Archives for December, 2010

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Friday, December 31, 2010

I have managed to spill some black paint

Name: TJ

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Country or region: UK

Message: Hello, I have managed to spill some black paint on my white net curtain. Is there any way I can get rid of the black stain on the curtain? Can I dip the whole curtain in something that will make it white again? Any help and advice you can give will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

Your only hope, when black paint is spilled, or any paint, really, is to immerse the spilled-upon material in water IMMEDIATELY, while the paint is still wet. Wash the paint out while it is still wet. Start with cold water, and then move to hot water if cold water is not sufficient. After removing as much as you can, if some paint remains, continue to soak in the hottest water, and then wash again. Once paint has dried, the acrylic binder polymerizes, creating an impossible-to-remove stain.

I have seen claims that acetone will remove acrylic paint. I don't really believe it, but you may as well try it, and the sooner the better. (Try water first!) Every minute's delay makes it more difficult to remove a paint stain. You can buy pure acetone at a hardware store, where it is sold as a solvent, or you can look at nail polish removers, hoping to find one whose main ingredient is acetone. Take the usual precautions for solvent use: beware of flames or sparks, since acetone is very flammable, and use only with good ventilation, with all the windows wide open, or use it outside.

If none of this works, nothing else will remove the paint. You can bleach away dye stains, but you cannot bleach away paints.

At that point, the best solution is to buy several different colors of fabric paint, including one that matches your spill, and decorate your curtains with it, painting or stamping or stenciling or sponging. It's best to buy a paint specifically labeled as "fabric paint", instead of just using ordinary artists' acrylics or house paint, because fabric paint is much softer and less scratchy, and soaks into the fabric better.

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Thursday, December 30, 2010

How can I dye with foods such as blueberries?

Name: Heidur (Heather in English)

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Books About Natural Dyes

The Art and Craft
of Natural Dyeing:
Traditional Recipes for Modern Use

by Jim Liles

Country or region: Iceland, Reykjavik

Message: hello
I'm trying to color with blueberries; the Icelandic wild blueberry has a beautiful color, stronger then other blueberries. The look I am going for is like spots of the blue purple that the berries give. Also, can you give me information on how to use food as a dye? Spinach, for example, has a beautiful color.

What do you want to dye? I do not recommend using blueberries or spinach to dye clothing that will be washed. To be used as a dye, it's not enough for a substance to have a beautiful color; it must also have an affinity for the material you want to dye with it, so that it clings to it, and it must resist fading due to light, oxygen, or necessary laundering.

Foods can make lovely dyes for projects that will not be washed, if they are not expected to last very long. You should dye textile fibers with food only if you enjoy the temporary nature of these colors. Don't use foods as dyes if you want your results to stay bright for a long time or to resist laundering, as is necessary for a good clothing dye.

Blueberries are colored with natural anthocyanins, while spinach is colored with chlorophyll. These colors are beautiful in the fresh food, but they turn dull when applied to textiles. For a thousand years, people have preferred to use indigo to dye clothing a blue color, because indigo is a much longer-lasting, brighter blue dye. To dye clothing or tapestries a green color, it is traditional to use indigo plus a natural yellow dye to make the green, because the green of chlorophyll that is found in the leaves of plants does not stay green, but instead turns brown.

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Indigo is such a desirable natural blue dye that it has been found in as many as fifty different species of plants around the world, having been rediscovered repeatedly by different groups of people in different parts of the world.

The blue dye in blueberries must be protected from changes in pH, such as are caused by laundry soap and human perspiration, because the color changes completely according to the pH of its surroundings. Indigo is a far more practical natural dye than the coloring in blueberries.

If you want to replicate the effect of the beautiful Icelandic blueberries on textile fibers using natural dyes, I recommend that you use natural indigo, and then, if the color is not purple enough, overdye it with a little bit of a natural red dye such as madder or cochineal, which, unlike indigo, should be mordanted with a metal salt such as alum. Indigo, a vat dye, is a difficult dye for beginning dyers to work with; if you are not experienced in dyeing, I strongly recommend that you start by using commercial acid dye on wool, or a fiber reactive dye on cotton and other plant fibers.

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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Do you have a supplier in South Africa?

Name: Willena

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Dyeing with Slipstream Dyes in South Africa

Melanie Brummer's

Contemporary Dyecraft: Over 50 Tie-dye Projects for Scarves, Dresses, T-shirts and More

Clear, well-photographed instructions for

tie-dyeing in buckets

Country or region: South Africa

Message: Do you have a supplier in South Africa?

Yes, there are now convenient suppliers for small quantities of good dyes in South Africa. It was not long ago that the best advice I could offer was to contact a large dye company such as Dystar or Huntsman Textile Effects, which generally have a minimum order of five kilograms per dye color, not at all suitable for artists and other hand dyers, but now there is a better alternative.

Melanie Brummer, author of the book, Contemporary Dyecraft: Over 50 Tie-dye Projects for Scarves, Dresses, T-shirts and More, now sells Remazol-type fiber reactive dyes in South Africa. Like all fiber reactive dyes, these form the most permanent of chemical bonds to natural fibers such as cotton and silk, so they perform extremely well. They stay bright for years, and, after you do the initial wash-out of unattached excess dye, are safe to launder in the same load with even white clothing, even in hot water. Unlike Procion MX fiber reactive dyes, the Remazol fiber reactive dyes require hot water to work well, though the stovetop method is not necessary, except for wool and other animal hair fibers. Brunner's book contains clear recipes for how to use these dyes. To purchase dyes or her book from Ms. Brunner, who is located in Johannesburg, you can reach her by calling 0835689150 or sending e-mail to info [at] dyeandprints.co.za. You can mail-order from her company, or ask for the name of a local stockist who sells the Slipstream dyes.

In addition, you can consider mail-ordering from other countries, depending on the cost of shipping and any applicable customs fees. This is particularly useful when you want a specific type of dye that you cannot find locally, such as Lanaset dyes for wool, or disperse dyes for polyester or acrylic. Some dyers in various countries overseas find it surprisingly economical to mail-order dyes from the American companies that have the best prices, such as PRO Chemical & Dye or Dharma Trading Company. South Africa is listed as one of the countries that Dharma Trading can send any of their products to, without restrictions on certain categories of products. If you decide to try ordering from overseas, try calling on the phone to place your order, in case there is a slower and cheaper choice for shipping that is not available from a given company's web site.

Also see my earlier blog post, "Where to get dyes for teddies in South Africa".

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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Can I use Rit dye on rayon pants?

Name: Andrea

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Country or region: USA

Message: I have a pair of modal rayon pants I want to dye black in the washing machine. The Rit Dye package says use for cottons. What do you recommend?

