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Wednesday, June 30, 2010
How long is the shelf life of the Procion MX dyes?
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Do Tulip tie-dye kits have the soda ash mixed in them?
Monday, June 28, 2010
tie-dyed t-shirt with a dirty, dingy background
Sunday, June 27, 2010
What yarn for knitting toy microbes will resist bleach the best?
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Removing unwanted fabric paint from clothing
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
we forgot to add the salt to our tie dye mixture
Monday, June 21, 2010
I'd like to know how to subdue/tone down any color
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Can you recommend a quality t-shirt?
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
how to tie-dye cresting waves
Monday, June 07, 2010
Where can I find coffee-colored dye?
Sunday, June 06, 2010
desperately looking to buy RIT clothing dye in Canada
How long is the shelf life of the Procion MX dyes?
Name: Sylvia
Tom Rolofson and Martine Purdy's
Advanced Tie Dye Techniques: Making Shapes and Mandalas
Country or region: USA
Message: Tried searching for answer on your site but was unsuccessful. Am keeping bottles of fiber reactive dyes in a cool, dry location. Some I've had for about 7 years. How long is the shelf life of the Procion MX dyes? Thank you.
Procion MX dye powders, like other fiber reactive dyes, will eventually go bad on the shelf, as they react with tiny amounts of moisture. They will last longer if tightly sealed in jars than if kept in plastic bags, but in any case will eventually go bad eventually, if you keep them long enough.
As you know, they will also go bad much more quickly in a warm place; while I've had Procion dyes that lasted for years in an 80°F laundry room, a single day inside a hot car in the sun with the windows rolled up is enough to cause entire jars of Procion MX dye to completely go bad.
How long it takes for the Procion MX type dyes to go bad is highly variable, and it depends on how much time has elapsed between the manufacture of the dye and the time at which you purchased it, as well as, presumably, on how well the dye powder was purified from moisture, and how well the additional ingredients were added to maintain a balanced pH during storage. All of these factors are impossible for you to determine, but you can easily do an experiment to test how fresh your dyes are.
The big dye retailers suggest that their Procion MX dye powders will stay good for one to two years after purchase. However, dyes found in a less-well-run crafts store might, in some cases, be a couple of years old already, before purchase. I have had Procion MX-type dye from a reputable source that expired not much more than a year after purchase, and I have had Procion MX-type dye that continued to work well and produce strong, intense colors for at least eight or nine years. (I imagine that the latter was very fresh when I bought it, while the shorter-lived dyes had probably been sitting for some years in storage, at various stages, with the manufacturers, some middlemen, or the retailers.) There is no guarantee that the dye will last longer than a year or two after you buy it, but it certainly might; it is worth testing them to see whether they are still reactive enough to be useful.
It's very important to test your older dyes before using them on a large or important project. Do a small tie-dyeing project as a test, or, if you're in more of a hurry, soak a small cotton rag in soda ash, just as for tie-dyeing, then place it in a sturdy freezer-type zip-fastener plastic bag. (The 'freezer' type is sturdier than the 'storage' type of zip-top bag.) Mix up a tiny bit of the dye powder in water (using softened water if your water is very hard) and apply it to the pre-soaked rag. You can do a number of different colors of these test swatches at once in separate bags. Let them rest for fifteen minutes so the dye can soak partially into the fabric, then seal the bags (pressing out much of the air first), place them in a supportive dish, and microwave them for a minute or two, watching closing the entire time. You want the bags to become inflated with steam, but you do not want them to get hot enough to explode and make a mess. Touch the outside of the bags carefully (so you don't burn yourself) to make sure that the fabric swatches are hot, then allow them to cool to room temperature. Rinse them out, as usual, using cool water until the bulk of the loose dye has come out, and then very hot or even boiling water to remove the excess unattached dye. The added heat greatly increases the reaction rate of the Procion dye, so this makes a fast and effective test.
Not all of the dye in stored powder hydrolyzes (going bad by reacting with water molecules) at once. A reactive dye will become gradually weaker with time. A dye which is half hydrolyzed can still work quite well in tie-dyeing, if you use twice as much of it; the only problem is that you then have a huge excess of unattached excess dye at the end, which makes the first washing step, which uses cool water, even more important than usual. If your first rinsing of partially hydrolyzed dye is done with hot water, it will encourage the non-reactive already-hydrolyzed dye to become loosely attached to the fiber, in exactly the same way that poorly washfast all-purpose dyes attach. This means that you end up having to do far more of the hot-water washing to remove the unattached excess dye. It's not as critical to start with the cool water rinse if you have very fresh dye.
Please remember that you do not have to throw away your "spoiled" fiber reactive dyes. They will never again be suitable as reactive dyes, for dyeing anything using the soda ash recipe, but they can still be used as acid dyes, indefinitely. Any recipe that calls for dyeing silk, wool, or nylon, or any animal fiber, using an acid such as vinegar in place of the soda ash, will work perfectly fine with hydrolyzed Procion MX dyes. (For more information on using Procion MX dyes with vinegar on silk, see "Fiber reactive dyes on protein fibers".) If you do not yourself like to dye silk or other animal fibers with fiber reactive dyes such as Procion MX, perhaps you know someone who does, and who will be happy to take it off your hands.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
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Tom Rolofson and Martine Purdy's
Advanced Tie Dye Techniques: Making Shapes and Mandalas
Country or region: USA
Message: Tried searching for answer on your site but was unsuccessful. Am keeping bottles of fiber reactive dyes in a cool, dry location. Some I've had for about 7 years. How long is the shelf life of the Procion MX dyes? Thank you.
Procion MX dye powders, like other fiber reactive dyes, will eventually go bad on the shelf, as they react with tiny amounts of moisture. They will last longer if tightly sealed in jars than if kept in plastic bags, but in any case will eventually go bad eventually, if you keep them long enough.
As you know, they will also go bad much more quickly in a warm place; while I've had Procion dyes that lasted for years in an 80°F laundry room, a single day inside a hot car in the sun with the windows rolled up is enough to cause entire jars of Procion MX dye to completely go bad.
How long it takes for the Procion MX type dyes to go bad is highly variable, and it depends on how much time has elapsed between the manufacture of the dye and the time at which you purchased it, as well as, presumably, on how well the dye powder was purified from moisture, and how well the additional ingredients were added to maintain a balanced pH during storage. All of these factors are impossible for you to determine, but you can easily do an experiment to test how fresh your dyes are.
The big dye retailers suggest that their Procion MX dye powders will stay good for one to two years after purchase. However, dyes found in a less-well-run crafts store might, in some cases, be a couple of years old already, before purchase. I have had Procion MX-type dye from a reputable source that expired not much more than a year after purchase, and I have had Procion MX-type dye that continued to work well and produce strong, intense colors for at least eight or nine years. (I imagine that the latter was very fresh when I bought it, while the shorter-lived dyes had probably been sitting for some years in storage, at various stages, with the manufacturers, some middlemen, or the retailers.) There is no guarantee that the dye will last longer than a year or two after you buy it, but it certainly might; it is worth testing them to see whether they are still reactive enough to be useful.
It's very important to test your older dyes before using them on a large or important project. Do a small tie-dyeing project as a test, or, if you're in more of a hurry, soak a small cotton rag in soda ash, just as for tie-dyeing, then place it in a sturdy freezer-type zip-fastener plastic bag. (The 'freezer' type is sturdier than the 'storage' type of zip-top bag.) Mix up a tiny bit of the dye powder in water (using softened water if your water is very hard) and apply it to the pre-soaked rag. You can do a number of different colors of these test swatches at once in separate bags. Let them rest for fifteen minutes so the dye can soak partially into the fabric, then seal the bags (pressing out much of the air first), place them in a supportive dish, and microwave them for a minute or two, watching closing the entire time. You want the bags to become inflated with steam, but you do not want them to get hot enough to explode and make a mess. Touch the outside of the bags carefully (so you don't burn yourself) to make sure that the fabric swatches are hot, then allow them to cool to room temperature. Rinse them out, as usual, using cool water until the bulk of the loose dye has come out, and then very hot or even boiling water to remove the excess unattached dye. The added heat greatly increases the reaction rate of the Procion dye, so this makes a fast and effective test.
