Archives for May, 2009

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Sunday, May 31, 2009

Will Sodium BiCarbonate work the same as Sodium Carbonate or soda ash?

Name: Mark

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Message: Will Sodium BiCarbonate work the same as Sodium Carbonate or soda ash? Thank you very much for your response. I really appreciate it.

No, sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) does not produce a high enough pH. Sodium carbonate (soda ash or washing soda) will produce a pH around 11, while sodium bicarbonate will produce a pH only round 8, which is too low for optimal results.

You can readily buy sodium carbonate from a local swimming pool supplier or hardware store. Look for a product called "pH Up" or "pH Increaser". Check the lower front label for the actual ingredients. Do not accept bicarbonate when you have asked for carbonate.

You can often also find Washing Soda, which is a hydrated form of sodium carbonate, in the grocery store with the laundry products. Look for Arm & Hammer brand, which is free of dyes and other additives.
Also see "What is soda ash, and what's it for in dyeing?", and an interesting blog question, "Finding auxiliary chemicals for dyeing in Kathmandu".

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Thursday, May 28, 2009

How to dye a subtle mottled black background

Name: Orson

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Message: I found this company called The Mountain that makes dyed shirts with prints on them and the style of dye is exactly what I'm looking to make. I'm not sure if it's LWI or another type of tie dye so I wanted to check if you knew how I could dye shirts that would look like theirs? Their website is themountain.com and here's a link to a site that sells their shirts. This shirt is a perfect example of the black/grey dye style I want to do [see detail at right].

There are two kinds of dyeing on that shirt. The foreground picture of wolves was apparently printed using dyes, rather than the usual screen printing inks, which means it will feel soft even on the picture. I gather that you're asking about the background, however.

Low water immersion dyeing, or LWI, is a good way to achieve the effect seen on the background, which is composed of different shades of black/gray. See "How to Do Low Water Immersion Dyeing". Note that it makes a big difference whether you use a premixed color, or a single-color dye: see my post, "Black Dyes: mixtures and single-color blacks". The amount of variegation is affected by how much you move the fabric in the LWI dyebath. The black shirt on that page that I dyed with Dylon Permanent 12 Black, which is a single-color black, shows some white because I did not disturb that fabric at all after adding the dye; poking at the fabric and turning it over in the dyebath will result in having no white regions remain at all. Without stirring, a premixed black, such as a Procion MX black, will show different shades of brown and navy in LWI dyeing, but enough stirring will help even the several colors that are mixed together look more black.

You can also dye a similar background using direct dye application, which is like tie-dyeing without the ties. You can follow the tie-dyeing recipe, except for the tying, and presoak the shirt in soda ash before painting or squirting on the dye.

There is no way that any form of tie-dye could be used to dye that background. Tie-dyeing requires the use of ties or rubber bands to constrict the fabric, preventing dye from reaching some part of the fabric. If you look at that background, there is no sign that any ties of any sort were used.

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dyeing a sinamay hat

Name: Catherine

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Message: I am going to be cheeky and ask you a question direct, I hope you don't mind, I am getting a little desperate and I have just been told that you are the queen of all dyeing knowledge. Promise I will use the forum next time...I tried dyeing sinamay with acid dye which turned out very badly. I was informed that I should be using Procion dye and so tried that this morning. It was going very well, the colour was just what I wanted until I dried the sinamay. I hung it on the line - just for 10 minutes in the weak Welsh sun - and it changed colour, from a lovely red violet to a much bluer colour. It also went very dull and flat and the colour was very patchy. There are remnants of the original colour where the pegs were which made me wonder if it was the sun but I have been advised that its unlikely. I actually got pretty much the same disasterous result as when I used the acid dye.

I wonder if you'd do better to use a fabric paint, instead of dye. You can correct the color of the Procion MX fiber reactive dye on your sinamay by dyeing it again with a fuschia or magenta Procion MX dye, but it will still suffer from the patchiness and the alteration to the surface sheen.

You might be able to correct the dullness by spraying on a shiny acrylic coating, such as is used as a fixative for chalk or pastel drawings, or by applying a polyurethane varnish. Look for the pastel fixative at an arts or crafts store; look for polyurethane varnish at a hardware store. Ordinary spray paint is no good at all for most fabrics, because it makes the material stiff and scratchy. Would it be a problem if your sinamay hats are a little stiff and scratchy? It seems to me that the stiffness might be a good thing, and th scratchiness not an issue, on a hat. I am only afraid that some non-fabric-type paints might crack or peel when the material is flexed. It is important to use only fabric paints when painting on fabric used in garments, because of the scratchiness issue with ordinary paints; fabric paints are softer, and also more flexible.

Since sinamay is a cellulose-based fiber, it ought to dye well with Procion MX dye, but whether it will dye splotchy, rather than smooth, depends on the preparation of the fiber. Fibers that are not sold specifically for dyeing may have oils or waxes on them from the manufacturing process, or may have had surface finishes added which will interfere with the dye's ability to penetrate the fiber. It is important to prewash material in hot water before dyeing it; this will remove some but not all of the finishes or oils that can interfere with dyeing.

If the sinamay was stiffened before you acquired it, it probably contains synthetic polyvinyl alcohol glues which will be impossible to completely remove, and which will prevent the dye from penetrating. In this case, I think that spraying on fabric paint or regular spray paint will be your only options.

The color change after you hung the hat on the line is probably meaningless. Some dye colors change temporarily in the high pH of the soda ash. This is insignificant and temporary, although it looks dramatic. See, for example my Dye Forum post about boysenberry Procion MX dye:
"boysenberry MX dye turns red with high pH". After you have completed the dyeing, restore the pH to normal by just washing, or if necessary by washing and then rinsing in a very dilute mixture of vinegar in water. Some water supplies require a bit of distilled white vinegar in order to lower the pH of the water to neutral.

It is also possible that some dullness is caused to the sinamay, by either permanent damage from the soda ash, or by the temporary high pH. See whether the vinegar rinse helps restore the sheen of the sinamay. Also try an unscented fabric softener to see if it restores the sheen; the best fabric softener is sold by dye suppliers, but I don't know whether your supplier carries it.

Procion MX dyes work best at a pH of 10.5 to 11, though this varies by the fiber, but they will work even at a somewhat lower pH. If the dilute vinegar after-rinse does not help maintain the sheen of the sinamay, try using a much smaller amount of soda ash, or mix soda ash with baking soda. Do not omit the soda ash, because Procion MX dye does require a pH of at least 8 or 9 to work at all.

The remaining alternative for dyeing would be a direct dye. Direct dyes are poorly washfast and make an inferior dye for cotton, but this might not be a problem for a hat. Also, there is a dye fixative, Retayne, which can make direct dyes acceptably washfast, though it increases lightfading. Deka L is one brand of direct dyes. There is also direct dye (mixed with useless acid dye) in the mixture known as all-purpose dye. Brands of all-purpose dye include Rit dye, and Dylon Multi Purpose (but no other line of Dylon dye - the others, including Dylon Cold Dye, Dylon Permanent Dye, Dylon Hand Dye, and Dylon Machine Dye, are all fiber reactive dyes).

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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

I'm getting ready to try batik with my children and will be using the blue glue techniques as they are under 9...but will it work with store-bought tie dyes?

Name: Nancy

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Message: I'm getting ready to try batik with my children and will be using the blue glue techniques as they are under 9...but will it work with store-bought tie dyes?

Elmer's Washable Blue School Glue Gel makes a good resist, without exposing children to the risks of working with hot wax. See Immersion Dyeing with Water Soluble Resist.

There are excellent tie-dye kits available at local stores, and there are horrible tie-dye kits available at local stores. It makes a big difference which you choose. The better tie-dye kits are ideal for batiking.

Do NOT buy the Rit brand tie-dye kit. It contains hot-water all-purpose dyes. Soaking the resist-treated fabric in the hot water plus dye will remove your resist, destroying the project. All-purpose dye is almost never a good choice for dyeing cotton; fiber reactive dyes are superior in so many different ways. Also avoid the 'Magic Strings' tie-dye kits, which contain an inferior hot water dye impregnated into the strings; these require that you boil the fabric with the strings tied around them, and the dye fades rather quickly if you ever wash the fabric you've dyed with it.

One of the easiest-to-find tie-dye kits, in local crafts stores or sewing stores, is the Jacquard Tie Dye Kit. This kit is an excellent choice. Since it contains cool water fiber reactive dyes, there's no need to soak the resist long enough for it to come off; you can just paint the dye on. Most other tie-dye kits contain the same sort of dyes and this are equally good for your purposes. If you can't find the Jacquard Tie-dye kit (or Jacquard's smaller kit, the 'Funky Groovy' tie-dye kit), look for a tie-dye kit produced by Rainbow Rock, Tulip, or Dylon. There are other brands that will also be okay; they contain Procion MX or Permabril C dye, or possibly Drimarene K or Remazol dye, plus they contain soda ash or another high-pH chemical to set the dye.

To use the Elmer's Washable Blue School Glue Gel, first place a piece of plastic-wrapped cardboard, or foil-wrapped cardboard, inside each shirt so that the front of the shirt does not touch the back. Otherwise, when the glue is wetted by the dye, it will transfer to any other fabric it is touching. This is obviously not an issue if your children will be using unsewn fabric.