For rayon, just as with cotton, the best choice is to buy a fiber reactive dye, not Rit or any other brand of all-purpose dye. The problem with all-purpose dyes, such as Rit, is that they fade quickly, and they bleed badly in the laundry. You are supposed to hand-wash your Rit-dyed garments, separately, every single time you launder them, for the life of the garment, and the color will not stay very dark very long. In contrast, a good fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye or Dylon Permanent dye, will stay dark years longer than all-purpose dye will, and, after the first few washings, will be safe to wash in the machine with any color of other clothing, at any temperature, without fear that the dye will bleed and ruin the other clothing.

If you don't mind the major drawbacks of all-purpose dye, it will work just about as well on rayon as it does on cotton. Both rayon and cotton are cellulose-containing fibers, so they can be dyed with the same dyes. Modal is a type of rayon, so it dyes very well with cotton dyes. (We are talking about viscose rayon, not rayon acetate, which is much more difficult to dye.)

The one thing you must be careful of is that rayon is weakened when it is wet. As long as any rayon garment is wet, it is especially vulnerable to tears or abrasions. If you treat it very carefully, it can survive many washings. It's important to sort your clothing, when you wash it, so that your delicate rayons are not in the same load as a pair of heavy jeans, for example. Using a delicate setting on the machine, or gently hand-washing, or placing the rayon inside a mesh lingerie bag before placing it in the machine, are all ways to prolong the life of your rayon garment.

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Monday, December 27, 2010

How can I stop the dry dye from rubbing onto other clothing?

Name: Meredith Bender

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Heinrich Zollinger

Color Chemistry: Synthesis, Properties, and Applications of Organic Dyes and Pigments

Country or region: USA/ Southern Jersey

Message: I purchased a 100% polyester, suede-like, light weight vest in a bright magenta color. When I wear it with a white cotton knit shirt under it, the color rubs off onto the under sides of my arms. I've washed the vest in cool water and it doesn't appear to "run", but it still rubs off. Should I rinse it in vinegar and water as the store's customer assist person suggested? I've read your information but am still in a quandry.

The rubbing-off of the dye in the shirt, a problem known as "crocking", is caused by a manufacturing defect; the dye was either applied incorrectly, or not washed out properly after application. This should not be happening. The best solution is to return the garment for a different one or for a full refund.

You may as well try the advice of the store's customer assist person, but only if she guarantees that you can return the garment afterwards if it does not work. Simply washing the garment, if it is washable, may remove enough of the dye to solve the problem. Use the hottest water that the garment can tolerate, and soak it for a while before completing the washing, for maximum efficiency. Wash two or three times, if necessary.

If you've already washed the garment several times, and yet the crocking is still occurring, then the manufacturer made a serious error and should replace the garment or give you a refund for it.

By the way, although there are wonderful aftermarket commercial dye fixatives available by mail-order, such as Retayne, none of them can be expected to work for crocking. They work only for bleeding of the dye when it is wet.

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Sunday, December 26, 2010

What are S. O. Dyes?

Name: Rajesh

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Heinrich Zollinger

Color Chemistry: Synthesis, Properties, and Applications of Organic Dyes and Pigments

Country or region: India

Message: What is the full-form of S.O. Dyes? What are S.O. Dyes ?

The phrase "S.O. Dyes" is used as an abbreviation for two completely different things.

In general, "S.O. Dyes" is an abbreviation for "Synthetic Organic Dyes". This phrase can refer to any synthetic dye, typically manufactured from chemicals that ultimately derive from either coal or petroleum. Although the popular conception of the word "organic" is that it refers to all-natural, non-synthetic plant or animal products, in fact the word means something very different in chemistry. In chemistry, "organic" means any chemical whose molecules contain carbon, including the chemicals in coal and petroleum, and all of the myriad synthetic products produced from them.

Among the many types of synthetic organic dyes are reactive, acid, direct, and vat dyes. Synthetic organic dyes are used not only in textile dyeing, but also in coloring printing inks, house paints, paper, foods, and cosmetics. A fascinating overview of synthetic organic dyes and pigments, from the viewpoint of an artist, can be found in Bruce MacEvoy's online guide to watercolor painting . Also see my earlier blog question and answer, What is the dye used for clothing typically made from?.

Alternatively, and in a much more specialized sense, "S. O. Dyes" can also refer to spirooxazine dyes, which are of great interest for their photochromic properties. Spirooxazine compounds can be used in photochromic lenses that turn dark in the presence of ultraviolet light, and then colorless again in its absence.

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Friday, December 24, 2010

How can I redye a purple mink vest to black (for less than the furrier would charge)? Name: Julia

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Country or region: CA, USA

Message: Hi, I tried to search and didn't seem to find the following: I received from a relative a grayish purple, woven mink vest. I was hoping to make it black, but after some research it seems like the alum in mink tanning can react to immersion, and mink fur is unlike rabbit, fox, or human. A furrier is offering to dye it for more than it's worth. Any advice? (I already have henna and indigo on hand, though I could get the chemical stuff if I had to.) Thank you very much!

Is the mink vest utterly unusable to you in its current color? It's possible that dyeing it will ruin it. It may be a better idea to keep the vest in its original color. Are you comfortable with hand-washing your mink vest in water? It is impossible to dye anything that is not washable, because dyeing invariably requires a great deal of washing.

All animal furs can be dyed with acid dyes or with reactive dyes, and ought to be dyeable with henna, too (though indigo would be more difficult), but the exposure to large amounts of water and to the low or high pH and, especially, any heat required for dyeing will tend to stiffen the backing of the fur, and may make the fur itself significantly less soft and smooth.

Personally, I would not choose to dye a garment like yours unless the most likely alternative is to throw it away. The risks of spoiling an expensive piece of fur are too high. There is a reason why your furrier charges so much for dyeing a fur garment.

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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Can we stop sodium alginate from getting hard and choking the printing machines?

Name: Radhika

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Alginate

Country or region: India

Message: I import sodium alginate (textile grade) used in cloth printing. Recently, someclients have told me that, with the use of sodium alginate in printing, the cloth becomes very hard and also the printing machine is getting choked up. What's the solution to this problem?

Although my area of expertise is small-scale hand dyeing, I may be able to make some useful suggestions.

Alginate forms a gel in the presence of calcium ions, which are extremely common, and which are always found in hard water. Unless you and your clients have exceptionally soft water supplies, lacking in the usual amount of calcium ions, this is likely to be your problem. Unlike gels formed from agarose or gelatin, an alginate-calcium gel will not dissolve in hot water, making it very difficult to remove.

Although using distilled water is effective, it is inconvenient. A more convenient solution is to add a water softener that works by sequestering calcium and magnesium ions, such as sodium hexametaphosphate, to your print paste mixtures. Water that has been softened by replacing its calcium and magnesium ions with salt will also work well. Not all water softeners are suitable for this purpose; the polycarboxylates that are popular in in grocery-store water softeners can interfere with dyeing.

It may be difficult or impossible to require your customers to use only softened water. If you add sodium hexametaphosphate or another calcium sequestering agent to your print paste mixtures, you can be sure that your customers will have it when they need it.