Not all of the dye in stored powder hydrolyzes (going bad by reacting with water molecules) at once. A reactive dye will become gradually weaker with time. A dye which is half hydrolyzed can still work quite well in tie-dyeing, if you use twice as much of it; the only problem is that you then have a huge excess of unattached excess dye at the end, which makes the first washing step, which uses cool water, even more important than usual. If your first rinsing of partially hydrolyzed dye is done with hot water, it will encourage the non-reactive already-hydrolyzed dye to become loosely attached to the fiber, in exactly the same way that poorly washfast all-purpose dyes attach. This means that you end up having to do far more of the hot-water washing to remove the unattached excess dye. It's not as critical to start with the cool water rinse if you have very fresh dye.
Please remember that you do not have to throw away your "spoiled" fiber reactive dyes. They will never again be suitable as reactive dyes, for dyeing anything using the soda ash recipe, but they can still be used as acid dyes, indefinitely. Any recipe that calls for dyeing silk, wool, or nylon, or any animal fiber, using an acid such as vinegar in place of the soda ash, will work perfectly fine with hydrolyzed Procion MX dyes. (For more information on using Procion MX dyes with vinegar on silk, see "Fiber reactive dyes on protein fibers".) If you do not yourself like to dye silk or other animal fibers with fiber reactive dyes such as Procion MX, perhaps you know someone who does, and who will be happy to take it off your hands.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Do Tulip tie-dye kits have the soda ash mixed in them?
Name:
Shari
Country or region: USA
Message: Hello,
Do you know if the Tulip tie-dye kits you can buy at Michael's have the soda ash mixed in them? Reason I ask is that it doesn't say and there's not a separate bag included in the kit, as I've seen in other kits. Yet, Tulip sells soda ash right next to these kits.
If I go ahead and soak the shirts in soda ash AND it turns out there's some in the mix, will it hurt the shirts?
Soaking your shirts in soda ash will do no harm even if there is soda ash in the kit already. Soda ash is the ideal chemical to use to raise the pH of a dye reaction to the perfect pH range, because its properties cause it to yield a perfectly reasonable pH even if you use twice as much as you're supposed to, or half as much. There's no harm in using too much soda ash, so it's perfectly safe to try this.
Tie the shirts either while they are still dry or after moistening with plain water, then soak them for fifteen minutes or longer in a mixture of one cup of soda ash per gallon of water. (Use softened or distilled water if your water is hard, or add a half teaspoon of sodium hexametaphosphate.) Squeeze the extra liquid out with gloved hands and apply the dye mixtures from the Tulip brand tie-dye kit immediately, or, if you prefer, let the shirts drip overnight to dry partially before applying the dye.
It looks as though the Tulip company has chosen to use sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda, as a substitute for the soda ash that should be in their kit, mixed into their dye powders. This is something I have found difficult to believe! While baking soda does raise the pH and permit some dye reaction to occur, it only raises it to around 8, when the ideal pH for the dyes in these kits would be between 10.5 and 11, over a hundred times more alkaline. If baking soda is the only dye fixative in the kit, then your colors will not be as brilliant as they should be, and a lot of the dye that you use will end up being wasted. Perhaps their reason is that the Procion type dyes will go bad within an hour of being mixed with water, if they are in the presence of soda ash. Baking soda will cause the dye to spoil more slowly, though not as slowly as if no pH-increasing chemical were mixed with ther dyes at all.
Unless Tulip also includes another high-pH chemical in their formula, without identifying it on the labels of their kits, then you will indeed get better, more intense colors if you presoak with soda ash. Soda ash, also known as sodium carbonate, produces a higher pH, which activates the cotton in your fabric to make it react well with the dye.
The Tulip label for their sodium carbonate indicates that you will get brighter, stronger colors if you use it with the Tulip Tie Dye kit. I recommend that you do add a soda ash pre-soak to your use of the Tulip tie-dyeing kit. At least the kit does contain excellent Procion-type fiber reactive dyes, of the Permabril C brand packaged by Standard Dye. You can get very good results with this type of dye; it is vastly superior to the direct dye found in all-purpose dyes such as Rit or Tintex, neither of which work at all well for tie-dyeing with more than one color. Do check the expiration date on the side of the box, if you can find one, for in some rare cases crafts stores have sold old expired Tulip tie-dye kits whose dyes were no longer strong enough to react. The stores' stock of tie-dyeing kits should be sold or replaced every year.
You can buy the Tulip brand soda ash if you like, or you can buy the exact same soda ash from the swimming pool supply store or hardware store for a considerably better price, and in a more convenient container. Check the fine print on the lower left front of the label to make sure the "pH Up" or "pH Increaser" you find at the hardware store contains something like 98% or 99% sodium carbonate. You should be able to find a five-pound plastic jug for well under $10. Alternatively, you can buy Arm & Hammer brand washing soda from the grocery store. It's a good household cleaner, and it is also another form of sodium carbonate. Use twice as much washing soda as your recipe calls for of soda ash, and the results will be just as good. If you find another brand of washing soda, make sure, before you buy it, that it is free of additives such as dyes, whiteners, and perfumes.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
—ADVERTISEMENTS—
Country or region: USA
Message: Hello,
Do you know if the Tulip tie-dye kits you can buy at Michael's have the soda ash mixed in them? Reason I ask is that it doesn't say and there's not a separate bag included in the kit, as I've seen in other kits. Yet, Tulip sells soda ash right next to these kits.
If I go ahead and soak the shirts in soda ash AND it turns out there's some in the mix, will it hurt the shirts?
Soaking your shirts in soda ash will do no harm even if there is soda ash in the kit already. Soda ash is the ideal chemical to use to raise the pH of a dye reaction to the perfect pH range, because its properties cause it to yield a perfectly reasonable pH even if you use twice as much as you're supposed to, or half as much. There's no harm in using too much soda ash, so it's perfectly safe to try this.
Tie the shirts either while they are still dry or after moistening with plain water, then soak them for fifteen minutes or longer in a mixture of one cup of soda ash per gallon of water. (Use softened or distilled water if your water is hard, or add a half teaspoon of sodium hexametaphosphate.) Squeeze the extra liquid out with gloved hands and apply the dye mixtures from the Tulip brand tie-dye kit immediately, or, if you prefer, let the shirts drip overnight to dry partially before applying the dye.
It looks as though the Tulip company has chosen to use sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda, as a substitute for the soda ash that should be in their kit, mixed into their dye powders. This is something I have found difficult to believe! While baking soda does raise the pH and permit some dye reaction to occur, it only raises it to around 8, when the ideal pH for the dyes in these kits would be between 10.5 and 11, over a hundred times more alkaline. If baking soda is the only dye fixative in the kit, then your colors will not be as brilliant as they should be, and a lot of the dye that you use will end up being wasted. Perhaps their reason is that the Procion type dyes will go bad within an hour of being mixed with water, if they are in the presence of soda ash. Baking soda will cause the dye to spoil more slowly, though not as slowly as if no pH-increasing chemical were mixed with ther dyes at all.
Unless Tulip also includes another high-pH chemical in their formula, without identifying it on the labels of their kits, then you will indeed get better, more intense colors if you presoak with soda ash. Soda ash, also known as sodium carbonate, produces a higher pH, which activates the cotton in your fabric to make it react well with the dye.
The Tulip label for their sodium carbonate indicates that you will get brighter, stronger colors if you use it with the Tulip Tie Dye kit. I recommend that you do add a soda ash pre-soak to your use of the Tulip tie-dyeing kit. At least the kit does contain excellent Procion-type fiber reactive dyes, of the Permabril C brand packaged by Standard Dye. You can get very good results with this type of dye; it is vastly superior to the direct dye found in all-purpose dyes such as Rit or Tintex, neither of which work at all well for tie-dyeing with more than one color. Do check the expiration date on the side of the box, if you can find one, for in some rare cases crafts stores have sold old expired Tulip tie-dye kits whose dyes were no longer strong enough to react. The stores' stock of tie-dyeing kits should be sold or replaced every year.