Apply the Washable Blue Glue Gel to the fabric using the applicator tops, which can be adjusted somewhat to give thicker or thinner lines. Press the opening right into the fabric, to make sure that the glue penetrates. Allow the glue to dry until it is absolutely free of moisture. If you cannot wait overnight, using a hair dryer to speed up the drying. Check to make sure that the glue has penetrated the fabric. Turn the fabric over and apply glue along the same lines, if necessary. You don't want the dye to creep in from the back and ruin your design. Before going on the the next step, make sure that all of the glue is absolutely bone-dry.

To apply the dye, it is better to squirt or brush on concentrated dye, as in modern multi-colored tie-dyeing. It is not as good an idea to submerge the glue-resisted material in a dyebath and soak it, as in traditional one-color tie-dyeing. This is because the glue will, if submerged too long, simply dissolve in the dyebath and float away. If you use a good cool-water tie-dye kit and follow the instructions for mixing up the dye in squirt bottles, you can apply the different colors exactly where you want, with no need to submerge the glue-resisted fabric.

To fix the dye, you must use soda ash at some point in the process (and you must be using a 100% natural untreated fabric such as cotton or silk, or else rayon). There are several different ways you can choose to use the soda ash; pick one, don't leave it out, because the soda ash is essential for fixing the dye to the fabric. One way is to add a half-teaspoonful of soda ash powder to each bottle of dye and shake it well, immediately before use. The dyes will last for no more than an hour after they are activated by adding the soda ash, so don't do this in advance. You can mix the dyes up without the soda ash up to one week in advance, but add the soda ash only once you are completely ready to apply the dye. Some tie-dyeing kits have the soda ash already mixed in with the dye powder; with these kits, you're all set to go; just be sure not to add the water until everything else is ready for applying the dye.

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As an alternative, you can presoak the fabric in a soda ash solution (one-half cup to one cup per gallon of water), let it dry, and then apply the Elmer's Washable Blue School Glue Gel. This is closer to what the classic tie-dyeing recipe calls for. We usually dampen shirts with water, tie them, then soak them in soda ash for fifteen minutes, before applying the dye. Don't soak your glue-resisted fabric in soda ash, because more than a minute in the bath will destroy the glue designs. It's safer to apply the glue after the soda ash, but the soda ash-soaked fabric must be line-dried, and must be completely dry, before you make your glue designs, and the soda ash powder in the fabric can be irritating to the hands and noses. I don't really like the idea of giving soda-ash-soaked fabric to the children to use. It's not horribly poisonous, but it can be very irritating to the hands and eyes, and I do not recommend exposing any child who has asthma to the irritating powder. The liquid soda ash solution is much less irritating, when it is mixed with water, as long as you wear gloves whenever you work with it. If you get any soda ash on your skin, rinse it off, or at least wipe it off, or your skin will get red and irritated.

After you apply the dye, wrap the pieces in plastic wrap and leave them in a warm place (70°F or warmer) overnight, for the dye to react with the fabric and the soda ash. You can complete the reaction more quickly than this—at least half of the color will have fixed to the fabric within an hour—but washing out after only an hour increases the risk of permanent backstaining, since there will still be active dye present and able to react with the wrong part of the fabric as you rinse it off. Washing out the next day avoids the problem of backstaining. To remove the Elmer's Washable Blue School Glue Gel, follow the instructions on the bottle, which say to soak in cool water for ten minutes before washing. Use hot water to remove the unattached excess dye, so that your projects will not bleed in the laundry in the future.

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Should I use a reactive dye or a fiber reactive dye for a couch?

Name: Louis

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Message: Should I use a reactive dye or a fiber reactive dye for couch. We have an old victorian red couch we would like to add on the fabric.

Do you suggest another dye or method?

First, the choice is not between fiber reactive and reactive. Reactive dye and fiber reactive dye are the same thing, when these phrases are used to describe textile dyes. Perhaps you meant to compare all-purpose dye with fiber reactive dye? All-purpose dye would be a horrible choice, since it can most successfully be applied only by heating the fabric in the dye, but even a cool-water fiber reactive dye will not work to dye a couch whose fabric cannot be removed for the dyeing and washing out steps.

Second, you should not dye any upholstery unless the fabric can be thoroughly rinsed. Unrinsed dye will rub off onto the clothing of anyone unwary enough to sit upon it, probably ruining their clothes. I recommend that you remove the fabric from your old victorian red couch, and either dye it, or, and this is a much better idea, buy new fabric and use the old fabric as a pattern to cut out and sew the new fabric to reupholster your couch. The results will be much better. You must determine the exact fiber content of the fabric on your couch before you dye it, even if you have properly removed it, because a cotton dye won't work on wool, a wool dye won't work on polyester, and no dye will work on olefin.

It is possible to use a good fabric paint, such as Pebeo Setacolor or Jacquard Dye-Na-Flow, instead of dye, in order to recolor the fabric of your couch to a darker color. A possibly easier-to-apply brand is the Simply Spray line of upholstery paint. However, the cost of several quarts of high-quality fabric paint will be as great as reupholstering the fabric yourself, and the results will not withstand wear nearly as well as properly dyed and washed fabric, fabric that is dyed before it is applied to the couch. Fabric paint wears off more quickly than a good dye, because it sits on the surface of the fiber, so it will be worn through before the fabric itself suffers damage.

For more detailed information on dyeing furniture, see the following:

"Can furniture be dyed successfully?", and

"Scarlet Zebra's Instructions for Painting Upholstered Furniture"

in addition to the unfortunate situation presented in the February 1, 2008 All About Hand Dyeing Q&A blog question,

"I dyed our white canvas couch DARK BLUE with RIT, then when we went to move it our hands were blue. HELP!".

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Monday, May 25, 2009

How to airbrush velour without changing the fabric's softness

Name: Trish

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Message: I would like to know if it would be possible to airbrush dye onto a cotton velour, or any other velour for that matter. I'm an artist, and I love to try new things! What type of dye could I use? Do you know if it would change the softness of the velour? I am hoping for something that won't change that great texture. Thanks so much!

Oh, yes, this is absolutely possible.

You can airbrush on almost any fabric using a good fabric paint, such as Jacquard Product's Dye-Na-Flow diluted with 25% water, but there will always be a slight but perceptible change in the feel of the fabric when you use a good fabric paint. There will be a massive change in the feel of the fabric if you use a poor fabric paint! Ordinary artists' acrylic paints will make the fabric very scratchy and rough.

If you want there to be no change whatsoever in the feel of the fabric after airbrushing, you must use a true dye, instead of a fabric paint. You will need to use a 100% natural fiber, such as cotton, or silk, or the regenerated cellulose fiber which is called rayon or viscose, which behaves exactly like a natural fiber. Avoid hard-to-dye fabrics such as polyester, acetate, or acrylic. You will get good results from a fiber that is 5% spandex plus 95% natural fiber, though.

Cotton velour is an excellent choice. Also consider the luscious silk/rayon blend velvets: the backing of the fabric is silk, while the plush pile is rayon. This blend dyes very easily with the same procedure as cotton, though you need to be more gentle with the fabric when you wash it, to avoid straining it. The best choice for any fabric will be to buy it "PFD", that is, Prepared For Dyeing; these fabrics are ready-to-use and are free of finishes that may repel dye. Excellent sources for fabrics by mail are Dharma Trading Company, Testfabrics Inc., and Silk Connection; the latter is part of the same company that makes Jacquard Products fabric paints and dyes.

The dye I recommend that you use for cotton velour or for silk/rayon velvet is Procion MX fiber reactive dye. A few good arts or crafts stores will carry this dye; if yours does not, you will find the same dye available in a bewildering array of color choices, for a more economical price, if you purchase it by mail-order from one of the dye sellers listed on my page of Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around The World.

In order to dye fabric with the Procion MX type dye, you need to activate the fabric with soda ash (also known as sodium carbonate, or washing soda), so that it will react with the dye. Note that this works only for fiber reactive dyes such as Procion MX dye; it does not work for all-purpose dyes, such as Rit or Tintex. There are several choices for applying the soda ash. It can be applied to the fabric before painting, or mixed in with the dye; even, afterwards, another high-pH chemical, sodium silicate, can be painted onto the dry painting to fix it. I recommend that you presoak your fabric in soda ash and let it dry on a line (not in a machine dryer!), so that the fabric contains the soda ash already when you apply the dye.

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To use dye in your airbrush, you must first dissolve it carefully. Dissolve some urea (one tablespoon per cup, or one cup per gallon), to keep the dye moist after use, in water, and use this urea-water to dissolve your dye. (Urea is optional but helpful.) If your water supply is hard, use distilled water or softened water. Start by placing the desired amount of dye powder in the bottom of your measuring cup or mixing container; add just a tiny amount of urea-water, a teaspoon or two, and stir to make a paste. Gradually add a little more water as needed to make a smooth paste. Only after the paste is smooth should you add the rest of the water. Stir, then allow to rest a few minutes in case not all of the dye is yet dissolved, and then stir again. Now, there are some dyes that form tiny clumps, which will clog your airbrush, so you must filter out these clumps. You can use a paper coffee filter in a funnel. Many dyers use a bit of nylon stocking as a filter, which generally works well but will not strain out particles as finely as the coffee filter can. Do not add any salt to your dye mixtures, because it will tend to make them precipitate out of solution.