Sodium alginate also tends to produce gels if the pH is too low or too high. You should avoid using sodium alginate at a pH that is below 3.5 or above 11.5. If this is your problem, you may need to use a chemical buffer system to keep your pH in the desired range. Reactive dyes are often used at a pH around 11, while acid dyes are usually used at a pH between 4 and 7, depending on the class of acid dye being used.

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Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Can we tie-dye a white polyester shirt without using dangerous chemicals?

Name: Nancy

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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends

Country or region: California, U.S

Message: Hi, I hope that you can help me. My son is a fifteen year old hockey player, who is also very artistic, and for Christmas, he has asked if we can purchase a white (100% poly) shirt and he would like to tie dye it. Is there any easy way to create a tie-dyed look on a polyester shirt, without using the dangerous chemicals that you mentioned in your article? I have never done this before, and even though my husband has a chemistry background, I am not comfortable using the disperse dyes. Thanks so much, and Happy Holidays, Nancy

Disperse dyes are not dangerous; they're certainly no more dangerous than the Rit brand all-purpose dyes you're probably comfortable with buying in stores, simply due to familiarity. (As with all art materials, you should avoid breathing them or getting them on your skin or in your eyes, and you should clean up all spills immediately, but these are standard safety practices that everyone should always use with every art material or household chemical.)

Immersion dyeing polyester to a solid color is rather unpleasant, though, because it's hard to get a deep color on polyester without using a dye carrier molecule which is very smelly, and requires a lot of ventilation. I can understand why you'd want to avoid using the carrier chemical.

There are two easy alternatives.

One alternative is to use disperse dye crayons, or disperse dye paints, to make iron-ons, by applying them to paper. You can then place these iron-on transfers face-to-face with the fabric to be dyed (be sure any writing is backwards at first!), and use a hot dry iron to transfer the color, repeating as necessary to complete the design. The high heat of the iron makes it completely unnecessary to use the smelly carrier chemical or to invest in a large cooking pot for dyeing in. It's a very easy technique, and safe for anyone who can wield a hot iron. The colors look dull and dim when you apply them to the paper, but when you iron them onto the polyester fabric, they become brilliant. See, for example, my page, "Iron-on Fabric Crayons for Synthetic Fibers".

The crayons are very easy to find, because local fabric stores often carry them, and a hobby store might carry them as well. You will see them labeled either "Crayola Fabric Crayons" or "Dritz Fabric Crayons". They are shaped just like ordinary wax crayons, so much so that you must make a little effort not to confuse them. Of course, ordinary crayons will not work at all for dyeing polyester or any other fabric, though they can produce some horrendous stains.

The iron-ons made from the crayons really do look like crayon marks. For iron-ons that look more like paint or dye, all you have to do is buy disperse dye powder, mix it with water (and possibly also a thickener to make the dyes feel more like regular paints), and paint it on to paper, then transfer as with the crayons, after the disperse dye paint is dry on the paper. You can mail-order disperse dye powder from PRO Chemical & Dye in Massachusetts, or Aljo Mfg. in New York. I don't recommend that you use iDye Poly disperse dye for dye painting, since it's packaged for use in immersion dyeing. For detailed recipes on how to use disperse dye for transfer printing, see PRO Chemical & Dye's instruction sheet, "Transfer Printing on Polyester using Transperse Transfer Printing Dyes", and "Transfer Printing on Polyester using PROsperse Disperse Dyes". [PDF files]

The other alternative is very different and does not involve the use of dyes at all. Instead of dyes, you can use a fabric paint that is designed to work on polyester. Not all fabric paints will last well on polyester, and you want only a paint labeled 'fabric paint', not artists' acrylic paints or house paint or any other sort of paint. The two brands of fabric paint that I recommend that you consider are Dye-Na-Flow, which is made by Jacquard Products to be a fabric paint that simulates a dye, and Dharma Pigment Dyes, which is available only from Dharma Trading Company. You can dilute the Dharma Pigment Dyes with a larger proportion of water, since they are so concentrated, so they make a more economical paint for tie-dye-like fabric painting. You dilute your "pigment dye" fabric paints as directed by the manufacturer, then dip your tied garment into it, or use yorker-top squeeze bottles to squirt the dye on, making sure that the color throughly penetrates, then hang up or lay out the completed shirt to dye. Use the same folding techniques as for tie-dyeing cotton with fiber reactive dyes. There is no need for soda ash or any other chemical, but it is important to thoroughly prewash any garment before you try to dye or paint it.

Fabric paint does not penetrate as deeply as dye into the fibers within the the fabric, but instead rests on the outside of each fiber. This means that all fabric paints tend to wear off more quickly than true dyes. Maintain the appearance of your tie-painted clothing by always turning it inside out before laundering, and consider placing it into a mesh laundry bag for washing. The disperse dye used for making iron-ons, in contrast, is most at risk from the heat of a machine dryer; the label on the Crayola Fabric Crayons cautions that decorated clothing should be line-dried rather than dried with heat, since high heat might cause some color to redeposit where it is not wanted. While the disperse clothes in the polyester clothes that you already own resist transfer from relatively moderate amounts of heat, the Crayola Fabric Crayons and other transfer dyes for polyester are made from disperse dyes that are carefully chosen to transfer at relatively low temperatures.

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Friday, December 17, 2010

I have a wool and camel hair coat I'd like to dye a darker brown

Name: Tonya

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Country or region: USA

Message: I have a coat that is 60% camel hair & 40% wool. It's a camel color but I would like to dye it a darker brown, like chocolate, maybe. I don't know what dye to use or how to go about dyeing it once I get the right kind of dye. HELP!!!!

The first and most important question: is the coat washable? You cannot dye anything that you cannot wash. If you're not sure whether or not the coat will survive washing, decide whether you want to take the risk, and then, if so, go wash the coat first. You must always prewash anything that you are going to dye, to reduce the chance that an invisible stain will repel the dye and leave a splotch that is lighter in color. Wool can handle water, even hot water, but it should not be subjected to agitation, rough stirring, or sudden changes in temperature.

If you have successfully washed your coat, you can then consider dyeing it. Both camel hair and wool are animal fibers, which means that they are made of protein. Protein fibers should be dyed with a type of dye called acid dye. You can mail-order special high-quality dyes, or you can look for locally sold dyes that contain acid dyes.

All-purpose dyes, such as Rit, are easy to find in local stores, and contain acid dye, in addition to another type of dye that just washes out of animal-based fibers. The main drawbacks to Rit are that each box contains very little dye, so you will have to buy several boxes, which makes it more expensive than many higher-quality mail-order dyes, and that the color it produces is not always predictable. Many dyers have complained, for example, of using a black Rit dye, only to end up with something colored dark purple. For dark colors, more dye than the box's label suggests is often needed. All-purpose dyes are also not very resistant to fading during washing, but will stay dark longer if you usually dry-clean instead of washing.

While your coat is still completely dry (it goes without saying that it should be air-dried, not machine-dried), before washing it, weigh it. If you don't have a suitable scale for several-pound weights, try a post office scale, or try weighing yourself on a bathroom scale, with and without the coat, trying several times and averaging the results together. If the coat weighs four pounds, you will probably need eight boxes of all-purpose dye to color it. If you mail-order a better quality of acid dye, then carefully follow the manufacturer's instructions for how much dye to use per pound of fabric.