You can buy the Tulip brand soda ash if you like, or you can buy the exact same soda ash from the swimming pool supply store or hardware store for a considerably better price, and in a more convenient container. Check the fine print on the lower left front of the label to make sure the "pH Up" or "pH Increaser" you find at the hardware store contains something like 98% or 99% sodium carbonate. You should be able to find a five-pound plastic jug for well under $10. Alternatively, you can buy Arm & Hammer brand washing soda from the grocery store. It's a good household cleaner, and it is also another form of sodium carbonate. Use twice as much washing soda as your recipe calls for of soda ash, and the results will be just as good. If you find another brand of washing soda, make sure, before you buy it, that it is free of additives such as dyes, whiteners, and perfumes.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
Monday, June 28, 2010
tie-dyed t-shirt with a dirty, dingy background
Name:
Anne
Country or region: USA
Message: My daughter came home from soccer practice with a t-shirt she had tie dyed. We were told to let it dry then wash it out with vinegar. I did so, but now her t-shirt looks dingy or dirty in the background instead of crisp white to accent her yellow and blue colors. Is there anyway to rectify this problem? I have no idea what type of dye was used. Thanks for any help you can offer.
Whenever someone tells you to "set" the dyes in a tie-dyed t-shirt with vinegar, the sad truth is that they don't know what they are talking about. Vinegar ranges from useless to harmful for tie-dye dyes; it does not do anything good at all. If this same ignorance extended to their choice of dye or the recipe with which they've applied it, then there will be no saving this shirt.
A good tie-dyed shirt is one that's made with the right type of dye. (See "How to Tie Dye".) If you use fiber reactive dyes, such as the Procion-type dyes in the popular tie-dye kits made by Jacquard, then the dye becomes permanently bonded to the fiber the shirt is made of. Properly dyed shirts can be made bright and clear simply by washing them in very hot water to remove the unattached excess dye. However, there is no way to make a bright, crisp, clear, beautiful shirt with all-purpose dye, such as Rit brand dye. The dye does not stick firmly enough to the fabric, so it invariably runs and bleeds the first time it gets wet, ruining the design.
You can make a single-color tie-dye with Rit dye, or dye something a solid color with it. All-purpose dye is not very washfast, so items dyed with Rit dye must be hand-washed separately in cool water, because the dye will run. Washing colors separately is impossible for a multi-colored Rit tie-dye; there is no way to set the dye in a multi-colored tie-dye made with Rit dye, which means the design will inevitably run and become muddy. However, for items dyed with a single color of Rit, although salt or vinegar never work, you can set the dye with a commercial dye fixative, such as Retayne. (See "Commercial Dye Fixatives".) Once the dye has run in a way that you do not like, it's too late to use Retayne, because it will just fix the dye in the places you do not want it. Retayne can't solve the problem you're having with your daughter's yellow-and-blue t-shirt.
What I recommend you do now is wash this shirt in hot water, the hottest water available, preferably 140°F or hotter. If it was dyed with a good fiber-reactive dye, then the colors will improve as the backstaining from excess unattached dye is removed. If it was dyed with Rit, it will become paler as the dye itself washes out, but in that case there was no hope for it anyway. In that case, I recommend that you make a better shirt to replace it, using the right sort of dyes.
Buy a good tie-dyeing kit, such as the one made by Jacquard Products which can often be found in crafts or sewing stores, or even, in the summer, in large stores such as Walmart or Target. The very best and most economical source of a good tie-dyeing kit is by mail-order, from a company such as Dharma Trading Company. If you use a good kit, with the right type of dyes, and dye 100% cotton shirts that are not stain-resistant, it is very easy to produce a beautiful tie-dyed shirt whose colors will stay bright through years of frequent wearings and launderings.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
—ADVERTISEMENTS—
Country or region: USA
Message: My daughter came home from soccer practice with a t-shirt she had tie dyed. We were told to let it dry then wash it out with vinegar. I did so, but now her t-shirt looks dingy or dirty in the background instead of crisp white to accent her yellow and blue colors. Is there anyway to rectify this problem? I have no idea what type of dye was used. Thanks for any help you can offer.
Whenever someone tells you to "set" the dyes in a tie-dyed t-shirt with vinegar, the sad truth is that they don't know what they are talking about. Vinegar ranges from useless to harmful for tie-dye dyes; it does not do anything good at all. If this same ignorance extended to their choice of dye or the recipe with which they've applied it, then there will be no saving this shirt.
A good tie-dyed shirt is one that's made with the right type of dye. (See "How to Tie Dye".) If you use fiber reactive dyes, such as the Procion-type dyes in the popular tie-dye kits made by Jacquard, then the dye becomes permanently bonded to the fiber the shirt is made of. Properly dyed shirts can be made bright and clear simply by washing them in very hot water to remove the unattached excess dye. However, there is no way to make a bright, crisp, clear, beautiful shirt with all-purpose dye, such as Rit brand dye. The dye does not stick firmly enough to the fabric, so it invariably runs and bleeds the first time it gets wet, ruining the design.
You can make a single-color tie-dye with Rit dye, or dye something a solid color with it. All-purpose dye is not very washfast, so items dyed with Rit dye must be hand-washed separately in cool water, because the dye will run. Washing colors separately is impossible for a multi-colored Rit tie-dye; there is no way to set the dye in a multi-colored tie-dye made with Rit dye, which means the design will inevitably run and become muddy. However, for items dyed with a single color of Rit, although salt or vinegar never work, you can set the dye with a commercial dye fixative, such as Retayne. (See "Commercial Dye Fixatives".) Once the dye has run in a way that you do not like, it's too late to use Retayne, because it will just fix the dye in the places you do not want it. Retayne can't solve the problem you're having with your daughter's yellow-and-blue t-shirt.
What I recommend you do now is wash this shirt in hot water, the hottest water available, preferably 140°F or hotter. If it was dyed with a good fiber-reactive dye, then the colors will improve as the backstaining from excess unattached dye is removed. If it was dyed with Rit, it will become paler as the dye itself washes out, but in that case there was no hope for it anyway. In that case, I recommend that you make a better shirt to replace it, using the right sort of dyes.
Buy a good tie-dyeing kit, such as the one made by Jacquard Products which can often be found in crafts or sewing stores, or even, in the summer, in large stores such as Walmart or Target. The very best and most economical source of a good tie-dyeing kit is by mail-order, from a company such as Dharma Trading Company. If you use a good kit, with the right type of dyes, and dye 100% cotton shirts that are not stain-resistant, it is very easy to produce a beautiful tie-dyed shirt whose colors will stay bright through years of frequent wearings and launderings.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
Sunday, June 27, 2010
What yarn for knitting toy microbes will resist bleach the best?
Name: Mrs.
May
Country or region: Hawaii, USA
Message: This is not a dye question but more of a resiliency question about fibers. I am a knitter married to a doctor and as such I would like to knit my husband a gift of microbes for his office (example can be seen here and here). Only issue is that anything that goes to his work needs be bleach-able. I would love to know which fiber you would recommend for such a project.
Presently I am thinking acrylic because the stuff seems indestructible but I am questioning that now. I know all fibers will break down eventually with bleach so it is really question of which one will hold up the best for the longest.
The best fibers for resisting damage from hypochlorite bleach (which is what is in household bleach) are 100% cellulose fibers, such as cotton, linen, or hemp. The worst are synthetic fibers such as nylon or spandex, and protein-based fibers such as silk or wool, all of which will dissolve in bleach. Other synthetic fibers such as polyester and acrylic tend to be damaged and permanently discolored by exposure to bleach. Check the care instructions in the label on the yarn; you will probably see a warning against using bleach on polyester or acrylic.
I recommend that you use yarn made from 100% cotton fiber, though linen or hemp would be just as good. Bamboo and other forms of rayon will resist bleach, but their fibers become weak and breakable when wet, so they're not as ideal for your project.
