, especially for washing outdoor walls before house painting; I find mine in the paint department of the local hardware store.

A third pH-increasing chemical which is widely used in the textile industry is sodium hydroxide, also known as caustic soda or lye. You can purchase it in the form of granules or crystals intended to use in unblocking drains which are clogged with grease or hair. I do not recommend the use of sodium hydroxide for people who are not trained in laboratory chemistry, because the pH it produces is much higher, so there is more risk of burns to the skin or eyes. If you do use sodium hydroxide, please learn and follow safety precautions: wear sturdy gloves, a plastic apron, and a plastic face shield, or at least safety goggles, and always add the sodium hydroxide to water, never water to the sodium hydroxide, because it may spatter. Use plastic or glass utensils, because lye may react with metals such as aluminum. It is more important to use exactly the right amount of the chemical when you are using sodium hydroxide, because it will produce a pH that is much too high for an optimal dye reaction, if you use too much. Only a small amount of sodium hydroxide is required, as compared to soda ash or TSP, for the same rise in pH. You must weigh your sodium hydroxide crystals and a reliable small scale. Use pH paper to test whether the amount of sodium hydroxide you are using produces the desired pH when added to the same total volume as you are using in your dyebath.

Let me know if you have any clues as to what exact dye you are using.

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Sunday, August 24, 2008

Can I apply wax for batik when it is still wet with the soda ash?

Name: Jacky

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Message: Hello- Was wondering if I applied wax to my batik when it is wet from the soda ash soak if that would be okay? Or should it be dry again after the soak and then apply the wax? Thanks so much!!!!! Your site is sooooooooooooooooo helpful!!!!!

No, the wax won't stick to the fabric unless it's absolutely bone dry. You need the wax to really soak in, in order to repel the dye. I prefer to wax before doing the soda ash presoak, as described in my page "How to Batik". Here is the order of the steps in the process, as I do them: 1, wax, 2, soda ash, 3, dye, 4, washout. Then, depending on the project, you may be finished, or you may repeated the process once or many times, by allowing your piece to dry thoroughly, and then returning to step 1 and rewax.

As an alternative, you can mix the soda ash with the dye immediately before applying it to the waxed fabric. Be sure to use the dye immediately after you add the soda ash to it. It will maintain full strength for only about thirty minutes.

Many people do old-style immersion dyeing for each step in batiking, using a high volume of water, plus salt to help the dye find the fabric in all that water. This is the best way to get a perfectly smooth solid color, but it is more trouble than direct dye application and does not allow for applying multiple colors of dye at once. In high water ratio immersion dyeing, the soda ash is not added until after the dye has had a chance to soak into the fiber. High water ratio immersion dyeing requires half an hour or an hour of stirring for each color, so it's a lot of work. The requirement for absolutely dry fabric is the same though, when applying the wax.

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Saturday, August 23, 2008

I would like to dye polyester curtain panels that are now a deep emerald green to a deep brown color. Is this possible?

Name: Kathleen

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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends

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You'll need a dyeing pot which will not be used for food.

Message: I would like to dye polyester curtain panels that are now a deep emerald green to a deep brown color. Is this possible?

As long as the color you want is much darker than the color that is currently there, a color change will be possible. However, since dye is transparent, the original color will always show through; I am not sure that you will be able to obtain a light enough shade of brown to suit you, on top of your emerald green.

The only way to dye polyester a solid color is to boil it at length with a special polyester dye called disperse dye. Other dyes which work on natural fibers will not work on polyester, but will just wash out. You can order Disperse Dye from PRO Chemical & Dye or Aljo Dyes. You can also buy a new brand of disperse dye, called "iDye Poly", from Blick Art Materials or Dharma Trading Company. (For contact information for these and other dye suppliers, see Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World.)

The problem for you will be buying a stainless steel or enameled cooking pot to do the dyeing in, one that is large enough to allow the fabric to move freely as you stir it. You must never again use a cooking pot for food preparation after it has been used for dyeing fabric, because textile dyes will contaminate food. This means that the pot itself is a large investment if you are not going to be using hot water dyes again in the future. It may be cheaper to buy or make new curtain panels using new fabric.

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Friday, August 22, 2008

Are Tee Juice fabric markers safe to use to decorate baby clothes?

Name: carol

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Message: The Jacquard Tee Juice Fabric markers indicate they are non-toxic. For a fun shower activity, we want to use these markers to decorate oneies. Would this be safe for baby?

Yes, I think that it is perfectly safe to dress a baby in clothing that has been decorated with a reputable name brand of fabric markers, such as the Jacquard Tee Juice markers. I would not use an unknown brand or store brand of marker, since occasionally crayons have turned up that contain dangerous levels of lead, in spite of labels that claimed they were non-toxic; I have not heard of problems with off-brands of fabric markers, but the crayon problems have made me cautious.

Be sure to let the markers dry for several days before washing them, heat set as required, and always pre-wash the clothing before giving them to a baby to wear. The designs made by decorating fabric with Tee Juice Markers should be heat-set by ironing with a hot iron (no steam needed) for two to three minutes. An alternative for large quantities of clothing is to dry in a commercial clothes dryer for half an hour, because it will get very hot; do not rely on home dryers for heat-setting markers or fabric paints, because they do not get as hot.

I can't imagine that there is any safety risk to be found in the baby's skin exposure to clothing that has been decorated with a reputable brand of non-toxic marker, once the marker has been allowed to dry thoroughly, heat-set, and washed. It does seem that it might be best not to let a baby chew repeatedly on fabric that has been decorated with any sort of fabric paint (including fabric markers). There are no known risks to be found from chewing on fabric-painted fabric, but tiny particles of the pigment may come off when they are chewed or sucked on, and they are not intended for this use.

When I used fabric markers on my babies' clothing, using Marvy Uchida Fabric Markers (the Tee Juice markers had not yet been introduced at that time), I made designs that did not extend to the necklines of the garments. This was by chance, not out of any safety concerns. In retrospect, the neck area is the part of a baby's garment that is most likely to be chewed on, unless the garment has long sleeves. I would avoid decorating the neckline of a shirt that is worn by an older child who habitually chews on it, except for using properly-set fiber reactive dyes which are completely safe from bleeding when wet. I don't think that this is a significant concern for clothing for a newborn baby, however.

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Thursday, August 21, 2008

What exactly does salt do when you add it to the dye? Would regular table salt vs sea salt make any difference?

Name: Natalie

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Canning and pickling salt

Popcorn salt

Kosher salt

Ice cream salt

Message: Hi my name is Natalie, I wanted to know what exactly does salt do when you add it to the dye? and if regular table salt vs sea salt would make any difference?

Table salt is fine for dyeing, especially if it's non-iodized, but sea salt is not a good choice because of the minerals in it, as well as the unnecessary expense. Pickling salt is better because it does not have additives.

What salt does, in high water ratio immersion dyeing, is reduce the tendency of the fabric to repel the dye. Since both the fabric and the dye are negatively charged they tend to repel each other. The addition of large quantities of salt reduces the electronegativity of both fiber and dye, making it easier for the dye to associate with the fiber so that it is located handy for the formation of a chemical bond.