The best way to dye wool is in an extremely large cooking pot, but it seems unlikely that you have one large enough, especially one that you are willing to sacrifice for use as a dyeing pot. You should not plan on reusing a dyeing pot for food preparation, and the pot should be made of a non-reactive material, either stainless steel or enamel. The pot needs to be large enough for the coat to move in freely, or the color produced will not be even.

If you don't have a suitable dyeing pot then you can consider using a top-loading washing machine. Washing machine dyeing is inferior to stovetop dyeing, for protein fibers such as wool and camel hair, but in this case it may be your only realistic option. Since it's important to avoid excessive agitation on wet wool, which will caused the surface of the wool to mat and felt, you should use only a machine that has a super-delicate 'hand wash' setting, or a presoak setting. Since acid dyes work much better at high temperatures, it would be best if you can turn up the temperature on your water heater a bit for the duration of your dyeing, then turn it down again to avoid the risk of scald burns in household usage. Decide for yourself whether you want to do this.

All acid dyes work best on animal fibers in the presence of an acid, such as vinegar, and the acid dye in all-purpose dye is no exception. Although adding vinegar to Rit dye is utterly useless for cotton, it is important for wool and camel hair. You will want to buy a large bottle of distilled white vinegar from the grocery store. It should be labeled "5% acidity", which means that it contains 5% acetic acid, by weight.

To dye in the washing machine, you should get a good recipe for the specific dye you are using, and follow it closely. See my page, "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?". Here is a link to the Jacquard Products instruction sheet for using Jacquard Acid dyes in the washing machine. Note that it says to add one cup of vinegar to the washing machine, and that there is a chart included explaining how much of each color of Jacquard Acid Dye to use for dyeing one pound of fiber. (Multiply this by the number of pounds your coat weighed when dry.) The chart says to use up to three ounces of brown dye per pound of fabric.

I believe that the Rit dye instructions omit any mention of vinegar, but, if you choose to dye wool and camel hair with any dye, using an acid such as vinegar is important. Add a cup of vinegar, just as in the Jacquard instructions. Here is a link to the instructions for washing machine instructions for Rit all-purpose dye. You must minimize agitation, and avoid sudden temperature changes. If you are not very careful, your coat may shrink or get a matted, felted surface. When you dye your own clothing, you have to take the risk of damaging your fabric, and there is a far greater risk when dyeing wool than when dyeing cotton.

After using any dye, it is important to wash out the excess unattached dye, as otherwise the dry dye will rub off onto anything it touches. Be careful to change the temperature of your rinsing water only gradually.

I hope this works for you. There is always a bit of a risk when overdyeing a commercially-produced garment, but if you are careful, it can work well. It's best to dye only those garments that you don't value much in their undyed state, since there are things that can go wrong in dyeing commercially-produced clothing.

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Thursday, December 16, 2010

How can I dye a pair of synthetic shiny fabric trainer shoes?

Name: Julie

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Country or region: England

Message: Hello there, could you give me any advice please on how to dye a pair of synthetic shiny fabric (nylon?) trainer shoes? I have a pair which are a pale green, but would like to dye them a more acceptable grey. They are Clarks brand, so I don't want to ruin them! Hope you can help me, thanks in advance. Kind regards, Julie

Dye is not going to work on your trainer shoes. It's not clear which synthetic fibers your shoes contain (probably more than one), but all of the alternatives (nylon, polyester) can be dyed only by immersing them in a simmering or boiling hot dye bath, which would make the glue that is currently holding the layers of the shoe together come unglued.

Check to see whether the shoes are water-resistant: sprinkle a few drops of water across them. If the water stands up in beads, they are water-resistant, and nothing will be able to stick to them properly. If the water soaks in, though, you might be able to use a good fabric paint, such as Dye-Na-Flow, which is available from a number of suppliers in the UK, including Rainbow Silks and George Weil.

For more information, see this recent post in my All About Hand Dyeing Q&A blog, in answer to someone in Greece who wants to dye some synthetic suede boots:

"I would like to dye my faux suede boots from brown to black"

The answers to her question will apply equally well to your shoes, though finding a good fabric paint may be easier in your country.

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

How can I remove stains caused by loose dye that transferred from another garment?

Name: Emma

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Country or region: Australia

Message: Hello! I would REALLY appreciate your help, as I have received so much conflicting advice about how to fix a certain problem, and you sound like you know what you're talking about! I have a beautiful dark teal linen dress that I bought overseas which has been ruined; for some reason it was put into a leaking bathtub with a hand-dyed pair of pants of mine (???). The dye, of course, transferred onto my dress, and now there are yellow-ish and dark purple splotches all over my dress! The stains have been there for a couple of months now; like I said, I have received so much conflicting advice about how to fix it, that I've been so scared to touch it for fear of ruining it! Please help me salvage it! Could you possibly refer me a few suitable brands as well?? I would very much appreciate it!!

I am concerned about the yellowish splotches on your dress. Are these dye stains, or are they bleach stains? It seems unlikely that a dark teal color could be turned yellowish by transferred dye. Yellow dye on top of dark teal would produce greenish stains, at most. If your dress has been stained with any sort of bleach (including acne treatment lotions), please read my page, "How can I fix the bleach spots on my favorite clothing?". For the remainder of this answer, I'll assume that the problem really is due to transfer of loose dye, rather than to bleaching, since that problem has already been covered in the link above.

Have you already washed the dress at its usual washing temperature, using your usual laundry methods? That is always the first thing to try. If the unwanted dye is loose enough, it may be that easy to remove. As everyone always says, don't use heat to dry the garment until the stain is out. This is generally a good rule to follow. Don't machine-dry the dress until the stain is out; instead, just hang it to dry.

The best thing to try next, to remove dye that has bled from another garment, is to soak your garment in hot water, the hottest it can take. If very hot tap water (typically 55°C to 60°C, or 130°F to 140°F) is not sufficient, then add a bit of boiling water from your stovetop to make your hot-water soak a little hotter. The heat of the hot water will lower the attraction of the loose dye for your dress, encouraging it to lift off. Follow the hot water soak by washing in hot water, with a little detergent.

It is not very likely that soaking and then laundering in hot water will fail to work, if the problem is just loosely transferred excess dye. If hot water does fail, then the next step is to use either bleach or color remover. (See "What chemicals can be used to remove dye?".) The problem with both bleach and color remover is that the original color of the dress may be lightened or removed, along with that of the transferred dye. That's why you should always try the hot water method first (the hot water method is also less trouble, and cheaper, and usually very effective).