In a related question, what dyes will stay bright in spite of bleaching? If you buy pre-dyed yarn, there is no way to predict which dyes will discharge with bleach, and which will resist bleach and retain their color. We know which types of dye are more bleach-resistant, but we never know what dyes have been used on commercially dyed yarn or fabric. Before investing in a lot of dyed yarn, it may be possible for you to take a tiny snip of the yarn out to your car for testing, in which case a Clorox Bleach Pen makes an ideal portable tester. If you're buying from a specialty yarn store, ask if they will give you a short sample to test.
Cotton is extremely easy to dye, so, if you find that your colors become too bleached-out and boring, you can recolor your microbes at any point. The easiest dye to use for this purpose is a tie-dyeing kit, as long as it's not made by Rit, whose tie-dye kits contain inferior dyes. For dyeing solid colors, Rit dye will work, too, but only as long as you want all parts of your creation to be dyed the same color; a good tie-dye kit allows you to paint different colors on different parts. The dye in a good tie-dyeing kit also stays bright through many more rounds of laundering, though they might not be any more bleach-resistant. There are more bleach-resistant dyes that you can use, as well as certain fabric paints, but that will be another question.
By the way, I love this project. My teenaged sons have been very enthusiastic about the plush giant microbes at Think Geek
, collecting them as birthday presents, and taking them to school to amuse their friends. The more embarrassingly transmitted microbes, such as HIV or Herpes simplex, are the most popular for the older teens (they like to toss them at one another and say, "I just gave you ___!"). Adding somewhat biologically-inappropriate eyes makes them "cute", which increases their popularity with kids of all ages. Consider using some of the moving "googly eyes" that crafts and sewing stores sell.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
—ADVERTISEMENTS—
Country or region: Hawaii, USA
Message: This is not a dye question but more of a resiliency question about fibers. I am a knitter married to a doctor and as such I would like to knit my husband a gift of microbes for his office (example can be seen here and here). Only issue is that anything that goes to his work needs be bleach-able. I would love to know which fiber you would recommend for such a project.
Presently I am thinking acrylic because the stuff seems indestructible but I am questioning that now. I know all fibers will break down eventually with bleach so it is really question of which one will hold up the best for the longest.
The best fibers for resisting damage from hypochlorite bleach (which is what is in household bleach) are 100% cellulose fibers, such as cotton, linen, or hemp. The worst are synthetic fibers such as nylon or spandex, and protein-based fibers such as silk or wool, all of which will dissolve in bleach. Other synthetic fibers such as polyester and acrylic tend to be damaged and permanently discolored by exposure to bleach. Check the care instructions in the label on the yarn; you will probably see a warning against using bleach on polyester or acrylic.
—ADVERTISEMENTS—
Giant plush microbes make great toys for the scientifically- or medically-inclined.
I recommend that you use yarn made from 100% cotton fiber, though linen or hemp would be just as good. Bamboo and other forms of rayon will resist bleach, but their fibers become weak and breakable when wet, so they're not as ideal for your project.
In a related question, what dyes will stay bright in spite of bleaching? If you buy pre-dyed yarn, there is no way to predict which dyes will discharge with bleach, and which will resist bleach and retain their color. We know which types of dye are more bleach-resistant, but we never know what dyes have been used on commercially dyed yarn or fabric. Before investing in a lot of dyed yarn, it may be possible for you to take a tiny snip of the yarn out to your car for testing, in which case a Clorox Bleach Pen makes an ideal portable tester. If you're buying from a specialty yarn store, ask if they will give you a short sample to test.
Cotton is extremely easy to dye, so, if you find that your colors become too bleached-out and boring, you can recolor your microbes at any point. The easiest dye to use for this purpose is a tie-dyeing kit, as long as it's not made by Rit, whose tie-dye kits contain inferior dyes. For dyeing solid colors, Rit dye will work, too, but only as long as you want all parts of your creation to be dyed the same color; a good tie-dye kit allows you to paint different colors on different parts. The dye in a good tie-dyeing kit also stays bright through many more rounds of laundering, though they might not be any more bleach-resistant. There are more bleach-resistant dyes that you can use, as well as certain fabric paints, but that will be another question.
By the way, I love this project. My teenaged sons have been very enthusiastic about the plush giant microbes at Think Geek
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Removing unwanted fabric paint from clothing
Name:
Martha
for both natural
and synthetic fibers
Metallic and Pearlescent Fabric Paints
Opaque Fabric Paint
Country or region: United States
Message: My grandaughter got a little fabric paint on a white dress and we need to try and get it out. Is there a way to remove it or at least get most of it out of the material? It is a very dressy dress and she needs to wear it in a wedding. Thank you for any help you can give me.
The only way to remove fabric paint from fabric is by washing it immediately, before the paint dries. Once the paint dries, the acrylic binders in the paint polymerize, forming long molecules that are permanently bound to the fabric. The moment you notice a spill of fabric paint, immediately use a large amount of water to dilute and wash out the paint, even if it means washing it at a bathroom sink while you are still wearing it. The sooner you wash it, the better your results will be. A small amount of detergent, such as hand dishwashing liquid, or any available soap, may help in washing out the fabric paint, if the paint has not dried at all.
Some fabric paints do not set, and become permanent, until they are heated, but even those paints which require heat-setting will set partially at room temperature if allowed to dry for several days, enough to stain very badly, so try washing even dried fabric paint as soon as possible, using cool or lukewarm water. If the fabric paint has already set, there is no solvent or cleaner that can be relied on to remove it. However, if the paint is only very loosely applied to the surface, some of it may wear away by abrasion when you wash it, so you may as well try washing it even if you know it;s a paint that does not require heat setting. Do not dry the dress using heat until you have completely given up on removing any more of the paint. Heat from machine drying will accelerate the polymerization of the fabric paint, causing it to set more quickly.
If the paint cannot be washed out, as is very likely to be the case, you may have to consider using some fabric from a less conspicuous portion of the dress to replace the stained section of the fabric. You might be able to embroider over the stain, or sew on sequins, or even paint on some sparkly fabric paint that looks better on the dress, or use an opaque fabric paint to stamp on designs all over the dress that will look like they were the look you intended all along.
When fabric paint is used to cover dried fabric paint, the results will never look anything at all like the original unstained fabric, but even dressy fabrics can sometimes look very nice with random all-over shapes or swirls, made using the right color of a sparkly paint. Silver or gold metallic paint, for example, can look wonderful on a white or colored background. Most fabric paints are transparent, which means that they will not cover up a darker color, but if you look for a metallic or pearlescent fabric paint, these are usually opaque and should, in many cases, be able to cover up an otherwise clashing color of fabric paint. An excellent brand of fabric paint that I recommend for both metallic and pearl effects is Lumiere. If your local crafts store does not carry Lumiere fabric paint, you can mail-order it from a dye supplier such as Dharma Trading Company, or from an arts and crafts supplier such as Blick Art Materials.
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Fabric paintsfor both natural
and synthetic fibers
Metallic and Pearlescent Fabric Paints
Opaque Fabric Paint
Country or region: United States
Message: My grandaughter got a little fabric paint on a white dress and we need to try and get it out. Is there a way to remove it or at least get most of it out of the material? It is a very dressy dress and she needs to wear it in a wedding. Thank you for any help you can give me.
The only way to remove fabric paint from fabric is by washing it immediately, before the paint dries. Once the paint dries, the acrylic binders in the paint polymerize, forming long molecules that are permanently bound to the fabric. The moment you notice a spill of fabric paint, immediately use a large amount of water to dilute and wash out the paint, even if it means washing it at a bathroom sink while you are still wearing it. The sooner you wash it, the better your results will be. A small amount of detergent, such as hand dishwashing liquid, or any available soap, may help in washing out the fabric paint, if the paint has not dried at all.