Not all of the dye you apply will be able to react with the fiber, so apply the dye to make a darker color than you want. Do a little trial and error on scrap fabric first to see how great of an effect this has. After the dye is applied, it must be kept warm and moist for long enough for the dye to react with the soda-ash-activated fabric. Urea in the dye mixtures will keep enough moisture in the fabric to allow the reaction even if you leave it uncovered, but if you do not use urea, or if you want to be certain of maximum brightness, cover your pieces with plastic wrap to keep them damp overnight. It's best to allow more time than is strictly required for the dye reaction, to prevent any risk of backstaining when you wash it out later. The next day, rinse the fabric with cool water to remove the soda ash and any other chemicals, then wash in the hottest water available to remove the unreacted loose dye.

You probably already know about how to maintain safe conditions while airbrushing with paint or dye, but I have to mention it anyway. When applying anything with an airbrush, you must be extremely careful not to harm yourself. There is no fabric dye or fabric paint that is considered safe to inhale. Even the most non-toxic fabric paints contain plastics which will gum up and permanently damage your lungs if you breathe the airbrush mist. Dyes which are considered entirely safe to work with while wearing gloves are not at all safe to breathe. Breathing a dye is almost the same as eating it, and most textile dyes have not been tested for safety when consumed by people. Also note that the tiny droplets of dye powder dry up to form particles of dye powder. As a general rule we are very careful not to allow any dye powder to get loose in our work areas or our homes. Do your airbrushing in a spraying booth or outside of the building, and wear a properly fitting dust mask or respirator, one which does not allow you to breathe unfiltered air around the sides of the mask.

Procion MX and other fiber reactive dyes are not highly toxic, but the fact that we do not know them to be safe to breathe means that it is important to act as though they are not. Furthermore, reactive dyes tend to be quite allergenic; breathing a little dye powder now may mean that you develop a serious allergy to the dye, which can be treated only by strictly avoiding working with the dyes you are allergic to, in any form. If you are careful to take precautions from the start, you are unlikely to have have any problems with these dyes.

I am sure that you will be able to get beautifully soft airbrushed dye designs on cotton velour or silk/rayon velvet. Good reactive fabric dyes produce excellent results on these fabrics, and airbrushing is a fine way to apply them. Be sure to get extra fabric to practice on first. As long as you are careful to prevent even a single drop of soda ash from contacting your mixed-together dye solutions in the bottles, they will stay good for at least a week at room temperature, or several weeks in the refrigerator, so you don't have to bother with mixing up fresh dye powder on every day that you are practicing your airbrushing.

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

Is less dye required to dye black from a very dark grey?

Name: Kathy

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Message: Is less dye required to dye black from a very dark grey? I have chosen Dylon Permanent Fabric Dye, Velvet Black to dye a pair of mens trousers. They are 100% cotton and weigh 1 1/4 lbs.(550 grams). Thank you for taking my question.

In general it does take less dye to color over an almost-dark-enough color, but I would use the full amount anyway. It is hard to reach a full deep black, so it's best to use a lot of dye.

It's a good idea to use at least two packets of Dylon Permanent dye for a one-pound garment.

Be sure to pre-wash the trousers thoroughly in the hottest water they can tolerate. It's disappointing when a previously invisible stain shows up after dyeing as a lighter spot on the fabric.

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Saturday, May 23, 2009

How would I go about changing my red suede sneakers to black suede sneakers?

Name: evan

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Message: How would I go about changing my red suede sneakers to black suede sneakers?

You can cover the red with a black pigment, fabric paint, or dye. There are several different choices that will work.

The best choice would probably be to buy a black suede dye, since it's specifically intended for your situation. Your local shoe repair store might sell it, or here's a link to one at Amazon.

Dye-na-flow is a fabric paint that is designed to flow like a dye. Many good crafts stores sell it, and it does come in black. Since black is a darker color than red, the black should cover up the red reasonably well.

The least likely choice would be to color in the shoes with a black fabric marker or permanent black marker. This would be more trouble than painting on a suede dye or fabric paint. A fabric marker would be better than a Sharpie pen, but even a Sharpie pen would probably give reasonaly good results.

Before applying any sort of color to your suede shoes, clean them as well as possible. Any stains on the suede may repel the color you put on, which would make the results not look as good.

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Friday, May 22, 2009

Do you know of a supplier for Lanaset dyes in the UK?

Name: Anne

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Message: Hello
I am a spinner and live in the UK where lanacet dyes are not available. Do you know of a supplier in the UK or would you ship to the UK and at what cost?

Lanaset dyes are made by Huntsman Textile Effects, and can be difficult to find locally. They are excellent dyes, rich in color and extremely resisting to washing; they are well worth seeking out.

I am not sure if Town End Leeds, which is in the UK and sells Huntsman dyes, deals in the small quantities required by hand dyers. Please look at http://www.textile-dyes.co.uk/.

If you order your dyes from another country, be sure to specify to your supplier whether you want fast, expensive shipping, or slow inexpensive shipping. In many cases, a website will offer only the more expensive shipping, making the total cost prohibitive, but if you call on the phone, you can request the less expensive and slower shipping. Sometimes dyes ordered from the US are less expensive than the same quantities of the same dyes purchased in the UK, even after you add in the cost of overseas shipping.

Kraftkolour in Australia will ship Lanaset dyes to the UK, but they are still closed (5/22/2009) as the result of damage in the wildfires. Expect them to return in a few weeks. [Update: they are now open!]

In the US, PRO Chemical & Dye will ship Lanaset dyes internationally; their prices are the best I've seen anywhere. They sell a sample-size kit for beginners. Earth Guild also ships internationally, and provides the option of smaller package sizes. Paradise Fibers says that they ship to Great Britain.

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I am wondering if I can add the soda ash to the dye and water in one go rather than soak in soda ash first.

Name: Marie

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Message: Hi I am wondering if I can add the soda ash to the dye and water in one go rather than soak in soda ash first. I have 250ml application bottles with nozzles how much soda ash and procion dye would I put together if this is possible. ie how many teaspoons/ tablespoons of dye and soda ash per bottle please??? Trying to make the process easier for the children. Thank you very much for your help and advice!

You can add the soda ash directly to your Procion MX dye (never to all-purpose dye such as Rit!). However, the dye will begin to go bad as soon as you have added the soda ash to it. Don't add the soda ash to the dye until immediately before use; expect the dyes to stay good for less than one hour after you have added the soda ash to them.

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Mix the dyes themselves in advance, as it can take some time to dissolve them. (It takes a lot less time to dissolve dye if you paste them up first: add just a teaspoon or two of water to the dye as needed to make a smooth paste, and then, only after this mixture is smooth, add the rest of the water.)

First start by mixing urea with water. To one quart of water, add one-quarter-cup of urea granules, or add one cup of urea to a gallon of water. You can omit urea if you don't have it, but in that case you will want to wrap your freshly tie-dyed items in plastic so that they stay moist overnight. Urea keeps the dyes moist without plastic.

If your water supply is hard, use softened or distilled water. You can buy a good water softener from your dye supplier which is very convenient to add by the spoonful.

For one 250 ml bottle, which is about eight ounces, mix about four teaspoons of dye (about 20 ml). You can use more for darker colors, or less for pale colors.

Then, just before use, add half a teaspoon (2.5 ml) of soda ash to each bottle, cap securely, and shake. You can apply the soda ash-dye mixture to shirts that are dry, or shirts that have been moistened with plain water to make it easier to tie them.

It's also pretty easy to use the soda ash presoak, if you're not sure how quickly everyone will use up the dye. Have them tie their shirts either dry or moistened with plain water, use a permanent marker to write initials on the labels, then toss the shirts into the soda ash bucket for five to twenty minutes. Remove the soaked shirts with gloved hands, squeeze out as much of the liquid as is practical, then have the children squirt the dye onto their fabric. If you do not add soda ash to it, the dye should stay good for at least a week.

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Thursday, May 21, 2009

low residue dyes for the environmentally concerned?

Name: Donna

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Message: I have done a little dying--mostly wool yarn or fleece. I would like to do more, but wince everytime I put dye residue down the drain--I know the sewage treatment plant processes much worse chemicals, but I am kind of an ecofreak. And natural dyes and mordants are not a solution. I have read of "low residue" dyes in advertisements for clothing, but do not see them for sale. Do you know what that means, and if they really exist, and are not hype--where could I buy them? Certainly for wool using koolaid is pretty low residue--almost all of the dye enters the wool, and I assume the commercial acid dyes would be similar (yes?) but for cotton or linen....Great website--very clear, and a good emphasis on safety. Thank you.

Cotton and linen are a different problem than wool. As you've observed, you can use up all of the dye in your dyebath when dyeing wool. All of the dye leaves the solution and goes into the wool. It looks miraculous, and it obviously means that you dispose of little or no dye afterwards. It's the same for commercial textile dyes as for Kool-Aid, but the results with the commercial dyes are likely to last longer and resist washing better. Lanaset dyes, in particular, will resist fading even when washed in hot water.

Unfortunately, with cotton and linen, and other cellulose fibers, there is always dye remaining in the water after you have completed dyeing. There is no alternative. Procion MX dyes, and similar dyes, are harmless to a septic tank when disposed of in single-user quantities, but there's no denying the fact that there is dye in the effluent.

Well, there is one alternative, which is the use of cottons which are grown to have color in them. Unfortunately, there are few naturally-colored cottons available, and they are not yet available in the wide range of colors that evidently were grown in the Americas before Columbus. Textile industry forces have tended to suppress the production and sale of naturally colorful undyed cotton. To see what is currently available in this line, see Sally Vreseis Fox's site.