As long as your linen dress is 100% linen, without any spandex or other synthetic fiber content, nor any silk or other animal fiber, then you can consider using household bleach. This is the familiar product that is also known as chlorine bleach, the stuff whose active ingredient is hypochlorite. Don't confuse it with oxygen-based "color safe" bleaches. (Never use hypochlorite bleach on synthetic fibers such as polyester, nor on animal fibers such as wool or silk.) Be aware that hypochlorite bleach can damage any fiber, leaving holes in a garment, if it is too strong, if the water is too hot, if the garment is left in it too long, or if the bleach is not sufficiently diluted and mixed into the water before the garment is added. Mix no more than one cup (250 ml) of chlorine-based bleach with a full twenty-gallon (80 liter) load of water in your washing machine, if it's a top-loading washing machine; for a front-loading washing machine, use much less, following the manufacturers' instructions.

I prefer to use other color remover chemicals instead of bleach. There are several available, but they all work the same way. They are gentler to the fabric than hypochlorite bleach, and they are much safer for synthetic fibers or animal-based fibers. Look for Rit Color Remover, Jacquard Color Remover, Tintex Color Remover, Dylon Run Away, or Carbona Color Run Remover. You may need more than one box, if you are doing the treatment in the washing machine, and you should follow the manufacturers' instructions carefully. Like hypochlorite bleach, all of these dye removers risk removing all or part of the original color; unlike hypochlorite bleach, they are all used with heat. Hot tap water may be sufficient; for stubborn dye stains, the stovetop method is more effective.

It is okay to try both the color remover (any one of them; they are similar in their effects) and the hypochlorite bleach, but do not mix them together. Sometimes Rit Color Remover will work on a dye that hypochlorite bleach won't work on, or bleach will work on a dye that Rit Color Remover is not so good for. You never want to mix hypochlorite bleach with other chemicals, however. If you use one of these products, be sure to launder the dress well before trying the other product.

I hope you'll be able to salvage your dress.

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Friday, December 10, 2010

Can I use coffee to cover up a coffee stain on a wool coat? Name: Liza

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Message: I have an off-white wool coat (70% wool, 30% nylon) that I spilled coffee on. I've had the coat professionally cleaned, but the stain won't even fade. So, I'm wondering what would happen if I put the whole coat in a bath of coffee. Could it possibly make the whole coat darker (which would actually be nice...)? What is my biggest "risk"? I've read your advice on dying wool and I'm just not sure I'm up for the challenge, nor could I figure out a pot big enough for the coat.

You might want to try some more coffee stain removal techniques first. Dry cleaning is not always the best way to remove a stain. The How Stuff Works site claims on their page "How to Remove Coffee Stains" that rubbing alcohol (also known as isopropyl alcohol, or isopropanol) will remove coffee stains. I don't know whether or not it is true, but alcohol on off-white wool seems pretty harmless to me, as long as you do not scrub at the stain. Scrubbing at the stain too roughly will cause the surface of the wool fabric to become damaged, so be careful. The site recommends using water first, which is a good idea. Water is the most powerful solvent known, more powerful than any of the organic (petroleum-based) solvents used for dry cleaning. Gentle exposure to water should not harm wool; what harms wool is too much physical manipulation (rubbing or agitation, especially when wet), or rapid temperature changes from hot to cold or the reverse. There are also commercial stain removers that are claimed to work to remove coffee stains, by the use of enzymes, and to be safe for use on wool. I have not tried any, so I don't know how well they work, but in your situation I think I might want to try one of them.

Reproducing the coffee stain on the entire coat is not a bad idea. You will probably not be able to get the color to be smooth and even, but it sounds as though you might prefer varying shades of brown to a brown spot on an off-white background. You didn't boil the coat to make the stain in the first place; your goal would be to reproduce exactly what happened to the stained part, as much as possible, rather than using coffee as the best dye that it can be. If the coffee you apply as dye fades, the original coffee stain probably will, too, which may be fine with you. Of course, since that spot will get a double dose of coffee, it may still be darker than the rest of the coat. It will take a lot of coffee to soak the entire coat; estimate the volume of the coffee you spilled, and the amount of the coat that got covered, and do the arithmetic to see how much more coffee you would need in order to repeat the stain over the whole coat. This might take twenty pots of coffee! By the time you've brewed the last pot, the first pot will long since have gone cold.

The biggest risks would be that the coat smells strongly of coffee afterwards; that the coffee would bleed onto other things, seeping out of the coat, if it becomes damp; or that you might cause the surface of the wool to felt by too much agitation or by rapid temperature changes.

You can wash the coffee out well enough to prevent bleeding from being a problem, especially if you dry clean the coat again after you're done. The scent of coffee will persist even after a number of washings; whether that's a problem depends on how you feel about the smell of coffee. (Try putting your nose right against the spot, to see whether you can detect the smell of coffee at all. It will be far stronger when it's in the entire coat.) I don't know how well dry cleaning will remove the scent of coffee. To prevent damage while you apply the coffee, and when you wash the excess out afterwards, you can be very careful to avoid agitation or rapid temperature changes. You could try using your bathtub both to apply the coffee and to do the repeated washing that will be necessary afterwards. (If your bathtub is made of some material other than porcelain, such as fiberglass or acrylic, please test it first in a small spot to see whether hot coffee will stain it, too.)

I would like to know whether you decide to try staining your coat all over with coffee, and if so, how it turns out. Do try more stain removal first, though. Good luck.

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Thursday, December 09, 2010

How can we dye an antique couch?

Name: Kelly

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Country or region: USA

Message: We have an old antique couch with the thick silk-like material. We don't want to go to the extreme expense to have it completely recovered due to some old water stains from storage. We are wondering if there is a method that we can dye it with the fabric still on the couch. They are beautiful but after getting a quote to have the fabric replaced we decided to research options for dyeing or painting the fabric. Thanks!

The first thing to do is to get the couch steam-cleaned, preferably by a professional. The results might be good enough not to require any color changing at all. It's important to note that you should never try to dye anything that's dirty. Some stains will resist dyes or paint, and remain a lighter color, while others are dark enough to show through almost any color you try to add.

Dyeing in itself is not a good idea, for upholstered furniture. Invariably there is a great deal of extra unattached dye that must be washed out; if you don't wash it out, the dye will rub off onto anything that touches the couch, including hands and clothing, often ruining the clothing. I seems unlikely that you would be able to rinse the couch properly after dyeing. Also, most dyes require heat. If your "silk like material" is actually polyester or nylon, you need to be able to immerse it in a giant kettle of dye in order to dye it. Obviously, it is much better to dye fabric before upholstering a couch with it, rather than after. Here's a cautionary tale about someone who ill-advisedly used Rit dye to color their couch:

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

Although you can't dye your couch, you may be able to use fabric paint to recolor it. (See "Fabric Paints: a different way to color fibers".) This will not be cheap, though, since using good fabric paint is important (the wrong kind of paint will feel stiff and scratchy after it dries), and it will take quite a lot to cover the whole couch. For instructions on how to use fabric paint on your couch, see the following article: "Scarlet Zebra's Instructions for Painting Upholstered Furniture". Also see my FAQ article, "Can furniture be dyed successfully?".