Some fabric paints do not set, and become permanent, until they are heated, but even those paints which require heat-setting will set partially at room temperature if allowed to dry for several days, enough to stain very badly, so try washing even dried fabric paint as soon as possible, using cool or lukewarm water. If the fabric paint has already set, there is no solvent or cleaner that can be relied on to remove it. However, if the paint is only very loosely applied to the surface, some of it may wear away by abrasion when you wash it, so you may as well try washing it even if you know it;s a paint that does not require heat setting. Do not dry the dress using heat until you have completely given up on removing any more of the paint. Heat from machine drying will accelerate the polymerization of the fabric paint, causing it to set more quickly.
If the paint cannot be washed out, as is very likely to be the case, you may have to consider using some fabric from a less conspicuous portion of the dress to replace the stained section of the fabric. You might be able to embroider over the stain, or sew on sequins, or even paint on some sparkly fabric paint that looks better on the dress, or use an opaque fabric paint to stamp on designs all over the dress that will look like they were the look you intended all along.
When fabric paint is used to cover dried fabric paint, the results will never look anything at all like the original unstained fabric, but even dressy fabrics can sometimes look very nice with random all-over shapes or swirls, made using the right color of a sparkly paint. Silver or gold metallic paint, for example, can look wonderful on a white or colored background. Most fabric paints are transparent, which means that they will not cover up a darker color, but if you look for a metallic or pearlescent fabric paint, these are usually opaque and should, in many cases, be able to cover up an otherwise clashing color of fabric paint. An excellent brand of fabric paint that I recommend for both metallic and pearl effects is Lumiere. If your local crafts store does not carry Lumiere fabric paint, you can mail-order it from a dye supplier such as Dharma Trading Company, or from an arts and crafts supplier such as Blick Art Materials.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
we forgot to add the salt to our tie dye mixture
Name:
Gayle
Country or region: Lusby, Maryland, USA
Message: Being novices, we forgot to add the salt to our Tulip tie dye mixture. We tie dyed some t shirts and napkins. Is there anything we can do to rectify the situation like rinse the items in salt water, or vinegar and water? We're not sure what the purpose of the salt is (to help set the colors)? Any assistance would be much appreciated. Thank you for your time, Gayle
What made you think that you need to add salt to your tie-dyeing kit? Did the box instructions say to do so?
Although salt is important in dyeing solid colors in a large volume of water, it is really not needed in dyeing with very small amounts of water, such as in tie-dyeing. Salt does not set the dye used in tie-dyeing. I never use salt in tie-dyeing, myself.
Vinegar is not at all useful in setting tie-dyeing dyes, and in fact can actually prevent tie-dyeing dyes from attaching to your fabric. The only dye that requires an acid, such as vinegar, is acid dye, which is never used on cotton.
Which tie-dyeing dyes or kit were you using, exactly? Here's a link to the instructions for "How to use the Tulip® One-Step Tie-Dye Kit™". There is no mention of salt in these instructions at all.
Far more important than salt is the use of the proper dye fixative for the dyes in a tie-dyeing kit. Neither salt nor vinegar can be used to set the dyes, which are a type of dye known as fiber reactive dyes. The best dye fixative to use is the household chemical sodium carbonate, which is also known as soda ash or washing soda. In the best tie-dyeing kits, such as the Jacquard Products tie-dyeing kit, the soda ash is provided separately, to be mixed with water and used as a pre-soak before applying the dye.
However, in Tulip brand tie-dyeing kits, the soda ash, or a substitute for it, is combined with the dye powder itself, before you ever buy the kit. This means that the dye must be used immediately after you mix it with water, because, in the presence of soda ash, the dye will start to react with the water as soon as it is dissolved in water. You do not need to add anything else that is not called for in the instructions for the dye you bought. Some Tulip instructions do advise that a soda ash presoak (purchased separately) will make the colors more intense, apparently because the substitute for soda ash that they mix with the dye powder is inferior to soda ash.
The good thing about Tulip tie-dye kits is that they contain an excellent sort of dye, called fiber reactive dye or Procion dye. The same is true of most tie-dyeing kits. Unfortunately, it is possible to buy tie-dyeing kits that contain an entirely inappropriate type of dye, sold under the Rit dye label; the dye in Rit tie-dye kits does not bond well to fabric, so the colors bleed together and fade quickly. Other brands of tie-dyeing kit are more reliable.
Salt can be useful in other types of dyeing. See the FAQ entry, "Do I need to use salt, in dyeing?". When you use good dyes, the purpose of salt is simply to help keep the negative charge of the fabric from repelling the negatively-charged dye molecules, but only if you are using several gallons of water in a large dyebath. Salt can also be used for special effects in fabric painting; see "Salt Effects in Fabric Painting".
If your dyes did not work as you wanted them to, it was probably for another reason, other than salt. In that case, I might be able to help you to figure out what went wrong. However, your shirts and napkins will probably look fine when you wash out the dye, as long as you used a good tie-dyeing kit and as long as the fabric is 100% cotton or linen, and not treated with any sort of stain-resistance.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
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Country or region: Lusby, Maryland, USA
Message: Being novices, we forgot to add the salt to our Tulip tie dye mixture. We tie dyed some t shirts and napkins. Is there anything we can do to rectify the situation like rinse the items in salt water, or vinegar and water? We're not sure what the purpose of the salt is (to help set the colors)? Any assistance would be much appreciated. Thank you for your time, Gayle
What made you think that you need to add salt to your tie-dyeing kit? Did the box instructions say to do so?
Although salt is important in dyeing solid colors in a large volume of water, it is really not needed in dyeing with very small amounts of water, such as in tie-dyeing. Salt does not set the dye used in tie-dyeing. I never use salt in tie-dyeing, myself.
Vinegar is not at all useful in setting tie-dyeing dyes, and in fact can actually prevent tie-dyeing dyes from attaching to your fabric. The only dye that requires an acid, such as vinegar, is acid dye, which is never used on cotton.
Which tie-dyeing dyes or kit were you using, exactly? Here's a link to the instructions for "How to use the Tulip® One-Step Tie-Dye Kit™". There is no mention of salt in these instructions at all.
Far more important than salt is the use of the proper dye fixative for the dyes in a tie-dyeing kit. Neither salt nor vinegar can be used to set the dyes, which are a type of dye known as fiber reactive dyes. The best dye fixative to use is the household chemical sodium carbonate, which is also known as soda ash or washing soda. In the best tie-dyeing kits, such as the Jacquard Products tie-dyeing kit, the soda ash is provided separately, to be mixed with water and used as a pre-soak before applying the dye.
However, in Tulip brand tie-dyeing kits, the soda ash, or a substitute for it, is combined with the dye powder itself, before you ever buy the kit. This means that the dye must be used immediately after you mix it with water, because, in the presence of soda ash, the dye will start to react with the water as soon as it is dissolved in water. You do not need to add anything else that is not called for in the instructions for the dye you bought. Some Tulip instructions do advise that a soda ash presoak (purchased separately) will make the colors more intense, apparently because the substitute for soda ash that they mix with the dye powder is inferior to soda ash.
The good thing about Tulip tie-dye kits is that they contain an excellent sort of dye, called fiber reactive dye or Procion dye. The same is true of most tie-dyeing kits. Unfortunately, it is possible to buy tie-dyeing kits that contain an entirely inappropriate type of dye, sold under the Rit dye label; the dye in Rit tie-dye kits does not bond well to fabric, so the colors bleed together and fade quickly. Other brands of tie-dyeing kit are more reliable.
Salt can be useful in other types of dyeing. See the FAQ entry, "Do I need to use salt, in dyeing?". When you use good dyes, the purpose of salt is simply to help keep the negative charge of the fabric from repelling the negatively-charged dye molecules, but only if you are using several gallons of water in a large dyebath. Salt can also be used for special effects in fabric painting; see "Salt Effects in Fabric Painting".