In low water immersion dyeing, the purpose of salt is different. It reduces the solubility of the dye, which is probably why it results in somewhat different effects in the uneven coloration that results from the constriction of the fabric by the small size of the container it's in. Adding salt to low water immersion dyeing can increase the crystal-like patterns produced by this method of dyeing.

We do not normally use salt in mixing our dyes for use in tie-dyeing, because the high concentration of dyes in the tie-dye mixtures, as well as the close direct application of the dye to the fiber, makes salt unnecessary. It can also cause problems by making the dye less soluble. If you add too much salt to a bottle of dye mixed for tie-dyeing, some of the dye will precipitate, falling out of solution, so that it is not available for dyeing, and can cause problems with clogged spouts on the plastic squeeze bottles.

Some dyers are certain that it is important to use non-iodized salt for dyeing, claiming that the used of iodized salt causes streaking. However, it appears that there is actually no visible difference between fabric dyed with iodized salt, rather than iodized salt, if all other factors are kept exactly the same. I buy non-iodized salt for my dyeing, but you can use regular table salt, if that's what you have on hand.

I find that pickling salt is most convenient for dyeing, because it is sold in a fine granular form which dissolves quickly, unlike larger crystalline forms such as kosher salt or water softener salt, it is supplied in inexpensive four-pound boxes at my local grocery store, and it is free of additives of any sort. Any granulated salt that is pure sodium chloride is suitable for use in dyeing.

Sea salt is supposed to be less pure than other salts, and is therefore not as suitable for dyeing. Some sea salts are supposed to be rich in other mineral ions, such as calcium and magnesium. Calcium and magnesium are the minerals found in hard water that interfere with dyeing by forming insoluble soap scum and by forming complexes with some of the dyes. You don't want to use any substance that contains these minerals in your dyeing; in fact, if you have hard water, it is important to use a phosphate-containing water softener in your dye mixtures and wash water, in order to remove them. Unrefined sea salt is also considerably more expensive, an unnecessary expense for dyeing. If a sea salt has been processed to remove all minerals other than sodium chloride, it is perfectly suitable for dyeing, though less interesting for cooking purposes. I do not recommend the use of unpurified sea salt for dyeing. It does not matter whether the salt used in ordinary refined salt was originally obtained from the sea or from mines, however; the refining process makes it perfectly suitable.

For more information, see "Do I need to use salt, in dyeing?" and "How do you use Silk Salt or other large salt crystals in fabric painting?"

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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Which alum you would recommend (sulfate or acetate) as a mordant, based on both color fastness and safety?

Name: Vicki

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Books About Natural Dyes

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Earthues Natural Dye Madder Root

Madder Root
produces Deepest cranberry to garnet shades.

First quality ground roots make dyeing with this traditional dye easy. We like to steep the roots, add fiber and simmer at low temperatures to develop a dark red. We use equal weights of dyestuff and fiber for deepest cranberry to garnet shades.

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Message: I am new to your website and very appreciative of your generosity in answering questions. I am learning to use natural dyes (madder, logwood,etc.) I want to order alum for mordanting cotton cloth primarily, but also possibly for linen, tencel, and bamboo. I would like to know which alum you would recommend (sulfate or acetate) based on both color fastness and safety?

Different aluminum salts that have been sold as "alum" for mordanting fabric for use with natural dyes include potassium aluminum sulfate, aluminum sulfate, and aluminum acetate.

Potassium aluminum sulfate is the most traditional alum mordant. Aluminum sulfate is not as good as potassium aluminum sulfate because it is more likely to be contaminated with iron, which will result in duller colors. If aluminum sulfate is certified as iron-free, it is suitable for use as an alum mordant.

However, aluminum acetate is the best alum mordant for cotton and linen, according to Jim Liles in his book, The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing: Traditional Recipes for Modern Use. I strongly recommend his book for its wealth of well-tested recipes for many different natural dyes on a range of different fibers. He includes detailed recipes on how to make your own aluminum acetate if you cannot purchase it; I'd far rather purchase it, now that it is available from natural dyes suppliers.

He adds to be sure to treat alum-mordanted material with fixing solution, OR rinse thoroughly before dyeing. He describes the fixing solution as follows:

"Alum-mordanted cellulosics are best treated with "fixing solution," just prior to dyeing. Work and soak the material in hot (110° to 150°F) sodium phosphate (Na2HPO4) or powdered chalk (CaCO3) solution for 30 minutes, then rinse well. The solution is made by adding 1/2 to 1 ounce of phsphate or chalk or 1 to 2 ounces of cattle or sheep dung to each gallon of hot water. The solution serves to fix the alum and remove unfixed alum. Dung contains sodium and calcium phsophates and was used for centuries for this purpose. Rinse thoroughly following use of the fixing solution."

Liles does not mention bamboo or Tencel, since they are only recently available. Most bamboo that is commercially available is in the form of a rayon; both Tencel (lyocell) and rayon would be mordanted like cotton. Bamboo fiber that is prepared enzymatically rather than by making ayon from it is more similar to linen, which has a higher content of lignen in addition to cellulose. In most cases, Liles groups linen together with cotton in the same recipes.

I would strongly recommend that you obtain a copy of Liles' book, since it has the best recipes for dyeing with natural dyes. Too many books on natural dyes almost completely neglect the fact that mordanting and dyeing on plant fibers requires very different mordants and recipes than natural dyeing of animal fibers. Don't follow any recipes that are not specifically labeled as being for a similar fiber to the one you are dyeing.

As far as safety is concerned, all forms of alum are safer than other metallic mordants (only the non-metal mordants such as tannin are safer, but they often cannot be substituted). The only serious safety concern is to keep them out of reach of children. For an adult, the fatal dose of alum is about one ounce, or 30 grams, an amount which seems unlikely to be ingested accidentally. The fact that children are smaller in size makes them much more vulnerable, since their fatal dose is correspondingly far smaller, and of course they are less likely to understand about health hazards. Be very careful to keep alum, and especially dissolved alum, away from young children. Always wear waterproof gloves when working with small quantities of alum; take additional precautions as indicated in the MSDS for larger quantities.

Here are links to Materials Safety Data Sheets for the three forms of alum mordant, along with their Saf-T-Data ratings:
Aluminum Acetate, Basic: health 1, flammability 0, reactivity 1, contact 2
Aluminum Sulfate: health 2, flammability 0, reactivity 1, contact 2
Aluminum Potassium Sulfate: health 2, flammability 0, reactivity 1, contact 2
As you can see, aluminum acetate is considered slightly safer, with respect to health, than the other two form of alum mordant. It's convenient that the safest form of alum is also the most effective as a mordant.

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Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Spray dyeing with Procion dyes

Name: Laura

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Message: I'd like to try out spray dyeing with Procion dyes and a few cotton pieces. Do I need to do anything different when preparing my solutions to go in the spray bottles? What about soda ash and salt—do I include them? Thanks!