You can print cotton with pigments, bound to the fabric with acrylic fabric paint binders, but the results are not as long-lasting as what you can get by dyeing with fiber reactive dyes. When ecological concerns are primary, the most important factor is anything that extends the lifetime of clothing. Any dye or print that wears off encourages us to disposes of clothing that still has some wear left in it; the complete series of steps of processing of cotton, from seed to plant to fiber to fabric, must be more hazardous to the environment overall than the dyes themselves are.

This takes us back to the fiber reactive dyes: Procion MX dye, Cibracron F dye, Drimarene K dye, Remazol dye. Procion MX dyes are the least expensive of all fiber reactive dyes (if you order jars of two ounces or larger from a dye suppliers such as PRO Chemical & Dye, Dharma Trading Company, Aljo Mfg, or Colorado Wholesale Dyes); see "comparison of dye costs". To reduce the amount of water required to remove excess unattached dyes, be sure to use fresh dyes, and readily dyeable fabric, and warm enough reaction temperatures. After dyeing, wash out by rinsing in cool water first to remove soda ash and any salts, then wash in the hottest water available. If you use very hot water, then less water will be required. Soaking in hot water is most efficient. In the textile industry, boiling water may be used; at home, we are limited by the temperatures our washing machines can tolerate, typically up to 140°F (60°C). Be sure to use sodium hexametaphosphate, or distilled water, if your water supply is very hard, because the hard water minerals can make washing-out considerably more difficult.

Procion MX dyes require more water for washing out than other dyes, because they have a high degree of affinity toward the fabric than other fiber reactive dyes, even when they are not bound. Other fiber reactive dyes require less water, though they do still require a significant amount of washing out. Consider using Drimarene K dyes or Remazol dyes in order to conserve water somewhat. These are most likely what are referred to commercially as "low residue" dyes. They are no panacea, however; I still use a fair amount of water in washing out after using these other dyes, and I have never found any source of small quantities of these dyes that is not considerably more expensive than Procion MX dyes.

Some dyers substitute the use of a cationic dye fixative, such as Retayne, for proper washing-out procedure, in order to save water, or when they use inferior dyes such as all-purpose dyes. These are effective, but they often contain undesirable chemicals such as formaldehyde, and they reduce the lightfastness of dyes so that they fade more rapidly in the light. I personally try to avoid them, except on commercially-dyed fibers whose dye bleeds without the treatment.

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

What is the best technique to keep the color solid and from running when washed?

Name: Dok
Message: I am in the process of buying some good quality white towels and I'm going to dye them red. What is the best technique to keep the color solid and from running when washed?

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First, be sure to buy only dyeable towels. Do not buy any towels that contain polyester, acrylic, or nylon. 100% cotton is best; most 100% rayon or bamboo or modal will be equally dyeable, but a few will have been chemically altered to make them less dyeable. Perhaps you should buy one small towel as a sample, and buy more only if it dyes satisfactorily. I believe that all 100% cotton towels will dye well.

The next most important step is to buy the correct dyes. Do not buy all-purpose dyes, such as Rit or Tintex dye. They will fade quickly, because they bleed badly in the laundry. Instead, buy fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dye or Dylon Machine Dye. These dyes, when applied properly, will form a permanent chemical bond to the fiber, so they never wash out (though in some cases their color can be removed by bleach).

Once you have your towels, pre-scour them by washing in HOT water with detergent and some soda ash for extra cleaning power. (The soda ash in this step does not act as a dye fixative, only as a cleaner.) It is important to remove any oils or finishes applied during manufacture. Do not use any sort of fabric softener.

The easiest way to dye a quantity of towels the same solid color is in a top-loading washing machine. You will also need soda ash, and several boxes of ordinary table salt. For more information, see "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?".

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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

How can I dye synthetic-blend chenille upholstery fabric?

Name: chris

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Message: CHENILLE!!! I have "high-end chenille upholstery fabric" I would like to dye just a slightly more "tea-dyed" color. I tried RIT, it only dyed the rayon threads. I do not have the fiber content or make-up. Any help??

All-purpose dye is not a very good dye, because it tends to bleed in the laundry forever, but it can be a good indicator of fiber content. I believe that the fiber that was not dyed by your all-purpose dye is a synthetic fiber: polyester, acrylic, or the like. Cotton, rayon, linen, silk, and even nylon will be dyed at least temporarily by all-purpose dye.

You could try doing a fiber burn test, to try to determine what fiber you have there, though that can be difficult with a blend. Or, you can just assume it's most likely polyester. A quick Google search shows that rayon/polyester blend chenille is commonly available as upholstery fabric.

Polyester, and other synthetic fibers such as acrylic, can be dyed by boiling it for half an hour or an hour with a special kind of dye called disperse dye. You won't be able to find this dye in a local store, but you can mail-order it. In the US, I recommend ordering it from Aljo Mfg in New York, or PRO Chemical & Dye in Massachusetts. Be sure to get the carrier chemical that is needed for dark or intense colors; Aljo calls it Hi-Conc Polydeveloper, while ProChem calls it Dye Carrier NSC. You can also buy iDye Poly from dye suppliers that carry Jacquard Products' dyes.

Since disperse dye requires extensive boiling, you will need an enormous stainless steel cooking pot in order to apply the dye. The pot should be large enough for the fabric to move freely, or else you will not get solid colors. The pot will be expensive, and you should not plan on reusing it for food. Alternatively, you can contact Manhattan Samples, one of the custom dyers listed on my Find a Custom Dyer page; they are the only custom dyers I know who are willing to tackle polyester.

I have dyed polyester a light brown by boiling it at length with coffee, but the color is not going to survive many washings, and the coffee leaves a distinctive odor in the fabric.

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Monday, May 18, 2009

How to change the color of a white Poly/Spandex dress to a pale yellow.

Name: Barbara

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Message: I have a white Poly/Spandex dress I would like to change the color to a pale yellow. How would I do that and what do I need to purchase. I need the dress for a wedding by June 1 a quick reply would be appreciated. Can you get me the products if I order as soon as you answer my question? I will check my email several times a day and order as soon as you answer. Thank you sooo much.

I'm afraid you have a problem here. It is impossible to dye a polyester/spandex blend fabric. The threads in polyester/spandex fabrics are aways dyed before they are ever woven or knit together.

The requirement for dyeing polyester is heat, and lots of it—not just a little hot water, but extensive boiling in a special polyester dye (called disperse dye). It takes at least half an hour of boiling for the color to get into the polyester. You cannot dye polyester at room temperature or in a washing machine.

In contrast, the requirement for treating spandex is coolness. Spandex is heat-sensitive and will tend to lose its shape, or show excessive wear, if subjected to high heat. Check the care label on your dress. If it says wash in warm water, that means water that is 105°F or less (41°C or less). That's so far below the boiling temperature that polyester needs that there is no reconciling the two. When dyeing 100% spandex, the top limit for the temperature should be 140°F (60°C); this is for yarns that have not yet been woven into fabric, or for unsewn fabrics whose shape and size are not yet important.

The only way you can color this dress is to use a fabric paint, such as Dharma's Pigment Dyes (which are really fabric paints, not dyes) or Jacquard Dye-Na-Flow Fabric Colors . Dharma's stuff is less expensive because it is concentrated and can be diluted with much more water. However, you will not be able to get a solid color if you use fabric paints. There will be some blotchiness. You can make this a good thing, if you enjoy the subtle variations in color; they can be more beautiful than a single smooth solid color. Do not try this if you need a perfectly even solid color, however, because it simply cannot be done.

How to do it: prewash the dress in the hottest water considered acceptable by the label's instructions. Dilute the Jacquard Dye-Na-Flow fabric paint with up to 25% as much water (one-quarter as much water as paint), or the Dharma Pigment Dye with up to 400% as much water (four times as much water as pigment dye). You will probably need at least a quart of diluted fabric paint. place it in a small bucket and immerse the dress in the color. Pick the dress up, squeeze it out, and place it into the color in a different configuration, squeezing the fabric paint through the fabric until it is soaked. Then, lay the dress out flat on the lawn, or hang it from a line, and allow it to dry. You will see that the color is not smooth and even.

Do not wash the fabric until it has had a chance to thoroughly dry. The Dye-Na-Flow fabric paint must be set with a hot iron, which always worries me about whether it will damage the spandex, but generally it seems to work out okay; alternatively, you can order Jacquard Products additive, AirFix, from Jerry's Artarama (one of the few mail-order sources for AirFix), and add it to the paint just before use. It's an acrylic catalyst that substitutes for heat-setting. Try to wait at least a week before washing the dress.

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Sunday, May 17, 2009

is there any way to wash out the dye and if so how and if not is there a way to dye the white and if so how

Name: Debbie

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Retayne sets all-purpose dyes, such as Rit, but it can be used only on garments that can be immersed one time without ruining them when the dye runs. It will not work on indigo denim.

Rit Color Remover Removes Dyes

Message: Is there a way to do the following?