Applying fabric paint to the couch smoothly and evenly will take you a fair amount of effort, and, since fabric paint can only coat the outside of the fibers, not penetrate within like a true dye, it will tend to wear off over time, so that it will not last as long as new upholstery. I recommend that you either reupholster your couch, or make slipcovers for it. If the expense of professional reupholstery or slipcovering is prohibitive, consider getting a book with instructions and doing it yourself. Many do-it-yourselfers have been able to do a good job of recovering a couch, depending on how fussy its design is. It's a lot of work, but the results will be better and longer lasting than any color you can apply to the fabric that is on the couch now.

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Wednesday, December 08, 2010

How can I dye a Ventile jacket?

Name: Brian

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DWR finishes are incompatible with dyeing. DWR finishes should be applied only after dyeing is completed.

Country or region: UK

Message: I have a Ventile Barbour Jacket in RAF Blue that I would like to dye Black. Can you advise me of the suitability of doing this and the materials I will require to make a success of this? My wife regularly dyes items but is a little cautious regarding this material.

It appears that Ventile fabric is very tightly woven from 100% cotton.

Some of the information I see online fails to mention that there is a water-resistant coating applied to the surface of Ventile fabric, but it's not uncommon for such treatments to go unmentioned. The description of a Ventile Parka at Wiggy's (a manufacturer of outdoor gear) says that it does have a DWR (durable water repellent) finish applied to it. If this is true of your jacket, then you will not be able to dye it. To test it, sprinkle a few drops of water across the fabric. If they do not sink into the fabric, you have a good DWR finish, which will make dyeing impossible, by repelling the dye and preventing it from soaking into the fabric.

Durable Water Repellent finishes are often made with the same sort of fluoropolymers used in making the chemical- and water-resistant finishes of Teflon cookware. You will not be able to remove a DWR finish from clothing. When DWR finishes appear to lose their effectiveness, as the result of dirt, oils, or fabric softener treatments in the laundry, they are actually still in the fabric; their effectiveness will return after the garment is properly cleaned with a product such as Nikwax Tech Wash. After years of wear, when washing no longer restores the water repellency of a DWR finish, it is necessary to renew the finish with a new application, but even then there is likely to be enough remaining of the original finish to prevent good dyeing.

If Ventile fabrics have not been treated with a DWR finish, then they could be dyed by soaking them in warm water (21°C or 70°F) mixed with Procion MX or other fiber reactive dyes, plus soda ash to raise the pH so that the dyes will react with the fabric, and salt to help the dyes approach the fabric in spite of the large amount of water. This could be done in a five- or ten-gallon bucket, or in a washing machine. (See "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?".) The very tight weave of the fabric would call for soaking the fabric overnight first with a single drop of a surfactant, such as Synthrapol detergent or the liquid detergent that is used for hand-washing dishes.

Unfortunately, neither this dyeing technique nor any other will work for a garment that has been treated with a DWR finish, as your jacket probably has been.

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Tuesday, December 07, 2010

using the low immersion technique with iDye Name: Isabelle

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Kerr wide mouth
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Country or region: Canada

Message: I'm trying to dye a 100% cotton fabric using the low immersion technique, and have two packets of iDye... is it possible to mix the dye in cold water, let it soak with the fabric, and then use hot water to set it, or use hot water in the fabric bath? or should I just get a cold water dye?

You should do your low water immersion dyeing with heat, when you use iDye or any other direct dye.

Find a non-reactive container that your fabric will fit into tightly when crumpled, such as a quart-sized glass canning jar. Use one jar for each piece of fabric. Add the fabric, salt, and some of the water to your glass jar, then mix the dye(s) with enough water to dissolve them and pour them over the fabric. Add more water as needed to almost cover the fabric, allowing enough space at the top of the jar that spillage is not likely.

Now, place your glass jars inside a cooking pot that is large enough to hold them, along with enough water, on the outside of the jars, to equal the level of your dyebath inside the jars. Gently heat this pot on the stovetop until the water around the outside of the jars begins to produce small bubbles, then reduce the heat and maintain this temperature for half an hour or longer. There is no need to stir the fabric in the jars with the dye; doing so will reduce the interesting patterns produced by low water immersion dyeing.

Turn off the heat and allow your dyes to cool, then rinse out the excess dye as usual.

A good variation would be to use a cheap but watertight styrofoam cooler. Place the jars into the cooler, and pour boiling water (heated on the stovetop) around them, taking care not to increase to level of the water to a greater depth than the water plus dye inside the jars (and not to accidentally pour water into a jar). Put the lid on top of the cooler. The cooler will maintain heat for some time, allowing the dye to bond as well as possible to the fibers.

For pale colors, use less dye and less salt; for deep colors, use more dye. Be sure to prewash your fabric before dyeing it. Each packet of iDye should be enough to dye two to three pounds of fabric, so, for smaller pieces of fabric, you may not wish to use the entire packet. I recommend placing the inner packet of dye, which is in a water-soluble clear packet, inside a freezer-type zip-top plastic bag, before cutting into the packet, if you are going to use less than an entire packet, carefully reaching into the zip-top bag with a washable pair of scissors. Otherwise, particles of dye powder are likely to fly everywhere when you cut into the packet.

After dyeing your fabric, it is a good idea to use a cationic dye fixative, such as Retayne, because iDye contains direct dyes, which are not very washfast. Unlike fiber reactive dyes such as Procion MX dyes, direct dyes tend to bleed in the laundry, and fade relatively quickly, since they do not form a strong bond to the fiber. A cationic dye fixative, such as Retayne, increases the washfastness of direct dyes considerably.

If you use a fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye, instead of iDye, you can skip the heating step, as well as the cationic after-fixative, since fiber reactive dye is washfast and permanent even without a fixative, as long as you add soda ash (washing soda) to the dye reaction. I think it's easier and more satisfactory. However, low water immersion dyeing certainly can be done with iDye or other direct dyes.

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Monday, December 06, 2010

What's the best way to custom dye a specific color?

Name: Brian

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Tulip Custom Dye Color Kit

Country or region: Virginia, USA

Message: Hi. I am building sets for playing the game "Cornhole", where you toss corn-filled duck-cloth bags at wooden boards. I'm currently experimenting with custom-built sets, for example, a Green Bay Packers-themed set for a friend. I think I've got paint colors for the BOARDS down, but I would also like to create custom-colored corn bags to go along with the boards. At least where I shop for duck cloth, it comes in a very limited range of colors. I can get basic yellow and basic green, but I'd like to go a step beyond that and have bags with the OFFICIAL Green Bay Packers colors.

The material I'll be using is white duck cloth (unless you think I'd be better off starting with a different color). I've read a little bit on your very informative website, and I understand the difference between fiber-reactive dyes and direct dyes, but since these corn-bags will never be washed, I'm thinking I'll be ok with the direct dyes.