You must use soda ash in order to fix the Procion dye to the cotton fiber. The easiest way to use the soda ash is to presoak your shirts in a mixture of one cup of soda ash in a gallon of water, then squeeze out the extra water. You can either spray your Procion MX dyes on the shirt while it is still wet with the soda ash mixture, or you can line-dry the soda ash on the shirts and then spray the dye onto them.

You don't need to add salt when doing direct dye application. I recommend that you follow this tie-dyeing recipe for spraying with dye. Any good tie-dyeing recipe will work, as long as you omit any thickener (some people prefer to add a thickener to their dyes for tie-dyeing).

Salt is required only when you dye with a large amount of water, the method used to obtain a single smooth solid color. It helps to drive the dye out of the water onto the fabric. There is no need for salt if you are using only a small amount of water, as in tie-dyeing, especially since you are applying the dye directly to the fiber. If you add salt to the dye concentrates you mix up for tie-dyeing, it may cause the dye to come out of solution and collect at the bottom of the dye bottle, instead of staying dissolved for easy application. If you are currently adding salt to your dyes for tie-dyeing, it's not necessary, but you can continue to use your usual tie-dyeing recipe, placing the dyes in spray bottles instead of the usual plastic squeeze bottles with yorker tips.

Do not spray with dye indoors. The spray's many fine droplets containing dye can dry up as they float through the air, returning to powdered form. You don't want dye powder floating loose in the air in your house. Dye powder floating in the air can make a real mess, causing permanent stains on furnishings. It's also best to carefully avoiding breathing any powdered chemicals, such as dyes. If you breathe in dye powder, you may develop a allergy to it, which would mean that you'd have to quit using it for good. It's a good idea to do any spraying of dye either outdoors or in a spraying booth, and to wear a well-fitting dust mask or respirator when you do it, in case the breeze blows the dye back in your face as you spray it.

Here's a link to a page showing one project I did by spraying Procion MX dyes:
Spray dyeing Leaf silhouettes
I spread the soda-ash-soaked shirt out flat, arranged some fresh-picked leaves over it, sprayed with one color of dye, removed the leaves and arranged fresh leaves in different places, then sprayed with another color. The dye did not seep through to the back, so I flipped the shirt over to repeat the process.

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Monday, August 18, 2008

Will Procion dye change the color of acrylic fabric paint already on the shirt?

Name: Louie

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Message: If I have already painted a shirt with acrylic fabric paint, and allowed it to dry, can I put in procion dye for tie dye or low immersion dyeing, without it affecting the color of the existing paint(s) on the shirt?

The dye will not change the color of the fabric paint itself. However, the paint will act as a resist and prevent complete penetration of the dye. I recommend dyeing a garment before applying fabric paint, rather than afterwards.

If the dye changes the color of the fiber behind the paint, the paint will appear to change color, unless it is an opaque paint. Fabric paint is transparent unless labeled otherwise, which means it will show any color that lies behind it.

Be careful to heat-set your fabric paint by ironing it or heating it in a commercial clothes dryer (home clothes dryers do not get hot enough), before you apply any dye, unless you are certain that the fabric paint you have chosen does not require heat-setting.

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Sunday, August 17, 2008

Are natural fabric dyes best for the environment?

Are natural fabric dyes best for the environment?

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The answer to this question is not as obvious as many people think! Natural dyes carry their own hazards, and are not necessarily kinder to the environment than a dye factory which is run with proper environmental controls. Note that dye plants in some countries such as China are poorly run without proper environmental regulation, but other dye companies such as Dystar have earned eco certification for their factories (the EU label [PDF link] and Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certification [PDF link]).

Most natural dyes require the use of a mordant, which is a metal ion used to pretreat the fabric so that the natural dye will stick to it. Unlike synthetic dyes, most natural dyes will not bond to the fiber without a mordant. The mordant potassium dichromate produces beautiful colors with natural dyes, but it is a known human carcinogen and a dangerous environmental contaminant. (It's the chemical that was in the Erin Brockovitch movie.) The safest mordant, and therefore the most popular for home dyeing, is alum, but alum has been fatal to adults in some cases, and it is much more dangerous for children than the synthetic dyes in a tie-dye kit. Other mordants, such as iron, copper, and tin, have caused many more deaths than alum.

A major cause of environmental damage is the use of pesticides and fertilizers to grow crops such as cotton. Anything which encourages garments to last longer before being replaced is kinder to the environment; anything which encourages people to discard clothing because it looks old and faded is bad for the environment. Natural dyes tend to fade after only a few washings, in contrast to fiber reactive dyes which stay bright for years. Long-lasting permanent dyes probably do less harm to the environment than the frequent diposal and replacement of clothing that has been dyed with less permanent dyes.

Even the production of natural dyes can be bad for the environment. Unlike synthetic dyes, which can be used in tiny quantities, most natural dyes must be used in immense volumes. A pound of fabric that can be dyed with a small spoonful of synthetic dye requires two to three pounds of a natural dyestuff to dye it. This means that converting from synthetic dyes to natural dyes will require that a great deal of land now wild be switched to use in farming. The land required to grow the dyestuffs must be cleared, killing the eco-system that originally occupied the land. The animals and plants that belong to the eco-system are destroyed. Fertilizers are often applied, creating run-off that causes dead zones in the ocean, and pesticides are used that kill birds and other animals, as well as harmless butterflies and other beneficial insects. There are serious economical problems that will result from adding new farm crops, as well; consider how food prices went up around the world this last year, dooming many poor people to starvation, at least partly as the result of the diversion of corn from food for ethanol fuel production. Farming is not harmless to the environment.

In order to be kinder to the environment, you cannot simply substitute natural dyes for synthetic dyes, because in many ways they are just as bad or worse. Instead, you can wear clothing that is made from naturally colored cotton or wool. Cotton can be grown with a range of natural colors in the fiber; instead of fading as they are washed, these naturally colored undyed cottons become more intense in color. Colored cotton fibers were grown in the Americas before the time of Columbus, and in recent years their breeding has been revived by Sally Vreseis Fox. Unfortunately, textile industry forces have tended to suppress the production and sale of naturally colorful undyed cotton. More importantly, you should reduce the amount of clothing that you buy and throw away. Don't buy "disposable" clothes; buy clothes that will last and that you will like for a long time.

For more information, see:
Are Reactive Dyes eco-friendly?
and
Aren't natural dyes safer than synthetic dyes?

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[A version of this answer was first posted, by me, on Yahoo answers, on August 14, 2008.]

Saturday, August 16, 2008

I am trying to dye a light beige suede vest green for a Halloween costume

Name: Ryan

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Message: Hello, I am trying to dye a light beige suede vest green for a Halloween costume that I'm working on and I was wondering if the cold water dyes would work with this, or do I need a special dye for this material? I was thinking about using Batikit Cold Water Fabric Dye because they have a color that I think is perfect, is this a good choice? Also what kind of fixative will i need to add to make this work :)
Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Can you wash the vest? If not, don't dye it. You'll have to wash out the excess unattached dye, which takes a fair amount of washing.