I have a blouse that is cranberry and black with gold buttons in the front, white sleeves, and a white back. However, it had cranberry dye on the back sporadically. Most of the stains came off after I took it to the dry cleaners. But when I took it home from the cleaners I noticed a few stains did not come out. I went back. The female dry cleaner does both dry cleaning and owns the Laundromat as well. She said even though the label says "Dry Clean Only" I can wash it as well. I washed by hand, some of the dye is still there. MY question: is there any way to wash out the dye and if so how and if not is there a way to dye the white and if so how. THE MATERIAL IS 55% ACETATE AND 44% RAYON

It might be possible to wash out the cranberry dye stains with hot water, but, if not, there may not be much chance for this blouse. Hotter water does work much better at removing loose dye than cooler water, but, if it gets on the colored parts of the blouse, it will probably cause still more dye to run. It sounds as though it was dyed with water soluble dyes, which is a very poor choice on the part of the manufacturer. If I were you, I would not buy again from the same source that you bought this blouse from.

Do not try to use bleach, such as the Clorox Bleach pen, to remove the stains. It will damage the acetate and ruin the blouse. You can use another color-removing product, called Rit Color Remover, because it is safer for synthetic fabrics, but I suspect that the results will not be good, so any additional time and money you spend on this will be wasted.

The 44% of the blouse that is rayon can be dyed, but the 55% that is acetate cannot be. (Acetate should be boiled with disperse dye to color it, but a dry clean only blouse certainly will not withstand boiling.) This means that you will not be able to achieve more than a pastel color if you dye it. I don't think that dyeing this blouse will yield good results. I'm afraid that the best solution in this case is to replace the blouse, preferably with one that is washable.

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Saturday, May 16, 2009

What dye should I use to dye a brown dress that is 75% acetate and 25% polyester to black?

Name: Janice

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Message: I need to dye a dress from brown to black. The material in the dress is 75% acetate and 25% polyester. Can you tell me what dye to use and where to buy it? please. Thanks so much I would really appreciate your help as I am in a pickle with this

Both acetate and polyester need to be dyed with disperse dye. Don't try to dye it with Rit all-purpose dye, Dylon Dye, or any other dye that works on natural fibers.

Unfortunately, acetate and polyester must be boiled with the disperse dye. You cannot dye polyester or acetate at room temperature. This means that you will need a very large cooking pot to do your dyeing in, one which you do not plan to reuse for food.

You can mail-order disperse dye, plus the dye carrier you will need to use with it, from Aljo Mfg in New York or from PRO Chemical & Dye in Massachusetts, both in the US. The dye carrier is called Hi-Conc Polydeveloper by Aljo, and Dye Carrier NSC by ProChem. Without the dye carrier, you may find it difficult to obtain a dark color, such as black. I see from your email address that you are in Ireland; I do not know of a source in Ireland or the UK where you can buy the dye carrier, though I know you can mail-order disperse dyes from Fibrecrafts or KenTex Educational Supplies in the UK. You can also order iDye Poly, which is a type of disperse dye, from Fibrecrafts and from other sellers of dyes and supplies made by Jacquard Products.

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Friday, May 15, 2009

finding auxiliary chemicals for dyeing in Kathmandu

Hi Paula. Namaste from Kathmandu Nepal.

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I’ve bought and had brought over to me here some fiber-reactive dyes from Dharma Trading. Several of the other items needed don’t seem to be available in Kathmandu and I’m wondering about alternatives.

Salt—we have Himalayan salt which is not iodized and full of minerals. Will this do?

Fixative—we’ve got baking soda but I’m not sure of the others. Any thoughts?

Enzyme cleaner—we have these but no Synthrapol. Is this OK?

What an interesting question!

First, if you are dyeing cotton, linen, or any other cellulose (plant-based) fiber, it will work better at a pH about 10.5 or 11 than it will at baking soda's pH of about 8. Baking soda is sodium BIcarbonate, but, if at all possible, you want sodium carbonate, which produces a higher pH. Soda ash, or sodium carbonate, is the standard for dyeing with Procion type dyes, and should be the easiest of the high-pH chemicals to find. I can't imagine that you're surrounded by swimming pool stores (or by hardware stores with a swimming pool section); those are the best source of soda ash in warmer countries. Sodium carbonate must be in use somewhere in the country, though. It's an important ingredient in laundry powders, and an important cleaning agent in its own right. Look for a supplier to a water treatment plant, or to laundries. A common name for the decahydrate of sodium carbonate is washing soda. This will be perfect for your dyeing if you can find it.

If you cannot find sodium carbonate, you should look for another high-pH chemical. Caustic soda, or lye, is sodium hydroxide, a very high-pH chemical which you would use in dilute form. It's a little dangerous when you dilute it; always add a little lye at a time to water, rather than adding water to a container of lye. It will produce a significant amount of heat when it dissolves. Wear goggles or safety glasses, or even a plastic face shield (like welders wear) when working with undiluted sodium hydroxide. Be sure to have a quantity of water handy, to wash your eyes out with, or your skin off with, if an accident occurs. Sodium hydroxide is less convenient to use than sodium carbonate, because it can produce a wide range of pHs, so it matters if you use twice as much or half as much as you should. Sodium carbonate is much more forgiving as to the quantity used.

Another possible substitute for soda ash is trisodium phosphate. This is used, at least in the US, to wash down walls before painting them. It is between sodium carbonate and sodium hydroxide in its causticity. I buy mine from the local hardware store in the painting division, but nobody in the store can tell me whether they even have it, until I find the guy who specializes in paint.

When communicating about chemistry with people who do not speak your language (a common problem in research laboratories in the US), it is handy to know the chemical symbols used internationally by all chemists. The first four are all white powders, the fifth a liquid:

Baking soda = sodium bicarbonate = NaHCO3; good for a pH of about 8
Washing soda = sodium carbonate = Na₂CO₃; good for a pH of about 11
Caustic soda = lye = sodium hydroxide = NaOH; good for a pH of up to 14, but may be diluted to 11 or 10 or 8
TSP = trisodium phosphate = Na₃PO₄; good for a pH around 12
Water glass = sodium silicate = Na₂SiO₃. Sodium silicate is usually purchased as a liquid solution with a pH about 11.3.

By the way, if you see potassium instead of sodium in any of the above chemicals, go for it; it will not be significantly different from sodium. The chemical symbol for potassium is K, e.g., potassium carbonate is K₂CO₃.

You can see more information on these various high-pH chemicals on my page about soda ash, and you can ask me for further advice after you've obtained whichever high-pH chemicals you can.

Another very useful fact is that sodium bicarbonate decomposes to sodium carbonate when heated. This is actually a perfectly practical way for you to get soda ash, given that you have baking soda. Doug Wilson posted this advice to the DyersLIST mailing list: "Put the dry baking soda in shallow layer in a glass dish and put it in the oven at about 150°C (about 300°F) for half an hour - it will be converted to sodium carbonate." Do not use a metal pan to hold your sodium bicarbonate when converting it to carbonate; aluminum in particular will react badly with the carbonate, but so will any bare metal, such as cast iron or copper. You can store this sodium carbonate at room temperature for a long time, preferably sealed in plastic to prevent hydration from the humidity in the air. Hydration will not harm the soda ash, as it converts it from the anhydrous (dry) form to the form found in washing soda, which just makes it heavier so you have to use more for the same effect. It hardly matters since sodium carbonate works well even if you do not use quite the right amount.

Onto the salt question. I don't like the use of additional minerals, because some will interfere with dyeing. Iron will make your colors dull and drab. Iodine in the salt is okay; it's added in a sufficiently small amount to not really matter, and iodine does not seem to react with the dyes. Everyone says to use non-iodized salt, but iodized salt will work. Other minerals such as alum, copper, tin, and chromium all have different effects on the colors of dyes, which is why they are used to alter the color of natural dyes (and, as mordants, to help bind natural dyes to the fiber). Calcium and magnesium are hard-water chemicals that cause particular problems, because they will create insoluble soap scum, which can act as a physical barrier between dye and fiber. Calcium can also create difficult-to-wash-out complexes of unfixed dye which cling to the fiber although they have not properly bonded; these gradually come out as the fabric is washed, creating an appearance of inadequate washfastness.

You don't have to use salt for direct dye application or low water immersion dyeing, but it helps tremendously in dyeing solid colors in high-water-ratio immersion dyeing, in a bucket or washing machine. Without it, you will waste quite a lot of dye.

Calcium and magnesium in the water are common problems in many places around the world. If you have hard water, you have calcium and/or magnesium in it. These ions in your drinking water are very healthy for you to drink, but they are not so good for dyeing. If your water is very hard, you will need a water softener, or else to use distilled or de-ionized water. The water softener we dyers like best is sodium hexametaphosphate, (NaPO₃)₆. You only need a teaspoon or so to mix with each recipe of your dyes. If the water is very hard, you need to add it to the washing machine or basin as well. This chemical is also called Calgon or Calgon T, but beware of the Calgon-brand liquid water softeners, which contain polycarboxylates, instead, which are said to interfere with dyeing. Buy only the powdered Calgon. PRO Chemical & Dye calls this chemical MetaPhos, and Dharma Trading Company sells it as Water Softener. If, when you mix your soda ash into water, it seems to form an insoluble white precipitate, that is the calcium or magnesium, and it can interfere with dyeing. If it's bad, and if you can't find sodium hexametaphosphate, try to use distilled or deionized water for mixing your dyes and dyebaths.

As far as detergent is concerned, don't worry about it. Although Synthrapol is very nice to use, whatever laundry detergent you have should work, as long as you rinse out the dye in cool water without detergent, before using the hot water necessary to remove the unattached excess dye. Always make sure to allow an excess of reaction time for your dye to bond to your fibers first. If you think it will take six hours at a certain temperature, leave it overnight. (Be sure it's warm enough, 70°F or warmer.) This will allow any dye that has not reacted with the fiber to react with the water, so that no active dye will remain to cause permanent backstaining. Once dye has reacted with the water, or hydrolyzed, any stains caused by dye transferring from one part of the fabric to another can be washed out with sufficiently hot water.