I'm assuming that, if I buy all of the basic colors of a given brand of direct dyes, that I can mix them, in different proportions, to achieve pretty much any color I want. But is there some source, or some website, that will tell me EXACTLY how much of each basic color is needed to achieve a given color? Actually, I'd like to be a little more specific than "hunter green" or "taxi-cab yellow" (Green Bay's official colors) and plug in the RGB values for the final colors I want and have it tell me exactly how much of each basic color to use. Does something like that exist? Preferably online?

I agree that, since you won't be washing the dyed fabric, the performance of direct dyes will meet your needs as well as that of fiber reactive dyes. However, there are other reasons to consider using fiber reactive dyes, since there's also no particular reason to use direct dyes instead of fiber reactive dyes.There are more premixed colors available for Procion MX fiber reactive dyes, and economy favors direct dyes only if you can readily find the color you like (or instructions to mix it). Note that Dharma's very inexpensive Industrial Dyes do come in one shade of green, which you should check for suitability. Unfortunately, all-purpose dye is not particularly economical, given that Rit dye is much more expensive, per quantity of fabric dyed, than Procion MX dyes purchased from a good mail-order supplier, and Procion MX dyes come in more reliable primary colors for mixing. (See my Dye Forum post, "Comparison of dye costs".)

An important warning: watch out when you buy your duck cloth. Duck describes a weave, not what it's made of. You must be sure what the fiber content is, before you buy it. You don't want to bother with dyeing a polyester duck, since dyeing polyester is far, far more trouble than dyeing cotton is. Look for a 100% cotton (or other natural fiber), one which has not been treated to make it permanent press, since the permanent press coating interferes with dyeing. For the most intense colors, look for mercerized cotton, which has been treated with lye so that it dyes better.

There is a commercially available set of hot-water fiber reactive dyes in a kit designed just for color mixing, the Tulip Custom Color Kit. It contains a color brochure with recipes for 150 different colors, across the entire spectrum. Five of the little pages are devoted entirely to shades of green. For example, here's an image of pages 14 and 15 [click to see a larger copy]:

from pages 14 and 15 of the tulip custom color kit

The numbers in the circles in the picture refer to how much of each of the four dye colors included in the kit to use. For the color described as 'Jade", they say to use 2 teaspoons of black, 3 teaspoons of yellow, 5 teaspoons of turquoise, and no red at all, for each half-pound of cotton fabric. This kit appears to be exactly what you want, and it's a very reasonable investment (list price under $30), though it is more expensive than similar quantities of Procion MX dye by mail-order. What you're really paying for is their having worked out all of the different color mixtures; since different dyes vary, the recipes cannot be expected to work for any other brand of dye. Since the dyes in it are fiber reactive dyes, their washfastness should even be very good, though you don't care about that. However, I have not tested the Tulip Custom Color Kit for myself, so I can't evaluate how closely the colors produced by the kit will correspond to the colors in the brochure. Of course, the accuracy of the colors produced will always vary somewhat according to the individual dyer's circumstances. If you decide to try the Tulip Custom Color Kit, please let me know how you like it!

The Tulip Custom Color kit is far from being your only option for obtaining the exact colors you want. Jacquard Products provides a good color mixing chart for their Procion MX dyes. For this and other color-mixing charts for Procion MX dyes, see the following page: "How can I mix Procion MX dyes to get specific colors?". For the widest selection of different pre-mixed colors of Procion MX dyes, see Dharma Trading Company and PRO Chemical & Dye, which each have something like one hundred different colors (all mixed from less than a dozen different pure dyes). Jacquard Products sells 43 different colors of Procion MX dyes, including seven different greens. For contact information and links for these and other dye suppliers, see my page, Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World.

One brand of direct dye, the Jacquard iDye line of direct dyes, gets better approval ratings than all purpose dyes such as Rit, which contain a mixture of direct and acid dyes. Unfortunately, Jacquard Products does not provide a color mixing chart for their iDye line of dyes, so I don't recommend them for your situation, unless the colors available happen to include all of the colors you want.

Rit All-Purpose dye is available in 26 colors, including three greens, but the company that makes Rit dye also provides a mixing guide, which they call the COLORit Color Formula Guide. You can also view the old Rit Custom Color Recipes online, though the colors may or may not all be possible to replicate, depending on how many of the color formulas have changed. I do often hear complaints that Rit dyes, as purchased, produce colors other than expected, possibly because of the fact that some of the dyes invariably wash out of any fabric you color; the acid dyes in Rit will wash out of cotton, while, in most cases, the direct dyes in Rit will wash out of protein fibers. Even though you will not be washing your game bags routinely, you must wash them after you apply the dye, in order to remove any loose unattached dye.

If you will be buying a large quantity of a dye color, some dye companies will be happy to custom blend a dye to meet your needs, but the minimum order would be at least five pounds of dye, a vast excess compared to your needs for this project.

The RGB values used for displaying colors with light, as on computer monitors, do not translate well to the CMYK values used for mixing print inks and fabric dyes, because the two systems work in very different ways. For example, if you mix red plus green on a computer monitor, you will get yellow, but if you mix red plus green dyes, you will get a muddy brown color. My favorite way to work out color mixtures before even getting out the dyes is to look at Olli Niemitalo's Dye Mixer Applet. However, it's not a source of recipes; it cannot tell you exactly how much of any dye to use, unless you first work out how much dye it takes to get each of the individual colors.

Every one of these sources of color mixing information, without exception, can provide no more than a general guide. This is true even for the color shown on the box or jar of dye you buy, even if you're not mixing your own colors. The color you produce may vary, depending on many details such as the lot of each dye that you buy, the exact amount of each dye you measure out, the specific bolt of fabric you are coloring, the chemical content of your local water supply, the temperature at which you do your dyeing, and on and on. You MUST do a test, for every single color, in order to be sure you can produce the right color. This is equally true whether you buy a pre-mixed color, of any type, or if you are mixing your own from two or more other colors. It is impossible for any dye company to print a color swatch that the customer will be able to reproduce 100% of the time. Keep careful notes of how much dye powder and other chemicals you use (such as washing soda or salt), the temperature of your water, how much each piece of fabric you dye weighs, and so forth. If you do not get the color you want immediately, trial and error, and more advice as needed, will eventually make it possible for you to obtain any color you want.

So, in conclusion, I would recommend that you buy either the Tulip Custom Color Kit, or several colors of Procion MX dyes (plus soda ash and salt), and a lot more 100% cotton fabric than you think you will need, so you'll have enough for several attempts at each color. Alternatively, you can give the Rit dye mixing charts a try, since washfastness does not matter to you, but only if the colors in the Rit color charts look good for your projects.

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Thursday, December 02, 2010

I would like to dye my faux suede boots from brown to black

Name: Christina

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Country or region: Greece

Message: Hello!

I would like to dye my faux suede boots from brown to black. The problem is that I am not quite sure what material the faux suede is made of.

Do you know by any chance what dye and method I could use for my boots?

Faux suede is usually made of 100% polyester, which has been spun into microfiber form (in which the fibers are thinner and finer than ordinary fibers). Sometimes nylon microfibers are also included in the blend.