If you can wash the vest, I think that using Procion MX type dyes, such as those in the Batikit Cold Water Fabric Dye, ought to work fine. They will react well with the protein in the vest. The washing and the high pH of the fixing solution (soda ash) will probably stiffen the suede, but that's not as big of a problem for a costume. I think that the soda ash fixer is probably premixed with the dye, in the Batikit brand; check the store display carefully to see if the fixer is sold separately. You might want to do a final rinse with one quart of white vinegar mixed with four quarts of water, as ProChem recommends in their recipe for dyeing chrome-tanned leather with Procion MX dye, in order to neutralize the high pH of the soda ash on the suede. I think it is best to use a cold water dye, because heating the suede is very likely to ruin it.

If you can't wash the vest, I recommend that you use a thin fabric paint, such as Dye-na-Flow. You can dilute this paint with up to one-third as much water.

If the vest is not real suede, but instead a synthetic microsuede cloth, then it is probably made of polyester, which will not take the Batikit dye. In that case, the simplest solution would be to use the fabric paint. Jacquard says that their fabric paints will work on polyester, in addition to natural fibers.

Keep in mind that the current light beige color of the vest will affect the final color. You will not get the same shade of green as you would get with the same dye on white material.

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Friday, August 15, 2008

bleach-tie-dyeing synthetic blend blue jeans

Name: lotsahairlisa

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Rit Color Remover is great for removing most dyes, but it does not work on indigo denim.

Message: Hi there! I have a pair of blue denim jeans that are 87% cotton, 11% polyester, 2% spandex (there is also some suede ribbon down the leg that can be removed). I would like to tie dye it like this shirt.

Can you tell/show me illustrations on how? And, can I just use bleach? (I really just want to bleach out the design and then possibly add color, if I mess it up =)

Should I leave these jeans alone or ? They don't have to be perfect. I play fiddle in a band and want to look a little wild.

This is a problem. You cannot use bleach on anything that contains polyester or especially spandex, because bleach destroys spandex (it eats holes) and damages polyester (it makes permanent yellow stains).

On the other hand, you can't use a color remover, such as Rit Color Remover or Thiox, that would work great on almost any other kind of garment, because the indigo dye in denim is different from all other dyes. Instead of losing its color when confronted with a sulfur-based color remover, it temporarily turns yellow, but then it turns back to blue when oxygen gets to it again.

These two factors combined mean that I can't recommend that you try this streaky discharge dyeing on this particular garment.

Can you find some white or beige jeans that you could dye black? It's okay to have spandex in the fiber blend if you are just going to dye, not bleach, though the polyester will not take the dye. Or, can you find some black jeans to do this to? Most black dyes are chemically different from blue indigo, and some of them will discharge wonderfully with Rit Color Remover. Unfortunately, it is impossible to know whether the manufacturer used a removable dye until you try it.

I can tell you how to do this with 100% cotton clothing of any color, or with cotton/spandex jeans that are a light color to begin with. I can't tell you how to do this with a synthetic fiber blend that is dyed with the blue indigo normally used for blue denim.

What you could do is dye your jeans black with a cool water fiber reactive dye, on top of the blue, and then use a slightly diluted opaque white fabric paint to make the streaky lines. It won't look quite the same. Do you think this would work for you? I think it would be better to start with a different pair of jeans.

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Thursday, August 14, 2008

How can I dye the polyester thread used to sew a cotton garment?

Name: susan

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Message: Hi,
I wanted to colour my dress and sell it. It says it's 100% cotton but I don't know about the material used to sew the dress. If it happens that the sewing thread was not cotton, what do I do?

If the dress is not marketed as having cotton seams, then it is almost certain that the seams are sewn with polyester, which will not take the color from any cotton dye. In some cases, the undyed stitching looks like a decorative touch, but in others it will ruin the style, making a more formal dress look too informal.

It is impractical to try to dye the stitching. You could boil the whole dress in polyester dye, such as Jacquard Products' iDye, but this requires the use of a very large cooking pot which will never again be used for food. A good dyeing pot is an excellent investment if you will be doing a lot of hot water dyeing, but it is too expensive for a one-time use. It is possible that the polyester dye may temporarily stain the cotton, and wash out gradually, giving the impression of non-washfast dye. Another way to dye polyester stitching would be to buy disperse dye fabric crayons and color with them on paper, then iron them on over the polyester stitching. Excess disperse dye that is inadvertently placed on the cotton will eventually wash out. Considering how many meters of hems there are in even moderately-sized garments, I cannot recommend this approach, because it will take too much time and trouble.

It is sometimes possible to find undyed cotton clothing blanks which have been sewn with cotton thread. Look for clothing blanks labeled PFD (for "Prepared For Dyeing"), RTD (for "Ready To Dye") or PFP (for "Prepared For Printing"). Searching with these keywords may help. Most sellers of PFD clothing have minimum orders of at least ten garments. I do not know of suppliers of PFD garments in the UK, where you are, but there are some in the US, such as Dharma Trading Company, which sells a wide range of dyeable clothing sewn with cotton thread, with no minimum purchase. Perhaps you will be able to find a local source. PFD, RTD, or PFP garments have additional advantages for hand dyeing, in that they will be free of starch sizing and other surface finishes which can interfere badly with dyeing.

If that fails, you should be able to find a local tailor or seamstress who can sew for you. There are then two possible approaches. One is to have them sew garments using undyed but prewashed natural fiber yardage and dyeable cotton thread, which you can then dye as you like. The other approach is to dye your own fabric yardage, using any dyeable natural fiber, and take it to be sewn into garments with an appropriate matching color of polyester thread.

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008

switching from liquid Procion H dyes to vinyl sulfone dyes

Name: Tamma
Message: I am having to switch from the liquid Procion H dyes to the vinyl sulfone dyes. Do you have any information about how the two compare. Dilution, steam time, same chemical water formulas, etc. I love the liquid procion H dyes, but my supplier is discontinuing them.
Thanks.

Jacquard Products is discontinuing their Procion H dyes because their supplier no longer makes them. I believe that there are other dye factories left in the world which still make Procion H type dyes and/or Procion H-E type dyes. You might be able to continue to buy Procion H dyes from a different dye supplier, such as PRO Chemical & Dye or G&S Dye. However, the concentrations and the dye selection will be different from a different supplier. See my page on Procion H dyes.

I really like the vinyl sulfone dyes, myself. These are the same as the Remazol dyes you may have read about. The most economical source for vinyl sulfone dyes is PRO Chemical & Dye, whose liquid vinyl sulfone dyes are the most concentrated that you can buy. I have happily used the ProChem Liquid Reactive dyes, as well as the Jacquard Products Red Label Silk Colors, which are a line of vinyl sulfone dyes that they have sold for many years, but I have done more low water immersion dyeing with them than silk painting. (The picture to the right shows an intensely colored dress that I dyed with Remazol dyes in low water immersion.) ProChem's Liquid Reactive Remazol Dyes are four times as concentrated as Jacquard Red Label Silk Colors. I do not know whether the new Jacquard Products "Vinyl Sulphon" dyes are the same strength as their Red Label Silk Colors. For a great deal of information about vinyl sulfone dyes, see my page "Vinyl Sulfone Fiber Reactive Dyes".