If your dyes did not work as you wanted them to, it was probably for another reason, other than salt. In that case, I might be able to help you to figure out what went wrong. However, your shirts and napkins will probably look fine when you wash out the dye, as long as you used a good tie-dyeing kit and as long as the fabric is 100% cotton or linen, and not treated with any sort of stain-resistance.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
Monday, June 21, 2010
I'd like to know how to subdue/tone down any color
Name:
Frances
Country: USA
Message: I've been dyeing a lot of Dharma Trading clothing blanks solid colors to decorate. With Procion MX dyes, mostly also bought from Dharma. Problem is, practically all their colors are mixed to come out bright and clear, which I'm sure many of their customers love. I don't. I want muddy earth tones, but I'd like to use colors other than brown. I've found a few premixed colors I like, but I'd like to know how to subdue/tone down any color. So that I can, for example, get a subdued peach or orange instead of one that knocks me over the head. Is there a general technique for toning down colors (mix in some brown?)
Yes, you can tone down your colors by mixing in a gray dye mixture, or a brown dye mixture. I recommend that you try the same toning color to tone down each of your primary or secondary colors, in order to generate a group of colors that harmonize very well together. You can mix your own gray or brown toning colors, or you can use a pre-mixed gray or brown color, purchased from Dharma or another good dye supplier.
Note that Dharma has a limited supply of some particularly muddy Procion MX colors on sale now. While it lasts, see their "Muck Dye" page.
For a much more detailed discussion of this topic, see the March 27, 2009 entry in this blog:
"How to Tone Down Excessively Bright Colors"
It includes a book recommendation, as well as suggestions on how to mix your own more subtle dye colors.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
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Country: USA
Message: I've been dyeing a lot of Dharma Trading clothing blanks solid colors to decorate. With Procion MX dyes, mostly also bought from Dharma. Problem is, practically all their colors are mixed to come out bright and clear, which I'm sure many of their customers love. I don't. I want muddy earth tones, but I'd like to use colors other than brown. I've found a few premixed colors I like, but I'd like to know how to subdue/tone down any color. So that I can, for example, get a subdued peach or orange instead of one that knocks me over the head. Is there a general technique for toning down colors (mix in some brown?)
Yes, you can tone down your colors by mixing in a gray dye mixture, or a brown dye mixture. I recommend that you try the same toning color to tone down each of your primary or secondary colors, in order to generate a group of colors that harmonize very well together. You can mix your own gray or brown toning colors, or you can use a pre-mixed gray or brown color, purchased from Dharma or another good dye supplier.
Note that Dharma has a limited supply of some particularly muddy Procion MX colors on sale now. While it lasts, see their "Muck Dye" page.
For a much more detailed discussion of this topic, see the March 27, 2009 entry in this blog:
"How to Tone Down Excessively Bright Colors"
It includes a book recommendation, as well as suggestions on how to mix your own more subtle dye colors.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Can you recommend a quality t-shirt?
Name:
Connie
Country: United States
Message: I'm very serious about starting my tie-dye business. You are so knowledgeable in every area. I want to start to purchase quanties of t-shirts and other materials. Perhaps, you can recommend a quality t-shirt I can purchase knowing it would be something you would buy.
The number-one piece of advice on buying t-shirts for tie-dyeing is something you may already know: don't buy fiber blends, and don't buy stain-resistant shirts. Shirts that are made of 50% cotton/50% polyester will never produce colors as bright, intense, and true as those you can get on 100% cotton (or on 100% rayon or 100% hemp, for that matter). You want a shirt that is 100% natural plant fiber. (Rayon and silk also dye well with the same dyes and recipe as for cotton.) However, even a cotton t-shirt is no good for dyeing if it has been treated with a stain-resistant finish. These are often available at stores like Walmart and Target. Any finish that resists stains will also, sadly, resist dye, resulting in poor color yield and unwanted blotchiness.
There are a number of good cotton t-shirts you can buy, without stain resistance. You will find that cotton shirts are vastly less expensive than similar-quality shorts made of alternative fibers, such as bamboo (which is a form of rayon) or hemp. My personal choice is to buy a shirt sewn with cotton thread, because the shirt looks better without the contrasting stitching you end up when you dye shirts that have been sewn with the usual polyester thread. I'm afraid that I usually don't buy organic t-shirts, although I very much respect the environmental advantages of farming cotton without pesticides, because of the high prices, though it's certainly something you should consider; tie-dyed t-shirts made from organic cotton and dyed with "low impact" reactive dyes can often command premium prices.
Buying t-shirts in local chain stores, such as Target or Walmart, is something that you usually want to avoid, because the shirts are never sewn with cotton thread, only undyeable polyester thread, and they're often lighter in weight than you want, plus of course there's the stain-resistance issue to watch out for. However, sometimes you need another shirt to dye today, and don't have time to wait for mail-order, in which case it's worth buying a 100% cotton, non-stain-resistant t-shirt locally.
As long as you are buying shirts in smaller quantities, say a dozen or two per size, the prices per shirt provided by good retailers such as Dharma Trading Company are worthwhile. They are a better value than you can find in a local store, and they do have quantity pricing. After you are at the level of buying 72 shirts of each size and style, for basic t-shirts, you will then be able to save still more money by buying by the case directly from clothing wholesalers. You will need a wholesaler's number.
Compare the different t-shirts available at Dharma: here's a link to their t-shirts page . The Gildan PFD Adult Tee is my own favorite because of the combination of cotton thread, good quality, and reasonable price. A case of these shirts from Dharma costs as little as $2.22 per item, assuming that you buy an entire case of 72 per size, and depending on how big the size is. I've been told that a case of 72 Gildan 6.1 ounce t-shirts costs less when purchased from wholesalers such as Broder. You can also find identical shirts retailing at prices far high than Dharma's.
Anvil sells an relatively inexpensive organic cotton t-shirt that's only about twice the cost of non-organic shirts, sewn with cotton thread, and bleached with peroxide, which is better for the environment than chlorine-based bleaches, but gives much better results in dyeing than unbleached fabrics. It's worth considering. Dharma does carry it, for as little as $3.99; their bulk pricing allows for buying an assortment of sizes or even of different styles, unlike the large wholesalers.
The cotton stitching makes for better results in dyeing. When searching for new sources for t-shorts, include the phrase "cotton thread" so you can avoid shirts sewn with polyester thread. If you don't mind polyester thread, which stays white when you dye the shirt, there are other shirts available, sometimes more cheaply. Some dyers prefer the Hanes Beefy Tees or Fruit of the Loom Lofteez, but both are sewn with polyester thread. Hanes Beefy Tees are made from ring-spun yarns, which are finer than the yarns in the Gildan shirts.
I recommend that you buy a small number of samples of whatever shirts or other garments you are considering, and dye them up as tests. Your own preference is what matters. Never invest in large amounts of any garment that you have not tested for yourself on a small scale first.
Let me close by mentioning that, if you're not already doing so, you should use only fiber reactive dyes for tie-dyeing, never all-purpose dyes. Serious dyers almost always mail-order their dyes from a specialist supplier such as Grateful Dyes, PRO Chemical & Dye, or Dharma Trading Company. See my page "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
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Country: United States
Message: I'm very serious about starting my tie-dye business. You are so knowledgeable in every area. I want to start to purchase quanties of t-shirts and other materials. Perhaps, you can recommend a quality t-shirt I can purchase knowing it would be something you would buy.
The number-one piece of advice on buying t-shirts for tie-dyeing is something you may already know: don't buy fiber blends, and don't buy stain-resistant shirts. Shirts that are made of 50% cotton/50% polyester will never produce colors as bright, intense, and true as those you can get on 100% cotton (or on 100% rayon or 100% hemp, for that matter). You want a shirt that is 100% natural plant fiber. (Rayon and silk also dye well with the same dyes and recipe as for cotton.) However, even a cotton t-shirt is no good for dyeing if it has been treated with a stain-resistant finish. These are often available at stores like Walmart and Target. Any finish that resists stains will also, sadly, resist dye, resulting in poor color yield and unwanted blotchiness.
There are a number of good cotton t-shirts you can buy, without stain resistance. You will find that cotton shirts are vastly less expensive than similar-quality shorts made of alternative fibers, such as bamboo (which is a form of rayon) or hemp. My personal choice is to buy a shirt sewn with cotton thread, because the shirt looks better without the contrasting stitching you end up when you dye shirts that have been sewn with the usual polyester thread. I'm afraid that I usually don't buy organic t-shirts, although I very much respect the environmental advantages of farming cotton without pesticides, because of the high prices, though it's certainly something you should consider; tie-dyed t-shirts made from organic cotton and dyed with "low impact" reactive dyes can often command premium prices.