Good luck with your dyeing. I'd love to hear more about it. Please consider joining the Dye Forum (it's free).

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Thursday, May 14, 2009

I was wonderng if soda ash is also effective for binding natural dyes to the fabric. (Examples: tumeric, berries, etc.)

Name: michelle

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Message: Hello! Your website is fascinating. I was wonderng if soda ash is also effective for binding natural dyes to the fabric. (Examples: tumeric, berries, etc.)
Also, I can't seem to find information on a natural source for dying fabrics a dark chocolate brown or black. Can cocoa powder be used for the brown?

Thank you for all the information!

No, soda ash does not set natural dyes. It works as a dye fixative only for fiber reactive dyes, all of which are synthetic. You can use it to help pre-scour fabric before dyeing it with any dye, but in this case it acts only as a cleaner, and does nothing to bind dye to the fabric.

Some natural dyes can be bound to the fiber, and made more permanent and wash-resistant, by use of the decidedly unnatural fabric treatment known as Retayne, or other similar cationic dye fixatives. It's not the sort of substance that will appeal to people who want to work with natural dyes, though. Cationic dye fixatives are widely used in the textile industry. (See my page, "What is Retayne?".)

Most natural dyes should be applied only to fabric that has been pre-mordanted by boiling it with alum or another mordant. Mordants in general are metal ions and tend to be toxic (much more toxic than synthetic tie-dye dyes!), but alum is safe if you very carefully keep it out of reach of anyone young or foolish enough to consume it by mouth, wear gloves, avoid spills, and never use it in food preparation cooking pots. You will need a dedicated cooking pot to be used only for dyeing, if you want to dye with natural dyes, because you will not be successful if you try to use natural dyes at room temperature. (See my page, "What's the difference between mordants and other chemical assistants used in dyeing?".)

Turmeric is a direct dye, which means that it can be used without a mordant, but it will work better if you do mordant your fabric first. Unfortunately, turmeric will fade quickly, because it is very sensitive to light. Plan to regularly redye anything you have colored with turmeric. Berries, too, make unsatisfactory fabric dyes, because they turn brown when exposed to light and air, and will wash out if put through the laundry.

Cocoa is not a good dye. It will fade quickly if you wash the fabric that you color with it. Instead, for dyeing brown with natural dyes, I recommend that you use walnut hulls, pecan hulls, or cutch. The nut hulls have the advantage of being direct dyes, which can be used without mordants. For black, I recommend that you use logwood, walnuts, or tannins, in each case mordanting with iron, with or without premordanting with alum. Iron darkens the color of any dye you use it with.

Although modern synthetic dyes are very easy to use, there is a good reason why in medieval times dyeing was restricted to members of the dyers' guilds. Natural dyes are much more difficult for a novice to get good results with. I strongly recommend that you get two or three good books on the subject of natural dyeing, because otherwise you are likely to have a lot of unsuccessful experiments. Check your local public library to see whether they have any good books on dyeing. Don't try to reinvent the wheel; get good recipes to use for your natural dyeing. You will have much better results if you start with tried-and-true recipes, and branch out from there only after you have mastered some of the natural dyes and recipes that are agreed by many people to be the most satisfactory. See my page, "About Natural Dyes".

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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

How to dye upholstery plain shaneel fabrics in various colours to black and brown

Name: Pery

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Message: We got 3000 meter upholstery plain shaneel fabrics in verious colours we just like to black and brown dye

Is "shaneel" another name for chenille? Much more importantly, what fiber is your fabric made of? You should choose your dye based on the fiber content of the fabric.

If it's made of polyester or acetate, it can be dyed only by boiling it with a type of dye called disperse dye; see "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes".

If your fabric is made of nylon, it can be dyed with acid dyes or with disperse dyes. See "How can I dye nylon?".

If it is made of cotton or viscose rayon, it can be dyed with fiber reactive dyes, vat dyes, or direct dyes. See "About the Dyes: choosing the right dye for your fiber".

Black and brown are the easiest colors to obtain by overdyeing other colors. There should not be any difficulty, if your fabric is made of a dyeable material and is free of surface finishes that will resist the dye.

For disperse dyes, acid dyes, and direct dyes, you must cook your fabric in the dye; only cool water fiber reactive dyes allow for room temperature dyeing. For yards of fabric, this will require the use of an enormous cooking pot, or else professional dyeing equipment. It's not a small investment. It would make more sense for you to contact a local company that does custom dyeing, so that you do not have to invest in the equipment. Most custom dyers refuse to dye polyester, but are happy to dye cotton, rayon, or nylon. I have several custom dyers listed on my site on the following page:
Finding a Custom Dyer
Unfortunately, no dyers in the UK have registered for this page, so I cannot recommend someone in your area to do your dyeing for you. Good luck in finding someone.

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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

how to remove tie-dye dyes from a dress shirt

Name: Barbara

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Message: My three-year-old daughter added a tye died shirt in with cotton dress shirts. Now my husband has turquoise elbows. I need to fix this mistake for her. She is upset because she thought that she was helping.

Any type of loose dye is best removed by using hot water. Warm water will work better than cold water, and hot water will work better than warm water. Use the hottest water that is safe for the shirt. If the dye is not removed by this treatment, soak the shirt in the hottest water you can, then wash again in hot water, using any sort of detergent.

Hot water should remove all of the transferred dye, because the dye has not been fixed in place by any sort of chemical reaction. There should be no need for an additional treatment. If there is unwanted dye remaining after washing and, if necessary, soaking in hot water, you can use a treatment called Rit Color Remover. This treatment may remove the original color of the shirt, in addition to removing the unwanted dye. Follow the package instructions closely; if you use it in the washing machine, you will probably need to buy more than one box.

Transferred dye should never have been a problem for you, though, because tie-dyed shirts should be safe to wash with anything. Good ones are. There must be something wrong with your tie-dyed shirt. Properly dyed and washed tie-dyes, made with good fiber reactive dyes such as Procion MX dye, are perfectly safe to wash with dress shirts at any temperature. A good tie-dyed shirt should not have any loose dye that can transfer to another garment.

Of course, even when good dyes are used, and fixed properly, it is necessary to wash out any unattached loose dye before wearing. Perhaps your shirt just needs to be washed in hot water, to remove any last bits of excess unfixed dye. The best way to wash out excess dye after tie-dyeing is to wash once in cold water, and then wash in very hot water, 140°F or hotter. This washing-out treatment will remove any unattached excess dye, so that it will be safe to wash the tie-dyed clothing with other clothing.

Unfortunately, some novice tie-dyers use inferior dyes, such as all-purpose dye, which will transfer easily to other garments, even after thorough washing. I strongly recommend against ever using all-purpose dyes for tie-dyeing cotton. All-purpose dye fades quickly, unlike fiber reactive dyes, and will tend to wash out in warm or hot water. It's not worth going to the trouble of dyeing if you're not going to use a good kind of dye.

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Monday, May 11, 2009

Do fabric paints need to be water-based transparent in order to do sun-printing?

Name: Rae

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Message: Do fabric paints need to be water-based transparent in order to do sun-printing? I have some oil-based paints. Will they work?

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No, I don't think they will work. The reason why the water-based paints create patterns in sunprinting is that the sunlit regions dry faster and pull out the paint that is still wet from under the stencils. Oil paints do not dry in the same way as water-based paints, and I suspect they don't get pulled along the cellulose fibers in the same way.

I may be wrong, though. Try just a small piece of scrap fabric as a test. Stretch it across an embroidery hoop if you have one handy, and just paint a small area in the middle. If it works, please let me know. Don't do this with oil paints that are not marketed as fabric paints, because the oils and pigments may degrade the fabric.

The paints I recommend for sunprinting are thin, transparent water-based acrylic fabric paints, such as SetaColor, Dye-Na-Flow, or the transparent colors of PROfab Textile Paints. You can buy these fabric paints from some good crafts stores, or you can mail-order them from sources such as Blick Art Materials, Dharma Trading Company, or PRO Chemical & Dye. For more information on the different ways you can do sunprinting, see the page "How to Dye and Paint Fabric with Light".

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Sunday, May 10, 2009

After the salt, soda ash and dye are mixed does it have a "shelf Life"?

Name: Gayle

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Soda Ash
Dye Fixer

Message: I hope this hasn't been answered before. I am a Red Hat Lady and I want to use Procion Dye for white jeans, shirts, sweaters, etc. Purple clothing is so hard to find. Question: After the salt, soda ash and dye are mixed does it have a "shelf Life"? From what I can gather about a week with the soda ash. Do I have to use the soda ash to dye rather than mixing up a new batch each time? What is the best way to utilize left over dye?

If you do not mix in the soda ash, the Procion dyes will stay good, dissolved in water, for at least a week at room temperature. However, once you do add the soda ash, the dyes' lifespan is measured in minutes, not days. Do not add the soda ash until you are just about to apply the dye!

Procion fiber reactive dye is an excellent choice for changing the color of cotton, rayon, linen, hemp, bamboo, and silk. It will produce much brighter colors and last much longer than inferior dyes such as all-purpose dye.