Dharma Trading Company says that the Jacquard Vinyl Sulphon dye line is used at the same concentrations as the old Jacquard Procion H dyes, so you should dilute it the same as you are used to doing. It is steamed for the same amount of time and can be intermixed with the Procion H dyes you still have. You should do a test piece before using these dyes on any large or important project, because every dye line is a little different. The colors will be slightly different, and your results might be a little different. I think that you will find them to be satisfactory. Try your usual procedure that you use for Procion H dyes, but don't spend a lot of time on the artistic design of this test piece.

Below are the instructions for the Jacquard Vinyl Sulphon dyes, from the Dharma web site....

Primaries: Bright Yellow, Magenta, Turquoise, Black

"Instructions:

"ON SILK AND COTTON (or other natural fibers):

"To use this dye, you would normally dilute the concentrated dye with chemical water (also use water softener if you have hard water) to the strength of color you desire. To make chemical water, dissolve 1 cup of Urea in 1 quart of hot water. If thickening is desired, (as with screen printing) use Sodium Alginate. Sprinkle 1/2 to 1-1/2 teaspoons into chemical water, depending on thickness desired, then stir constantly until smooth. Let the mixture stand for up to 1 hour to thicken. You can store the mixture refrigerated for weeks.

"Or, instead of making your own chemical water, use our Print Base Kit to which you just add water, and a tablespoon of baking soda if necessary (**see below). Please note, the Print Base kits do contain Sodium Alginate, which thickens the solution for printing and painting applications.

"To dilute the dye, use 2 parts chemical water to 1 part concentrate for very deep shades, 10 to 1 for less vibrant colors. Paint, print or apply to fabric. To fix, let the fabric dry thoroughly, then steam in a steamer 30-45 minutes for silk, longer for thicker fabrics (up to an hour). Some folks have even experimented with microwaving as an alternative to steaming, for small pieces, especially with tie-dye or scrunch dye effects. Rinse under running tepid water until the water runs clear, and then wash in hot water and Synthrapol or our Professional Textile Detergent.

"**Sometimes when steaming, the fabric does not get hot enough, or isn’t steamed for long enough, causing less dye to fix to the fabric and wash out. In this case, adding baking soda to your chemical water, 1 Tablespoon per quart of chemical water, can aid in fixing the dye, giving deeper shades of color.

"Some folks have said they dilute the dyes with just water. Depending on the circumstances, we feel the dyes are not going to reach their full potential, but you will get color. It is up to you.

"ON COTTON (or Rayon, other cellulose fibers):

"If you don't want to steam, or can't, you can use Soda Ash Fixer as a direct substitute for the baking soda in the chemical water instructions above and cure the fabric damp just like you do the powdered Fiber Reactive dyes - 12-24 hours. Rinse and wash out as above. We don't think Vinyl Sulphon dyes come out as brilliantly on cotton as powered Fiber Reactive Procion MX dyes, but it is a great alternative for folks who can't or don't want to work with powders.

"ON RAYON/SILK VELVET or OTHER DEVORE FABRICS:

"Follow any of the instructions above. The advantage of Vinyl Sulphon dyes on these types of protein/cellulose fabric blends is that it will dye both types of fibers the same color, which is not always the case with Fiber Reactive MX dyes. Acid dye will only dye the silk and barely stain the Rayon.

"Storing dye stock solutions

Dye and chemical water (leave out the alginate thickener and baking soda for longest storage!) can be stored in a cool, dark place for up to a few months. Thickened chemical water, or dye solution can last for about 3-4 weeks if stored in a cold, dry location.

"Color Mixing Guidelines

"All the Jacquard Vinyl Sulphon Dye colors can be mixed together to create other colors and shades. In order to reproduce exact colors, careful notes need to be kept on precise amounts used. We encourage you to take the time to test sample color mixtures before starting a large-scale project so you can gain a better understanding of how the colors react when mixed together."

[See Jacquard Vinyl Sulphon Dyes at Dharma Trading Company.]

I would like to know what you think of these dyes after you try them.

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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Dylon Machine Dye is bleeding colour after many many washes

Name: Kerry

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Message: I so hope you have some useful info for me! I have dyed several washloads of expensive irreplaceable items in my machine with dylon machine dye and have recently found out that they are bleeding colour after many many washes. Given that it is on more than one load I believe there is something wrong with my machine (can you guess what? heat, maybe?). Dye jobs before worked well. A couple of the items are silk cotton blends and I don't want to do something that may harm them. To further add to my worry I have sold two items already. (As personal sales, I'm not a business). I would be extremly grateful for your imput.

Dylon Machine Dye contains good fiber reactive dyes, mostly Drimarene K dyes and some Remazol dyes. Once they have bonded properly to the fabric, no dye should rinse out except for the dye that originally failed to bond to the fiber. There is always some dye that does not make this chemical bond, due to reacting with the water rather than the fiber. An essential part of the dyeing process is a careful washout of all of the excess unattached dye.

The most important factor in washing out excess unattached dye is water temperature. Always start your washing-out with a cool water rinse to remove salt and other auxiliary chemicals, but don't stop there. Hot water is far more efficient at dye removal than warm water is; hotter water is even better. Wash your items in the hottest water they can tolerate. I recommend a minimum of 140°F (60°C) if possible. Some dyers use a briefer washout process with hotter water. Even boiling water will not remove properly bonded fiber reactive dye; it will remove only the unwanted dye which failed to bond to the fabric. To conserve energy by reducing the number of washings required, soak your garments in hot water.

Many dyers recommend Synthrapol detergent for washout. (See "What is Synthrapol?".) However, other detergents will work fine for this step. Only a small amount of detergent is required for washing out excess dye; larger amounts of detergent do not interfere with dye removal, but are unnecessary.

Hard water is a serious impediment to dye washout. Your address in the UK suggests that you may have serious problems with hard water. The calcium and magnesium ions in hard water can form complexes with the unattached dye molecules, complexes which can be difficult to wash out. The solution to this problem is to add a water softener, sodium hexametaphosphate, to your dyeing solutions and your washing-out water. You can order this from any good dye supplier, such as Fibrecrafts in the UK. Do not substitute a phosphate-free water softener, as the polycarboxylates in these products can interfere with dye color intensity. See "Dyeing with hard water: water softeners, distilled water, and spring water".

Another problem which is much more difficult to deal with is the use of sizings such as starch in the fabric, before you buy it. Starch will happily take the same dye that cotton does, but then the dyed starch gradually washes out, creating an appearance of non-washfastness. You can test your garments for the presence of starch, before dyeing, by placing a drop of tincture of iodine on the white fabric; if it turns blue or black, there is a lot of starch in the fabric, which will cause problems in dyeing.

Always prewash carefully before dyeing fabric or clothing. The finishes on the fabric may interfere with dyeing.