Buying t-shirts in local chain stores, such as Target or Walmart, is something that you usually want to avoid, because the shirts are never sewn with cotton thread, only undyeable polyester thread, and they're often lighter in weight than you want, plus of course there's the stain-resistance issue to watch out for. However, sometimes you need another shirt to dye today, and don't have time to wait for mail-order, in which case it's worth buying a 100% cotton, non-stain-resistant t-shirt locally.
As long as you are buying shirts in smaller quantities, say a dozen or two per size, the prices per shirt provided by good retailers such as Dharma Trading Company are worthwhile. They are a better value than you can find in a local store, and they do have quantity pricing. After you are at the level of buying 72 shirts of each size and style, for basic t-shirts, you will then be able to save still more money by buying by the case directly from clothing wholesalers. You will need a wholesaler's number.
Compare the different t-shirts available at Dharma: here's a link to their t-shirts page . The Gildan PFD Adult Tee is my own favorite because of the combination of cotton thread, good quality, and reasonable price. A case of these shirts from Dharma costs as little as $2.22 per item, assuming that you buy an entire case of 72 per size, and depending on how big the size is. I've been told that a case of 72 Gildan 6.1 ounce t-shirts costs less when purchased from wholesalers such as Broder. You can also find identical shirts retailing at prices far high than Dharma's.
Anvil sells an relatively inexpensive organic cotton t-shirt that's only about twice the cost of non-organic shirts, sewn with cotton thread, and bleached with peroxide, which is better for the environment than chlorine-based bleaches, but gives much better results in dyeing than unbleached fabrics. It's worth considering. Dharma does carry it, for as little as $3.99; their bulk pricing allows for buying an assortment of sizes or even of different styles, unlike the large wholesalers.
The cotton stitching makes for better results in dyeing. When searching for new sources for t-shorts, include the phrase "cotton thread" so you can avoid shirts sewn with polyester thread. If you don't mind polyester thread, which stays white when you dye the shirt, there are other shirts available, sometimes more cheaply. Some dyers prefer the Hanes Beefy Tees or Fruit of the Loom Lofteez, but both are sewn with polyester thread. Hanes Beefy Tees are made from ring-spun yarns, which are finer than the yarns in the Gildan shirts.
I recommend that you buy a small number of samples of whatever shirts or other garments you are considering, and dye them up as tests. Your own preference is what matters. Never invest in large amounts of any garment that you have not tested for yourself on a small scale first.
Let me close by mentioning that, if you're not already doing so, you should use only fiber reactive dyes for tie-dyeing, never all-purpose dyes. Serious dyers almost always mail-order their dyes from a specialist supplier such as Grateful Dyes, PRO Chemical & Dye, or Dharma Trading Company. See my page "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
how to tie-dye cresting waves
I want to make a shirt that looks like there are waves cresting on
it.
Could you tell me how to twist the shirt to make it look like this?
There was some discussion on this very question on the Dye Forum a couple of years ago. Take a look at the following page:
"cresting wave" tie-dye design
[Be sure to scroll down to the examples pictured near the bottom]
In general, the cresting wave design is created by combining two or more spirals. Tie-dyeing a spiral is achieved by placing a fork or a clothespin in the middle of a piece of fabric and turning it; combining two or more such spirals is an interesting challenge for those who have mastered more basic tie-dyeing folds.
For more basic instructions in simpler spirals, see the following two pages:
"FAQ: How do you tie-dye a spiral pattern?"
"Spiral Tutorial" in the Tie Dye Wiki
If you would like to discuss folding these and other tie-dye designs with other tie-dyers, consider joining the Dye Forum.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
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Could you tell me how to twist the shirt to make it look like this?
There was some discussion on this very question on the Dye Forum a couple of years ago. Take a look at the following page:
"cresting wave" tie-dye design
[Be sure to scroll down to the examples pictured near the bottom]
In general, the cresting wave design is created by combining two or more spirals. Tie-dyeing a spiral is achieved by placing a fork or a clothespin in the middle of a piece of fabric and turning it; combining two or more such spirals is an interesting challenge for those who have mastered more basic tie-dyeing folds.
For more basic instructions in simpler spirals, see the following two pages:
"FAQ: How do you tie-dye a spiral pattern?"
"Spiral Tutorial" in the Tie Dye Wiki
If you would like to discuss folding these and other tie-dye designs with other tie-dyers, consider joining the Dye Forum.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
Monday, June 07, 2010
Where can I find coffee-colored dye?
Name: Roger
Country: Trinidad and Tobago
Message: Hi Guys,
Can you tell me where I can possibly find the small tinlets of Dylon Hot water Multi Purpose Dye, namely, the color called 'Coffee'? It was widely available years ago. Is it that it is no longer in production. It's really very frustrating finding a product that you love and then suddenly learning that it is no longer produced! I recently bought the Dylon Dye in the new packaging, the closest color being 'Dark Brown'. So far, I'm not impressed. Even the Dye powder itself seems much more diluted than what was available before which seemed pretty concentrated. Why would Dylon make an inferior product to what they had before?
I know that you said that the cold water dyes are better but the color I need is not availabale. I want a very Dark rich chocolate brown color. Anyways, can you direct me as to where I might be able to get the tins of Hot Water Multi Purpose Dye especially for that particular color? Or, are there alternatives that I can use? What do you think of the brand 'Wiki Wiki' line of Dyes?
Manhattan Wardrobe Supply says that Dylon has discontinued the "Coffee" color of their Multi-Purpose dyes. I'm sorry, because I know it is very disheartening when a color that you have grown to depend on is no longer available. Dylon's color decisions are based on mysterious factors involving fashion predictions; they are not oriented toward fiber artists, who need reproducibility in their colors.
I'm afraid that you are going to have to start over again with a new type of dye. Brown dyes in general are composed of several different dye colors, mixed together. It is often difficult to predict how a new color of dye will turn out on your own materials. You will have to do a certain amount of testing before you will find the perfect dye color for your particular purposes.
Since you must start with a new dye, now would be a good time for you to consider switching to an entirely different type of dye. I believe that there is less frustration involved in using dye colors from a less fashion-oriented dye supplier. The kind of dye you should use depends on the type of fiber you are dyeing. If you are dyeing cotton, linen, rayon, or any other plant fiber, I do recommend fiber reactive dyes, as you have already noted. If you are dyeing nylon, or wool or another animal fiber, I recommend a good line of acid dyes, such as the WashFast Acid Dyes or the Lanaset dyes. If you are dyeing polyester, you must use a type of dye called disperse dye.
In order to find a premixed brown dye that is close to the color you want, you will do best to order from a large supplier that sells a great many different premixed dye colors, such as Dharma Trading Company, PRO Chemical & Dye, or Jacquard Products; Jacquard Products also sells their dyes through a number of other retailers. I believe that both Dharma and ProChem will ship to Trinidad and Tobago. The largest number of different premixed dye colors are available among the Procion MX dyes, which Dharma sells as "Dharma Fiber Reactive Procion Dyes" and ProChem sells as "PRO MX Reactive Dyes".
Your best bet is to order several different likely shades of brown from either ProChem or Dharma, judging from the color chip on their website. For more predictable colors, you can order a printed color chart from either company (Dharma's color chart is included in their catalog). If none of the companies I recommend has quite the right brown, you can make the colors they do have darker by simply using twice as much dye powder, or lighter by using less dye powder; if the brown is a little bit too greenish, you can mix in a bit of red dye, or if it is too reddish, a bit of green dye. Let me know, if you get to that stage, whether you need more advice on color mixing.
There are several advantages is dealing with a specialized dye supplier, such as ProChem or Dharma, instead of with a fashion-oriented company like Dylon. The dyes are very concentrated, and you can get far more technical support from the suppliers. The cost of the dye needed to color one pound of fabric is much lower. The colors may be more consistent, and they are likely to be available for a longer period of time, though occasionally changes in dye manufacture can affect the availability of some dye mixtures.