If you want to dye a bunch of things the same solid color, the best way to do it is in a top-loading washing machine. It will not ruin the washer. See "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?". You will need to buy two or more ounces of Procion MX dye, several boxes of salt, and some soda ash. You can dissolve the dye in water the day before if you prefer, but do not add the soda ash to it.

If you prefer tie-dyeing, mix up your different shades of purple in plastic squirt bottles, no salt needed (but urea is a good addition), and presoak your clothing in a bucket of soda ash dissolved in water. You can squirt the dye directly on the presoaked fabric, tying first, or not, as you please. See "Hand Dyeing - How to Do It".

A factor you need to pay close attention to is the clothing you are planning to dye. Do not try to dye polyester or polyester blends! Also, do not try to dye acrylic or acetate. If you try to dye a 50% cotton/50% polyester blend purple, you will get a pastel lilac, instead of purple. Look for 100% cotton, linen, silk, or rayon clothing, preferably sold specifically for dyeing. (80% or 90% cotton will work well enough.) You can dye nylon separately from cotton, but only if it lacks surface finishes, and only if you substitute an acid such as vinegar for the soda ash. (Never use vinegar when dyeing cotton.) For white clothing that you can be sure will dye well, I recommend that you check out Dharma Trading Company, which sells a wide variety of clothing blanks for dyeing.

Do not try to dye anything that is permanent-press or stain-resistant, as these surface finishes will repel the dye. Always prewash clothing before dyeing, in the hottest water the clothing can tolerate, with detergent plus some extra soda ash for added cleaning power (the soda ash used in prewashing will rinse out, and will not help to set the dye, but it helps in removing stains and oils).

You can dissolve soda ash in water and use it again and again indefinitely. Soda ash itself does not spoil. Only the dyes spoil, but that is within an hour of having soda ash added to them.

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Saturday, May 09, 2009

what are the chemical structures of these fiber reactive dyes?

Name: k. rahul

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Reactive Blue 140
Procion-type Turquoise MX-G

Message: What is the chemical structure of these dyes?: reactive blue 160, reactive blue 140, reactive red 141, reactive blue 171, reactive yellow 84H. Is their any web site which gives the structure of the textile dyes? kind reply for the same

If you can get access to a copy of The Colour Index, published by the Society of Dyers and Colourists, you can sometimes find drawings of molecular structures there. Check to see whether any institute of higher education in your area subscribes to the Colour Index.

The only one on your list for which I have a drawing of the structure is Colour Index Reactive Blue 140. Reactive blue 140 is a dichlorotriazine dye, also known as Procion Turquoise MX-G. Here's a link to a page I wrote about it: "A Beautiful Blue: Procion Turquoise MX-G". Also see the more complete drawing I made of its molecular structure on this page: "I am trying to make the colour turquoise. What must I do?".

All of the other dyes in your list are Procion-type H-E dyes, which means that they are bis(aminochlorotriazine) dyes, which are bifunctional dyes with two reactive sections per dye molecule. See "About Procion H and Procion H-E Dyes". These dyes are generally used by hand dyers as silk paint; they are sold by cpompanies such as PRO Chemical & Dye in Massachuesetts, and G & S Dye in Toronto. I don't have drawings for them, but I have found chemical names for several of them; if you are very good with understanding dye structures, then the full chemical name will be sufficient in order to draw the correct structure. Sometimes a search with the CAS registry number, enclosed in quotes (e.g., CAS "61951-85-7") will turn up more information.

CAS NO: 71872-76-9
Synonyms: REACTIVE BLUE 160;Reactive Blue HERD;Benzoic acid, 2-3-4-chloro-6-4-4-chloro-6-(3-sulfophenyl)amino-1,3,5-triazin-2-ylamino-2,5-disulfophenylamino-1,3,5-triazin-2-ylamino-2-hydroxy-5-sulfophenylazophenylmethylazo-5-sulfo-, pentasodium salt;C. I. Reactive blue 160;Blue KE-2B;
CAS NO: 61931-52-0
Synonyms: C.I. Reactive Red 141, Procion Red H-E 7B, Procion Rrd HE-7B 2,5-Dichloro-4-[4,5-dihydro-3-methyl-5-oxo-4-(sulfophenylazo)-1H-pyrazol-1-yl]-benzenesulfonic acid disodium salt, 7-Benzamido-4-hydroxy-3-{{4-[(4-sulfophenyl)-azo]-phenyl}-azo}-2-naphthalenesulfonic acid
CAS NO: 68133-24-4
Synonyms: Navy Blue KE-R; H-ER; HER Reactive Blue KE-R 100%; Hexasodium-4-amino-3 ,6-bis [[5 -- [[4-chloro-6-[(3 -- sulfonatophenyl) amino] -1,3,5 -- triazin-2-yl] amino] -2 -- sulfonatophenyl] azo] -5 -- hydroxynaphthalene-2 ,7-disulfonate
CAS NO: 61951-85-7
Synonyms: Synafix Golden Yellow HER

I don't have a full chemical name for your last dye, but if it has a Colour Index name, you should be able to get the full chemical name from a publication of the Society of Dyers and Colourists. Not all dyes have Colour Index names, but all dyes that have Colour Index names should have chemical names.

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Friday, May 08, 2009

What kind of washing-off agent is suitable for reactive dyeing?

Name: Irfan
Message: I only want to ask you that what kind of washing-off agent is suitable for reactive dyeing.

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Synthrapol SP was specifically developed by Imperial Chemical Industries for the purpose of soaping off Procion dyes. The "SP" stands for "soaping Procions". It is extremely popular among hand-dyers in North America and Europe.

Generic equivalents available for the hand dyer's market include Dharma Professional Textile Detergent and G&S TNA Soap. Undoubtedly a number of different brands of similar products are available for use in the textile industry.

Almost any textile detergent with a neutral pH will work. Only small quantities are required. More important than the choice of detergent is the temperature of the water. Hotter water is far more efficient than cooler water for the purpose of removing unattached fiber reactive dye.

See "What is Synthrapol?", a question in the hand-dyeing FAQ on this site.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Is there a way to prevent a shirt tie-dyed with Rit dye from bleeding?

Name: Clair

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Message: My question is regarding dye bleeding on to my white areas. I want to tie dye a shirt using one color and a sunburst pattern. I did it recently and I used Rit dye in black. I let the shirt sit for about two hours and and then when I rinsed it the excess dye bled onto the white. Is there a way I can prevent from happening? Do I need to use a dye fixative?

No, it's too late. The real answer is to never use any brand of all-purpose dye, such as Rit or Tintex, for this sort of tie-dye design. It invariably bleeds onto the white. Instead, get a better dye.

The best dye for tie-dyeing cotton is fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. This is the kind of dye that is used in all good tie-dyeing kits. Go to a crafts store and look for a tie-dye kit made by Jacquard, Tulip, Rainbow Rock, or Dylon. For a single-color tie-dye, look for Dylon Permanent Dye or Tulip One Step Fashion Dye. Both come in an excellent black, as well as in other colors. Never use the Rit all-purpose dye tie-dye kit, because it contains inferior dyes that give poor results. All-purpose dye is just not very good on cotton, though it works pretty well on wool or nylon. To save a lot of money, as compared to Rit Dye, mail-order a tie-dye kit from Dharma Trading Company or PRO Chemical and Dye.

Rit all-purpose dye is a hot water dye. You cannot use all-purpose dye at room temperature and allow it to sit for two hours, and expect the dye to set permanently in the fabric. The best way to use all-purpose dye is to mix the dye with water, then cook the shirt in the dye on the stovetop. The ideal temperature for dyeing with all-purpose dye is a simmer, about 190°F.

If you apply all-purpose dye to cotton fabric at room temperature, instead of cooking the shirt in the dye, you must set the dye by steaming before you rinse it out at all. Once you have rinsed out the shirt, it's too late. You can wrap the shirt, still very wet with dye, in plastic wrap, then steam it in a lidded pot with boiling water, just as you would steam vegetables. This will not enable all-purpose dye to be nearly as good as fiber reactive dye, but it does help some.

Retayne, a dye fixative that works for Rit dye, will not work for a tie-dye when you do not want the dark colors to run onto the white. It works only when you can immerse the dyed fabric in water without worrying about the dye running. For example, if you dye a dress a solid color, you can then use the dye fixative.

Do not attempt to use salt or vinegar as dye fixatives for Rit dye, because they do not work. Neither will the soda ash that works well for Procion dye. Instead, you must mail-order a cationic dye fixative. Retayne is the best-known brand of this product. There is also a Rit brand dye fixative which is very similar to Retayne. Unfortunately, neither of them will be of any use at all for your situation, now that you have untied your shirt and rinsed it, because both Retayne and Rit Dye Fixative are applied in a large volume of very hot water. As soon as you immerse the shirt in the Retayne, the dye will run from one part of the shirt to another. You could have used Retayne or Rit Dye Fixative before you untied the shirt, and had acceptable results. Once you untied the shirt, though, it allowed the loose dye to transfer where you did not want it to go.

If you buy a higher-quality dye, and follow the instructions closely, you will get far better results. Inferior materials, such as all-purpose dye, ruin your project before you ever start it.

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Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Do you have 601 Yellow Sun in stock, 2 bottles and how fast can you ship it?

Name: Jodi

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Message: Do you have 601 Yellow Sun in stock, 2 bottles and how fast can you ship it to my zip code in southern Wisconsin?