Occasionally a garment or fabric yardage which has been sold with a claim of being 100% cotton or silk will turn out to have been mislabeled, and actually contain synthetic fibers such as polyester or acetate. These fibers will not take the dye. If your fabric is supposed to be 100% cotton, when it is actually 50% cotton and 50% polyester, the dye will not take as well as you expect. Polyester will not take any ordinary dye, and can be dyed with special polyester dyes only if you boil it with them.

After you have completed a thorough washout in the hottest water possible, if you are still having problems with incomplete washout and the resulting bleeding of dye, you can buy a commercial cationic dye fixative, such as Retayne, which can "set" the remaining excess dye in place. Never use these products on a fiber reactive dye until you have made a strong effort to wash out all of the excess unattached dye, because using the fixative before most of the excess dye has washed out can cause problems with back-staining if you are doing any form of multicolored dyeing, such as tie-dyeing or dye painting. Retayne and other dye fixatives can be purchased in a quilting supply store or by mail-order from a good dye supplier. A brand of direct dye fixative carried by Fibrecrafts in the UK is DEKA L Fixative; this is probably the same sort of product as Retayne. See "Commercial Dye Fixatives (Retayne, Raycafix, Dyefix, Dharma Dye Fixative....)".

If you are unable to get a complete washout of the excess unattached dye, you will need to place a warning label on any items you sell, advising the purchaser to wash the item separately from other colors. This is always necessary if you use a less washfast dye, such as Rit all-purpose dye or DEKA L direct dye. It is usually not necessary with good fiber reactive dyes such as Dylon Machine Dye.

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Monday, August 11, 2008

Do you know where I can find either Hypercolor material or thermosensitive dye?

Do you know where I can find either Hypercolor

material or thermosensitive dye?

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I really enjoy sewing and am in the middle of putting together a portfolio to apply to get into a fashion subject at uni... I have decided that I would really like to bring back Hypercolor, but I cant find it anywhere!

Thermochromic fabric, which temporarily changes color when warmed by your skin, has been brought back by Dyenamic Infusion, which, in addition to a range of clothing, sells "Black Diamond" thermochromic-pigment-dyed fabric in the US for $30 a yard. The minimum order is 100 yards; for a smll project, you might do better to cut up some fabric from a shirt.

You can sometimes also buy thermochromic fabric paint in the UK from Ridgewell Press. The supply seems to be inconsistent. In addition, they sell fabric paint that changes color in response to ultraviolet light from the sun. At the moment they appear to have some Smart Phase heat-sensitive color-changing fabric. See the following article for more information on how thermochromic pigments work, and where to buy them: "Thermochromic pigment changes color when warm, and changes back again when cool".

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[An earlier version of this answer was first posted, by me, on Yahoo Answers, on August 7, 2008.]

Sunday, August 10, 2008

How can I dye polyester scrubs black and keep it black?

How can I dye my shirt black & keep it black?

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I had to buy scrubs for a cosmetology class & they only had a white shirt. I have used 2 whole bottles of the RIT black dye [on the stove] & each time it just washes out & leaves it a gray/purple/brown color. Is there anything that I can use or do to make it stay black?

What is the fiber content of the shirt? If it is 100% cotton, you can dye it a good dark black that will stay black by using Procion MX dye, but if the shirt is a polyester blend, that won't work.

Polyester will not take any ordinary sort of dye such as Rit dye or Procion dye. The only dye that will work on polyester is a special polyester dye called disperse dye. You can't buy disperse dye locally. Instead, you must buy it by mail-order from a dye supplier such as PRO Chemical & Dye. There is a brand of disperse dye called "iDye Poly" that you can mail-order from Dick Blick or Dharma Trading Company. (Don't get regular "iDye", only "iDye Poly".) See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes".

Of course, if you're going to the trouble of ordering by mail, you might as well just mail-order a scrubs top that is black already, or order an easy-to-dye 100% cotton scrubs top from Dharma Trading Company. Cotton is much easier to dye than polyester.

Update:
Thanks, it was made out of polyester so I ordered some idye poly for it. Thank you so much!

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[This answer was first posted, by me, on August 9, 2008, on Yahoo Answers.]

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Is it possible to dye crimpoline with normal hand dye?

Is it possible to dye crimpoline with normal hand dye?

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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends

No. Crimplene is a brand of polyester. Polyester cannot be dyed with ordinary hand dyes. Instead, you must buy a special kind of polyester dye, called disperse dye, and boil the Crimplene garment in it for an hour, or follow the manufacturer's instructions. See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes".

Disperse dye cannot be purchased in your local shops. You can buy it only by mail-order. There is no dye suitable for Crimplene that is made by Dylon or Rit. In the UK, you can mail-order disperse dye from Fibrecrafts; in Australia, you can order from Batik Oetoro; and in the US you can order it from PRO Chemical & Dye. There is a new brand of disperse dye that was recently introduced, iDye Poly, which is sold by Fibrecrafts in the UK and by Jacquard retailers such as Dick Blick or Dharma Trading Company in the US. Disperse dye will not work if you use it in hot tap water; only extensive boiling will enable the disperse dye to adhere to the fiber.

Note that the pot you dye your clothing in must never again be used for food preparation after you have dyed clothing in it, because clothing dyes will contaminate food. If you are planning to dye a number of items in hot water dyes, a dyeing pot is an excellent investment. It can be expensive, because the pot should be large enough for your fabric or fiber to move about in freely, as you boil it in the dye, and the pot must be made only of a non-reactive finish, either stainless steel or enamel. A good dyepot is generally too expensive if you are only going to dye this one thing ever, and never dye again. In that case, it would be more economical to buy a new garment, instead of dyeing.

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[This answer was first posted, by me, on August 4, 2008, on Yahoo Answers.]

Friday, August 08, 2008

Can we tie-dye 60% cotton/40% polyester hoodies for a tie-dye party?

Name: Susan

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Message: Hi Paula:
My 11 year old daughter wants to have a tie dye birthday party and wants her friends to tie dye fleece hooded sweat shirts as the party activity. My brother can purchase for me at a discount the sweatshirts but they are 60% cotton and 40% polyester. Can this be done and what dye do you reccomend for a back yard children party wher I am the supervisor?!!!

The only dye I recommend for tie-dyeing is a cool water fiber reactive dye, such as Procion dye. Do not use a hot water dye such as all-purpose dye, because it requires scalding hot water to fix the dye, and because the dye fades and bleeds very badly in the wash. Procion dye will stay bright for years! An excellent choice would be almost any tie-dye kit. Go to your local crafts store and look for a tie-dye kit made by Jacquard, Dylon, Tulip, or Rainbow Rock. (Avoid the Rit tie-dye kit and the Magic Strings tie-dye kit, which contain hot water dyes that tend to fade badly.) Or, even better, go to the website of a good dye supplier such as PRO Chemical & Dye or Dharma Trading Company, and order a tie-dye kit from them.