I'm afraid that I can't say anything about the "Wiki Wiki" line of dyes, as your message is the first I have heard of them, and I can't find a source of information on them through a quick web search. I would be interested to know whatever you find out about them.
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Country: Trinidad and Tobago
Message: Hi Guys,
Can you tell me where I can possibly find the small tinlets of Dylon Hot water Multi Purpose Dye, namely, the color called 'Coffee'? It was widely available years ago. Is it that it is no longer in production. It's really very frustrating finding a product that you love and then suddenly learning that it is no longer produced! I recently bought the Dylon Dye in the new packaging, the closest color being 'Dark Brown'. So far, I'm not impressed. Even the Dye powder itself seems much more diluted than what was available before which seemed pretty concentrated. Why would Dylon make an inferior product to what they had before?
I know that you said that the cold water dyes are better but the color I need is not availabale. I want a very Dark rich chocolate brown color. Anyways, can you direct me as to where I might be able to get the tins of Hot Water Multi Purpose Dye especially for that particular color? Or, are there alternatives that I can use? What do you think of the brand 'Wiki Wiki' line of Dyes?
Manhattan Wardrobe Supply says that Dylon has discontinued the "Coffee" color of their Multi-Purpose dyes. I'm sorry, because I know it is very disheartening when a color that you have grown to depend on is no longer available. Dylon's color decisions are based on mysterious factors involving fashion predictions; they are not oriented toward fiber artists, who need reproducibility in their colors.
I'm afraid that you are going to have to start over again with a new type of dye. Brown dyes in general are composed of several different dye colors, mixed together. It is often difficult to predict how a new color of dye will turn out on your own materials. You will have to do a certain amount of testing before you will find the perfect dye color for your particular purposes.
Since you must start with a new dye, now would be a good time for you to consider switching to an entirely different type of dye. I believe that there is less frustration involved in using dye colors from a less fashion-oriented dye supplier. The kind of dye you should use depends on the type of fiber you are dyeing. If you are dyeing cotton, linen, rayon, or any other plant fiber, I do recommend fiber reactive dyes, as you have already noted. If you are dyeing nylon, or wool or another animal fiber, I recommend a good line of acid dyes, such as the WashFast Acid Dyes or the Lanaset dyes. If you are dyeing polyester, you must use a type of dye called disperse dye.
In order to find a premixed brown dye that is close to the color you want, you will do best to order from a large supplier that sells a great many different premixed dye colors, such as Dharma Trading Company, PRO Chemical & Dye, or Jacquard Products; Jacquard Products also sells their dyes through a number of other retailers. I believe that both Dharma and ProChem will ship to Trinidad and Tobago. The largest number of different premixed dye colors are available among the Procion MX dyes, which Dharma sells as "Dharma Fiber Reactive Procion Dyes" and ProChem sells as "PRO MX Reactive Dyes".
Your best bet is to order several different likely shades of brown from either ProChem or Dharma, judging from the color chip on their website. For more predictable colors, you can order a printed color chart from either company (Dharma's color chart is included in their catalog). If none of the companies I recommend has quite the right brown, you can make the colors they do have darker by simply using twice as much dye powder, or lighter by using less dye powder; if the brown is a little bit too greenish, you can mix in a bit of red dye, or if it is too reddish, a bit of green dye. Let me know, if you get to that stage, whether you need more advice on color mixing.
There are several advantages is dealing with a specialized dye supplier, such as ProChem or Dharma, instead of with a fashion-oriented company like Dylon. The dyes are very concentrated, and you can get far more technical support from the suppliers. The cost of the dye needed to color one pound of fabric is much lower. The colors may be more consistent, and they are likely to be available for a longer period of time, though occasionally changes in dye manufacture can affect the availability of some dye mixtures.
I'm afraid that I can't say anything about the "Wiki Wiki" line of dyes, as your message is the first I have heard of them, and I can't find a source of information on them through a quick web search. I would be interested to know whatever you find out about them.
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Sunday, June 06, 2010
desperately looking to buy RIT clothing dye in Canada
Name:
Janice
Country: Canada
Message: I am desperately looking to buy RIT clothing dye and can't seem to find a company that ships to Canada. Do you have any suggestions??
Rit is a brand of all-purpose dye (see "All Purpose Dyes"). A similar brand is Tintex, which you might be able to find more easily. A third variety of all-purpose dye is Dylon Multi Purpose, but don't confuse it with other Dylon dyes, which are fiber reactive type dyes (including Dylon Cold Dye, Dylon Permanent Dye, Dylon Hand Dye, or Dylon Machine dye).
As a general rule, I do not recommend using all-purpose dyes, because their performance on most fabrics is poor compared to other types of dyes, and their prices are relatively high. On cotton and rayon, you will get much better results with a fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dyes; on wool and nylon, specific acid dyes will give more predictable results; and polyester requires an entirely different type of dye called disperse dye that is not found in all-purpose dye. However, all-purpose dye is excellent for the special purpose of dyeing a multi-fiber blend of cotton or rayon with wool or nylon.
Although all-purpose dye is often not the best choice of dyes, it remains popular because it is easier to find in stores than higher-quality dyes. You can often find it in large chain grocery stores, drug stores, or even chains such as Walmart. If there is a hobby or crafts store in your area, or a fabric store, look there.
There are three excellent dye suppliers in Canada that I can recommend: G & S Dye in Ontario, Harmony Hand Dyes in Tisdale, Saskatchewan, and Maiwa Handprints in Granville Island, Vancouver. (For contact information and links, see my page of "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".) As far as I know, none of the three sells Rit brand dye, but they do sell much better types of dye, at more economical prices per item dyed. All three sell by mail-order as well. Many of the larger dye suppliers in the US will ship to Canada. Mail-order suppliers that specifically sell Rit brand dye in Canada include American Apparel's Canadian Online Store, and the fiber arts supplier SpinBlessing, which is located in Oregon but has a free shipping offer that includes Canada (watch out for customs fees!).
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Country: Canada
Message: I am desperately looking to buy RIT clothing dye and can't seem to find a company that ships to Canada. Do you have any suggestions??
Rit is a brand of all-purpose dye (see "All Purpose Dyes"). A similar brand is Tintex, which you might be able to find more easily. A third variety of all-purpose dye is Dylon Multi Purpose, but don't confuse it with other Dylon dyes, which are fiber reactive type dyes (including Dylon Cold Dye, Dylon Permanent Dye, Dylon Hand Dye, or Dylon Machine dye).
As a general rule, I do not recommend using all-purpose dyes, because their performance on most fabrics is poor compared to other types of dyes, and their prices are relatively high. On cotton and rayon, you will get much better results with a fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dyes; on wool and nylon, specific acid dyes will give more predictable results; and polyester requires an entirely different type of dye called disperse dye that is not found in all-purpose dye. However, all-purpose dye is excellent for the special purpose of dyeing a multi-fiber blend of cotton or rayon with wool or nylon.
Although all-purpose dye is often not the best choice of dyes, it remains popular because it is easier to find in stores than higher-quality dyes. You can often find it in large chain grocery stores, drug stores, or even chains such as Walmart. If there is a hobby or crafts store in your area, or a fabric store, look there.
There are three excellent dye suppliers in Canada that I can recommend: G & S Dye in Ontario, Harmony Hand Dyes in Tisdale, Saskatchewan, and Maiwa Handprints in Granville Island, Vancouver. (For contact information and links, see my page of "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".) As far as I know, none of the three sells Rit brand dye, but they do sell much better types of dye, at more economical prices per item dyed. All three sell by mail-order as well. Many of the larger dye suppliers in the US will ship to Canada. Mail-order suppliers that specifically sell Rit brand dye in Canada include American Apparel's Canadian Online Store, and the fiber arts supplier SpinBlessing, which is located in Oregon but has a free shipping offer that includes Canada (watch out for customs fees!).
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)