The only type of true dye that works on polyester is called disperse dye. Unfortunately, since disperse dye requires high heat to penetrate into the polyester fiber, you would have to boil your boots in the dye, for half an hour or longer; this harsh treatment is certain to ruin any pair of shoes or boots, because it will dissolve the glue used to hold some of the parts of the boot together. This means that you cannot truly dye faux suede boots to another color.

Fortunately for you, there is an alternative to dye. Instead of a dye, which bonds directly to the fibers to which you apply it, you can use a good fabric paint, which contains insoluble pigments which have been mixed with a binder to glue them to your fiber.
See my page, "Fabric Paints: a different way to color fibers"
.

Fabric paint will work well only if your boots have not been treated to make them water-repellent or stain-resistant, as such treatments will also repel paint, preventing good penetration of your artificial suede. You can test for water repellency by sprinkling a few drops of water across the surface of your boots. If the water sinks in and wets the fabric, you'll be fine, but if it beads up and refuses to soak in at all, you're probably stuck with the original color of the boots.

I don't recommend that you use any sort of paint that is not labeled as fabric paint. Fabric paint is designed to penetrate better into fabrics, and, after it dries, it remains soft, unlike other paints, which become stiff and scratchy. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that I don't know anything about the availability of fabric paints for sale in Greece, though you can buy products from Jacquard by mail-order from a number of retailers in Europe. You can often buy a good fabric paint at a craft and hobby store, or sometimes at a fabric store; if you don't have a good source nearby, use mail-order to buy a good fabric paint from an art supplier or dye supplier; in the US, good sources would be an art supplier such as Blick Art Materials or a dye supplier such as Dharma Trading Company. Use only a brand of paint whose manufacturer specifies that it can be used on synthetic fibers; some fabric paints work well only on natural fibers and are therefore not suitable for your project. All of the fabric paints made by Jacquard Products are claimed to work well on both natural and synthetic fibers, including Jacquard Textile Colors, Lumiere, Neopaque, and Dye-Na-Flow. Your best choice among these would be Dye-Na-Flow, because it is a very thin fabric paint, which has been formulated to mimic a dye. Dye-Na-Flow is often labeled as a silk paint, but it is also supposed to be suitable for synthetic fibers. Another good alternative would be Dharma Pigment Dyes, which, in spite of their name, are fabric paints, not true dyes, but they may be obtained only from Dharma Trading Company, in the US. Although Jacquard Products does not appear to have any retail stores in Greece, there are many in other countries in Europe, including several that sell by mail-order; see the Jacquard Products Store Locator.

Dye-Na-Flow fabric paint is supposed to be heat-set, after it dries, to make it permanent and resistant to washing. You can do this by use of a heat gun, or you can obtain a paint additive, Jacquard Air Fix, which is made by Jacquard Products, that allows these fabric paints to be set permanently by drying at room temperature. Using AirFix would be wise, since high heat can cause damage to some boots and shoes. The Dharma Pigment Dyes are not supposed to require heat-setting when used on synthetic fibers. Jacquard Air Fix can be mail-ordered in Europe from retailers in the UK, Iceland, and the Netherlands; as with other Jacquard Products, see the Jacquard Products Store Locator to find a source for it
. Even without heat-setting, acrylic fabric paints like the Jacquard paints tend to become more permanent if allowed to dry for weeks.

If, for some reason, you cannot mail-order Jacquard Dye-Na-Flow and Jacquard Air Fix from elsewhere in Europe, you can consider using diluted artists' acrylic paints. (Don't dilute with too much water, or the color will be too light and the binder less permanent.) They will make the fake leather material stiffer and much scratchier, but this is less important for shoes than for other clothing. Like all paints and dyes, they will refuse to work well on water-repellent shoes. The feel of the artist's acrylic paints will be improved by mixing them with a product called Fabric Medium, but that tends to be even harder to find than good fabric paint. I recommend that you find a scrap of somewhat similar fabric and test paint that before deciding whether these stiffer and scratchier paints will be at all acceptable. Try to keep the painted items dry for as long as possible, several weeks, or preferably a full month, before washing them or otherwise getting them wet; place them in a warm place during this time period, not, say, an unheated porch. (The top of a refrigerator is often a nice warm place.)

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Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Is this stuff a fiber reactive dye or an acid dye?

Name: Glen

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Country or region: Canada

Message: Hello. Great web site!!

I have the Tulip Permanent Fabric Dye. This is the stuff that needs to be mixing with hot water. My question is: Is this stuff a fiber reactive dye or an acid dye? I checked on your site and found info on the one step by tulip but did not find any info on the permanent Tulip dye.

Tulip Permanent Dye contains fiber reactive dye, though the Tulip corporation does not reveal which type. My best guess is that it contains Drimarene K type dyes and/or Remazol type dyes, possibly both, depending on the specific color. These are both types of fiber reactive dye, but they need warmer temperatures than Procion MX fiber reactive dye, because they are slower to react and require more energy.

In contrast to the Tulip Permanent Dye, the Tulip One-Step Fashion Dye contains the exact same type of dye as the Procion MX dyes, designated by the Standard Dye Company as Permabril C. These can be used at room temperature, but the dye goes bad more quickly after being mixed with water, or after an extended period of time of the shelf, than the hotter-water fiber reactive dyes do. This is because Procion MX type dye is more reactive than Drimarene K or Remazol type dyes.

All of these fiber reactive dyes—Procion MX, Drimarene K, and Remazol types—are equally good in their long-term performance. However, I generally prefer to buy the dye powder that is not pre-mixed with the auxiliary chemicals, because it allows more freedom in using different techniques. That means that I prefer to buy my dyes by mail-order, from sources such as PRO Chemical & Dye in Massachusetts, Dharma Trading Company in California, or, for Canadians, G&S Dye in Toronto or Maiwa in Vancouver. I then mix in the soda ash when I am ready for it. This means that I can increase or decrease the amount of dye I use without having to change the reaction pH, and I can choose whether to add the soda ash before or after the dye, for different effects. Mail-order Procion MX dye powders are also much more economical, per pound of fiber to be dyed, than the premixed packets of dye that are sold under brand names such as Tulip or Rit.

You can tell for certain that Tulip Permanent Dye is not an acid dye from the fact that the package label warns that their mixtures include sodium carbonate (also known as soda ash or washing soda). You cannot use acid dyes with sodium carbonate, because its high pH would neutralize the low pH of the acids needed to help acid dyes to work. Also, acid dyes do not work on cotton or linen, which are among the recommended materials for Tulip Permanent Dye. Acid dyes work only on protein fibers, such as wool and silk, in addition to the synthetic fiber nylon (but no other synthetic fiber).

Another type of dye that does work on cotton and linen is called direct dye. This dye is found in the Jacquard iDye line of dyes, and is also mixed with acid dye in all-purpose dye brands such as Rit All Purpose Dye. Direct dyes and all-purpose dyes do not stay bright or withstand washing nearly as well as the various fiber reactive dyes.

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