601 Yellow Sun could refer to several types of dyes, but, assuming that you are referring the Yellow Sun 601 in the Jacquard Acid Dyes collection, there are two different affiliate programs on my site through which you can buy it. Both appear to have it in stock.

On my web site's page of Jacquard Acid Dyes colors, there is a link to buy this dye through Amazon from Joann's Fabrics and Crafts [the same as the link on this page, at the lower left]. They say that the dye "Usually ships in 2 to 3 days". This is in addition to the actual shipping time, which for a street address should be three to five business days, or for a PO Box should be three to seven business days. Expect a total of five to eight business days, for standard shipping. They also provide two-day shipping, for an additional fee, or one-day shipping, for a still-larger fee. The fastest and most expensive shipping would take a total of three to four business days.

If, instead, you go to the link in the right-hand margin on my page of "how to dye nylon" page (since acid dyes work well on wool and silk, and also on nylon) [and on the advertisement on this page, to the left], they say that the dye "usually ships in 24-48 hrs." After the package leaves the warehouse, it should take four to six business days to reach southern Wisconsin by standard shipping, or two days for expedited shipping, or one day for rush shipping. MisterArt says that it will take a total of up to three days for the most expensive rush shipping.

You can also order directly from Dharma Trading Company, although they will not provide a percentage of your expenditure to the support of this web site. Dharma sells it under the same name, as 601 Sun Yellow, and will normally ship to southern Wisconsin in four days if you order in the morning, as they ship the same day for orders placed by 11 am Pacific time. Their most expensive next-day-air really might get there the next day.

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Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Do you know of classes in southern California?

Name: Andrew

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DVDs on How to Tie Dye

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Message: Do you offer classes in dyeing or do you know of classes in southern Ca ?

No, I'm afraid I don't. A lot of people have been asking about workshops and classes lately. Let me encourage you to join the Dye Forum community of dyers, where you can ask all of your questions about dyeing.

If you are interested in tie-dyeing, there are some excellent DVDs on how to tie-dye that are valuable for even experienced tie-dyers. Look into the videos Tie Dye 101 and Advanced Tie Dye Techniques, by True Tie Dye, or the Phat Dyes videos.

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Monday, May 04, 2009

How can I dye Spanish moss?

Name: Joyce

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Message: I want to dye Spanish moss and for it to retain the color. I don't know which dye to use on dry plant fiber, also how to get best color. Thank you.

As a general rule, plant fibers dye best with cool water fiber reactive dyes in the presence of soda ash or another high-pH chemical. Like other plants, Spanish moss contains a large proportion of cellulose, which reacts with the fiber reactive dyes to form a permanent bond. I recommend that you use Procion MX dye, or another fiber reactive dye, such as Dylon Permanent Dye or Tulip One Step Fashion Dye. A good crafts store should carry at least one of these dye types, or you can mail-order from one of the companies listed on my page of Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World.

There are also other types of dyes which will dye cellulose fibers, such as direct dyes, all-purpose dyes, and vat dyes, but all of these require either heat or caustic chemicals. To do a good job of dyeing Spanish moss with an all-purpose dye such as Rit or Tintex will require that you heat the Spanish moss in the dye. I expect that it would be better to avoid these dyes, and instead use a cool water dye that does not require any heating.

Your best results will come from dyeing light-colored materials. Spanish moss that has been processed by composting for use as an upholstery stuffing material, as described in Rita Buchanan's book A Weaver's Garden, is black and therefore will not show any color of dye very well. Whatever the original color of your Spanish moss, it will show through the color of the dye. If you need to obtain a lighter color than the original one, use opaque fabric paint, such as Neopaque, instead of dye.

To use Procion MX and similar dyes, you can dye your plant material using your choice of Procion MX dye colors, along with soda ash, following the tie-dyeing recipe. Or, if you wish to obtain a very smooth even color, dye it in a five gallon bucket, stirring frequently, using Dharma Trading Company's bucket-dyeing recipe, or PRO Chemical & Dye's immersion dyeing recipe, or Jacquard Products' immersion dyeing recipe. Be sure to rinse out the unattached excess dye thoroughly afterwards, as directed.

I have never dyed Spanish moss myself. I'd appreciate it if you would let me know how well this works for you.

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Sunday, May 03, 2009

To make additional colors, do I mix the LIQUID dyes or do i mix them as powders?

Name: meredith

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Message: ok I am a total tye dye virgin.

Very simple, probably stupid question....

When I start out with the three colors (magenta, yellow, turk) and want to make additional colors do I mix the LIQUID dyes or do i mix them as powders? If as powder, how do I know how much to use?

I was going to prepare the 3 colors and them just squirt appropriate amounts into the additional squeeze bottles.

It's not a stupid question. The answer is that you can do it either way, but I think it's easier to mix the liquids, after you dissolve the dye powder. It's especially easy if you have extra plastic bottles (look for these in a beauty supplies store, or order them from a dye supplier).

To get green, mix yellow and turquoise. I like to use twice as much turquoise as yellow, but it's obviously a matter of personal taste, and you can use different proportions to produce different shades of green. To get a true blue, mix a small amount of fuchsia with a large amount of turquoise. To get purple, mix equal amounts fuchsia and turquoise. For a true red, use just a little bit of yellow with a lot of fuchsia.

Here's some more information about color mixing which you can ignore for now, but you might want to know for next time:

If you really get into this dyeing, you can order additional colors. You'll probably want to try black next to your bright colors, because it really makes them pop out by contrast. Some of the hundred different colors of Procion MX dye sold at PRO Chemical & Dye or Dharma Trading Company are premixed; about fifteen of them are actually unique unmixed colors, with slightly different properties from other dyes of the same color. I have a list of which they are, if you're interested.

When you mix fuchsia and yellow to get a true red, you'll notice yellow halos around the edges; this look great in tie-dye, but if you want to avoid it for some reason, you can buy a true orange and mix it with light red or mixing red to get a true red with no haloing at all. Same thing with purple, which often gets blue halos at the edges if you mix it from turquoise and fuchsia; you can use a true single-hue purple, called "grape" by most dye suppliers, that won't separate out at all, and looks great in mixtures, as well.

Be sure to use only 100% cotton or rayon or other natural fiber for your tie-dyeing. Don't get stain-resistant shirts, because they resist dye as well as they do stains. Don't use the Rit tie-dye kit, because it contains all-purpose dyes which give poor results; almost any other brand of tie-dye kit will be excellent, though.

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Saturday, May 02, 2009

Trying to save a polyester dress that has been stained

Name: Ele

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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends

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Color polyester fabric with fabric paints

Fabric Crayons
contain iron-on
disperse dye

Message: Hello. I hope you can help me. I made a dress out of vintage polyester fabric. The woman on set stained it. I took it to cleaners the stain is still on it. I know and I have read up on the process of dyeing polyester. I am wondering if you could do some work on it - if I can't re-dye the entire dress maybe we can put some transfers on it. It is a very pretty dress and i would like to keep it.... I look forward to your solution.

If your dress will survive boiling, you can dye it by boiling it for half an hour or longer with a special kind of polyester dye called disperse dye. You can't dye it with any dye that works on natural fibers, such as Procion MX dye, or all-purpose dyes, such as Rit.

However, since dye is transparent, it will usually fail to cover up a stain. The areas that are darker than the rest, before dyeing, will continue to be darker than the rest, after dyeing. It's the same problem as trying to cover up a bleach stain; see "How can I fix the bleach spots on my favorite clothing?".

Don't try to bleach out your stains using a Clorox Bleach pen, or any other sort of chlorine bleach, because it will permanently damage polyester. Some stains can be removed from polyester using Rit Dye Remover, but the chance of success is low enough that I won't recommend it, not knowing the source of the stain. In fact, if the stain you are complaining of is yellow, household bleach is the most likely cause of it; there is nothing that can be done to remove hypochlorite stains from polyester. (See "What chemicals can be used to remove dye?".)

It's surprisingly easy to make transfers for polyester. Disperse dyes are available in crayon form, sold at the fabric store as Crayola Fabric Crayons or Dritz Fabric Crayons. (See "Iron-on Fabric Crayons for Synthetic Fibers".) You can also paint your designs onto paper with a brush, for a very different effect, if you buy disperse dyes in powder form and use them to make transfer paint. You can mail-order powdered disperse dyes from Aljo Mfg in New York or PRO Chemical & Dye in Massachusetts; sources for dyers in other countries may be found on my page of "Sources of Dyeing Supplies Around the World". Whether you use fabric crayons or disperse dye paint, the designs can be transferred to the fabric using a heat press or a dry iron.

I'm afraid that I am not available for custom dye work myself, and most custom dyers are not interested in working on polyester. The only custom dyer I know who will work on polyester is Manhatten Dyeing Service, but they will do solid colors only, and they say that they work only on undyed garments. See "Where can I find someone to dye my clothing for me?".

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Friday, May 01, 2009

Can dyes be shipped from the US to Martinique?

Name: JUIANNE

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Message: Hello,
Do you ship your products outside USA. I'm living in Martinique F.W.I

Many of the dye-related items on my web site are sold by Dick Blick, which does ship internationally but requires your approval of their shipping charges for each order. See their Shipping Information page.

Some of the suppliers listed on my page of "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World", ship internationally. PRO Chemical & Dye does. Dharma Trading Company specifically lists Martinique as one of the countries to which they can ship any of their products, with the exception of flammable solvent-containing products.

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