60% cotton sweatshirts will not dye very brightly. You will get pastel colors that are 40% lighter than the usual colors, because the polyester will not take the dye. This is not necessarily a bad thing, since girls often like pastels, but if your daughter or her friends like bright colors, you should make an effort to find clothing that is 100% cotton, or at least 80% cotton. Dharma Trading Company has a wide range of highly suitable white dyeable clothing in all sizes. I recommend you check with them for something better than the 40% polyester sweatshirts. They have hoodies in a wide range of sizes. (Note that their sizes tend to run small.)

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Thursday, August 07, 2008

How can I dye a golf head cover black? I have no clue of the material!

Name: Larissa

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Message: I have a golf head cover that I would like to dye all in black. It's from Daphne and I have no clue of the material. How should I go about that? Your help will be greatly appreciated.

I would not want to bother trying to dye something whose fiber content is unknown, because the dyes that work on one fiber will completely fail on another. You could waste a lot of money on dyes and a dyepot, and a lot of time and effort, and still not have success in dyeing!

However, if you can snip a bit of excess fabric from a hidden seam, you can test your material to see what fiber it is made of. If it dissolves in nail polish remover, then you know that it is acetate - not likely, for a golf club cover. If you burn a snippet, then the odor as it burns, the color of the smoke, and the ash it leaves behind are all informative. Cotton will smell like burning paper and leave a crumbly ash. Silk and wool smell like burning hair. Nylon melts as it burns and smells like burning plastic or celery, leaving a hard gray bead instead of ash, while polyester smells sweet as it burns and leaves a hard black bead. See the Ditzy Prints Fiber Burn Chart and the Fabrics.net fabric identification page.

Once you know what sort of fiber you have, you can use that to decide what kind of dye best suits your fiber. Cotton and rayon are best dyed with fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dyes. Nylon is best dyed with acid dyes, such as PRO Chemical & Dye's Washfast Acid Dyes. Polyester can be dyed only by boiling it with disperse dyes. Olefin cannot be dyed at all. Please examine the following pages....

• Choosing the right dye for your fiber

• How to dye cotton

• How to dye nylon

• How to dye rayon

• How to dye polyester

• How to dye acrylic fiber

All dyes other than cool water fiber reactive dyes will require that you use a large non-aluminum cooking pot to boil the item to be dyed, with the dye. This pot must never again be used for cooking food, because fabric dyes will contaminate food.

Alternatively, you can use fabric paint to recolor most natural fibers and some synthetic fibers. Paint that is labeled as fabric paint is much more suitable than any other paint; it will feel less stiff and scratchy, and will cling to the fabric better. See "Fabric Paints: a different way to color fibers". Not all fabric paints will work on every kind of fabric. Jacquard Products says that their fabric paints, including Jacquard Textile Colors and Dye-na-Flow fabric paint, will work on polyester. Dharma Trading Company says the same thing about their Dharma Pigment Dyes fabric paint system. Note that no fabric paint will produce a perfectly smooth solid color as a dye will, but, for polyester, fabric paint is easier to use than polyester dye, and less expensive, too, since it doesn't require that you invest in a dyeing pot.

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Wednesday, August 06, 2008

My daughter washed a recently tye dyed shirt with other white shirts and the red color stained the other shirts in the wash. Is there a way to remove these stains?

Name: Diane

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Message: My daughter washed a recently tye dyed shirt with other white shirts and the red color stained the other shirts in the wash. Is there a way to remove these stains? I tried soaking with Oxy-clean in hot water but it hasn't worked. The shirts aren't all white, so I really can't bleach them without removing the other colors. Do you have any other suggestions? Thanks for your help.

Did she use proper tie-dyeing dye, such as Procion dye or from a good tie-dyeing kit, or did she use Rit dye?

I asked my daughter what type of tie dye it was and she wasn't sure. She is a camp counselor and the kids tie dyed t-shirts as one of their projects. We are assuming its probably the Rit dye. Do you think it will come out of the other shirts? Please let me know if you have any suggestions for removing it. Thanks again for your help!

First try soaking with hotter water and then washing in hot water. Dye stains from the laundry will often come out when soaked in very hot water (140°F or above). Oxyclean will probably have no effect, good or bad.

If that doesn't work, I recommend that you buy some Rit Color Remover. This product is gentler than bleach. I do not recommend the use of Rit dye on cotton, but Rit Color Remover is an excellent product. It's most effective on the stovetop, but far easier to use in the washing machine, so I recommend the latter. You may need to use two boxes at once in the washing machine.

Rit Color Remover might remove some of the original dye in the shirts. You don't know until you try it. If hot water does not work, though, the stained shirts are probably unusable, so it's worth a try.

Another option is to apply bleach only to specific parts of the shirt, then quickly rinse and then neutralize with hydrogen peroxide or Anti-chlor. Unlike liquid bleach, the Clorox Bleach Pen can be applied with great precision. The only problem is making sure to rinse it out without spreading the bleach onto the parts of the shirts that you do not want to bleach.

All-purpose dye functions very poorly for tie-dyeing. As a general rule, anything that has been dyed with an all-purpose dye, such as Rit dye, should be hand washed separately in cold water. Rit dyed clothing is not safe to throw into the laundry with other clothes.

To make Rit dye safe to wash in the washing machine, you can buy a commercial dye fixative called Retayne. This product is available in your local quilting supply store, if you have one, or by mail-order.

A better choice is to use a good tie-dye kit, instead of Rit dye. The Procion type dyes found in a good tie-dye kit are permanent, unlike Rit dye, and are fixed with washing soda rather than hot water. Once the unattached excess dye has been washed out, it is safe to wash Procion-dyed clothing together with any other clothing, even whites, even in hot water. It is very different from Rit.

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Tuesday, August 05, 2008

How long does soda ash stay good once mixed with water: hours, days...?

Name: Ana

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Message: How long does soda ash stay good once mixed with water: hours, days...?
Can I reuse the same mixture days or weeks later and have the pH desired?

thank you so much, I love your site!!

Soda ash is unusual in that it stays good practically forever, even after being mixed with water. The sodium carbonate will not degrade into another chemical, and mold will not grow in a strong solution of soda ash. If evaporation lowers the level of water in the bucket, the soda ash will become more concentrated; just add more water to bring it back to the original level.

One problem that dyers sometimes complain of is the weakness of repurposed plastic milk jugs, when soda ash is stored in them. The plastic in milk bottles is very thin and weak, so the jug is apt to develop leaks within a few months or even weeks. There is no problem in storing soda ash in a sturdy plastic bucket or in sturdier plastic jugs, such as the ones vinegar is sold in.

In contrast to soda ash, fiber reactive dyes will have their reactivity used up within an hour or so, once even a single drop of soda ash has become mixed with the dye. In the absence of soda ash, if the dyes are mixed up in pH-neutral water, the dyes will stay good for at least a week at room temperature, and longer at refrigerator temperature.

Also see "What is soda ash, and what's it for in dyeing?".

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Monday, August 04, 2008

With batik, how do you make a mottled or swirley blend of two different colors?

Name: Misty

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Message: I had created a batik waaaay back in high school and as I remember, we actually painted a picture with dye on the fabric, then coated areas in wax, crackled it, then dipped the whole thing into very dark dye to give it an old, weathered look.

I'm wanting to give it a try again. This time, I'd like to try do make wearables, and I absolutely love your boys' shirts! The question I have is how do you make the mottled, or swirley blend of two different colors on the shirts? I am assuming you are not dipping the entire garment into dye??? I would like to use teal and purples or blues, but I don't want just one big blotch of the same color all over the shirt.

Your help would sincerely be appreciated! Thanks so much!

What I like to do is wax a design onto the prewashed white shirt, using batik wax (a blend of beeswax and paraffin) that I have heated in an electric skillet to 230°F. Afterwards, I let the wax solidify (and most likely come back another day), then I follow the usual recipe for tie-dyeing, only without the tying. I soak the shirt in soda ash for five minutes (you don't want to leave it in the soda ash too long), then gently squeeze out extra liquid and lay the shirt flat on my work surface. Finally I squirt the different colors of fiber reactive dye directly onto the shirt, wherever I want them. In general, I tend to end up with pale colors where the wax is, rather than perfect white.

Some sources refer to this technique as "faux batik", because you can get multi-colored results while using only a single round of waxing, in place of the repeated cycles of dyeing and waxing that are required for multi-colored results in traditional batik. The technique you used in school could be described as faux batik, too, since it gives the effect of batik when dye painting is the source of the multi-colored design. You could also combine the two methods, if you like.

I strongly recommend that you choose a good dye. Don't use an all-purpose dye such as Rit dye or DEKA-L dye. Instead, use a cool water fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. This might be the kind of dye you used before. It works great with wax because it can be used with cool water that will not soften the wax. Procion MX dye is set with soda ash, instead of with boiling hot water. The results are far more resistant to fading and washing out that any brand of all-purpose dye.

Any good tie-dye kit will work (look in your local crafts store for a kit made by Jacquard, Dylon, Rainbow Rock, or Tulip), or you can mail-order exactly the colors you want. There are ten or twenty different Procion MX dye colors, plus a hundred more colors that are mixtures of two or more Procion MX dyes. You can buy your favorite colors, or you can buy the mixing primary colors and learn to mix your own.

For more details, please see "How to Batik".

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Sunday, August 03, 2008

what can we do about red dye stains on dry-clean-only pants?

Name: Dixie

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Message: My daughter was unpacking her suitcase and discovered that a red shirt had bleed over several pieces of clothing but one was a dry clean only pair of pants, is there anyway to remove the red spots on her pants?

I am not a dry cleaning professional and cannot advise you on whether one can help. You should go to your local dry cleaners and ask.

I can tell you that washing or soaking in hot water (140°F or hotter) will remove almost all stains from unwanted dye transfer, and that when that fails Rit Color Remover will often produce excellent results, when used in the washing machine according to the instructions in the package (two boxes for an extra-large washing machine). However, neither of these two treatments is safe to use if your pants are truly dry-clean-only.

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Saturday, August 02, 2008

Would you know of any sources for the dyes: ERIOFAST BLUE 3G, ERIONYL BLUE A-4G and ERIONYL TURQUOISE A-G?

Name: Michael

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Message: Would you know of any sources for the dyes: ERIOFAST BLUE 3G, ERIONYL BLUE A-4G and ERIONYL TURQUOISE A-G? Are any of these dyes CI listed? Please let me know.

Eriofast dyes were formerly produced by Ciba Specialty Chemicals and are now produced by Huntsman Textile Effects. Huntsman purchased the dye branch of the Ciba corporation in 2006. They are metal-free acid dyes for use on nylon, claimed to have exceptionally high washfastness and lightfastness.

I have not been able to find any Colour Index names for Eriofast dyes. Not all of the dyes formerly made by Ciba Specialty Chemicals have Colour Index names. For example, many of the Lanaset dyes, which are now made by Huntsman, lack C.I. names.

Erionyl dyes are available from the same source as Eriofast. They include non-sulfonated metal complex dyes and monosulfonated and disulfonated metal-free acid dyes mainly used, as their name suggests, for dyeing and printing polyamide (including nylon). The only Colour Index names I've found for Erionyl dyes are C.I. acid blue 120 for Erionyl Navy Blue G, C.I. acid red 316 for Erionyl Scarlet M2R, and C.I. acid yellow 151 for Erionyl yellow MR, but I expect that Colour Index names probably do exist for the other Erionyl dyes.

C.I. acid blue 120 (structure from Sigma Aldritch)

C.I. acid blue 120 (structure from Sigma Aldritch)

Structure of C.I. acid blue 120, from Sigma Aldritch.

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Friday, August 01, 2008

what kind of vinegar should I soak my tie-dyed shirts in?

Name: Dawn

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Message: I did a tie dye project at camp. I can't find the follow-up instructions. It said something about soaking the t=shirts in Vinegar for 30 minutes. I don't know the type of dye we used. We soaked tied fabric in water for 10 minutes before we squeezed different color dyes on the shirt. then squeezed the excess dye out and placed in plastic bag for min. of 24 hours. After that, we were to do something with vinegar for 30 minutes and then wash separately. Any clues for whether it is pure vinegar or a diluted vinegar from what I described or what you know??

It really doesn't matter what kind of vinegar they told you to use, because they were wrong. Vinegar will do nothing to set tie-dye on cotton! At worst, it can actively prevent the dye from binding to the cotton. You will do better to skip this step altogether. It's a shame when people are allowed to teach about subjects they do not understand; it is clear that your teachers were completely ignorant about tie-dyeing.

The best dyes to use for tie-dye are the fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dyes. These dyes are set at a high pH, by pre-soaking in soda ash mixed with water. Vinegar has a low pH and will neutralize the soda ash, preventing the dye from setting. If the dye reaction has been given enough time to complete before the vinegar is added, then the vinegar will usually do nothing, which is the best you can hope from using vinegar to set dye on cotton. In some cases it may strip out the dye. I am assuming that you were dyeing cotton shirts, and not silk or nylon shirts; vinegar can be used instead of soda ash on silk or nylon, but never on cotton.

A poor alternative to Procion MX dyes for tie-dyeing is all-purpose dye, such as Rit brand dye. These dyes work best when applied in boiling hot water, but even then they will fade quickly and bleed in the laundry every time they are washed. Vinegar will not harm all-purpose dye, but it will not help a bit, either, if you are dyeing cotton. (All-purpose dye does work better on wool or nylon when some vinegar is added during the boiling step, but vinegar does not help Rit to last longer on cotton.) The only way to keep all-purpose dye from running badly, fading quickly, and bleeding in the laundry and ruining other clothes, is to treat it with a commercial dye fixative called Retayne.

In the future, I recommend that you buy a good tie dye kit for tie-dyeing. Go to a crafts store and look for a kit made by Jacquard, Dylon, Rainbow Rock, or Tulip, or buy dye from a good art supplier online. Do not use Rit dye for tie-dyeing cotton. If you want to get more into tie-dyeing or other forms of dyeing, there is a wealth of further information available on this site.

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