Archives for August, 2010

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Monday, August 30, 2010

I have a 100% cotton dress that is dark brown and I'd like to make it dark purple

Name: Terre

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Country or region: USA

Message: I hope this question wasn't asked already - I searched, but did not find anything applicable. I have a 100% cotton dress that is dark brown and I'd like to make it dark purple. Is this possible, and, if so, how would I go about doing this?

You can easily go from purple to brown, by adding some of purple's complementary color, which is yellow, but you cannot go directly from brown to purple, unless the brown is very light in color and the purple very dark. Purple cannot cover up a dark brown.

The only color that will cover up a dark brown is black, and that only if you use a large enough quantity of dye. (It's typical to use two to four times as much dye, per pound of fabric, when dyeing black, as you would use for a lighter color.)

It might be possible to lighten the color of your dark brown dress, using a sulfur-based color remover, such as Rit Color Remover. While I normally do not recommend Rit or any other brand of all-purpose dye for most situations, I do strongly recommend Rit Color Remover, which is a good product. It's impossible to predict whether the dye in a particular garment can be removed or bleached, because we have no idea what dyes the manufacturers of your brown dress used, and some dyes cannot be removed by any means. It's worth a try, though. Rit Color Remover works best when heated with the garment in a huge cooking pot on top of the stove, but it's much, much easier to try the washing machine method first, possibly turning up the temperature on your water heater a bit first. For a large washing machine, you will need to use several boxes of Rit Color Remover at a time.

If the color of the dress is significantly lightened by the use of the Color Remover, then you will be able to dye the dress dark purple. The dress does not have to be returned all the way to white before dyeing it, but it will need to be significantly lightened in color for the purple to work.

For dyeing a cotton dress, assuming that the color is light enough for your choice of color to show on it, I recommend the use of a fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. The results will be much longer-lasting than you can get with an all-purpose dye, such as Rit or Tintex, and it's easier to apply, too, because Procion MX dye is set with washing soda, rather than with nearly-boiling water, as all-purpose dye is. Fiber reactive dyes stay bright years longer than all-purpose dyes do, and the colors that they produce are more predictable. Dylon Permanent dye is another brand of fiber reactive dye, mostly containing Drimarene K dyes, and it is somewhat easier to find in crafts stores or sewing stores, though more expensive and more limited in color selection, like all-purpose dyes. Unless you have a very superior crafts store nearby, you will need to mail-order your Procion MX dye.

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Friday, August 27, 2010

I cooked some purple cauliflower for dinner and the water turned a lovely royal blue. Can i use the water to dye wool or silk?

Name: Ann

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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: Canada

Message: I cooked some purple cauliflower for dinner and the water turned a lovely royal blue. Can I use the water to dye wool or silk? What mordant would I use? I did a google search and found nothing.

Thank you for such an informative site and blog.

The pigment in purple cauliflower comes from anthocyanin pigments, similar to those in blueberries and red grapes. Unfortunately, the pigments in these foods perform poorly as textile dyes. On exposure to oxygen, light, and the laundry, they turn to pale dull grayish or brown colors, sadly nothing like the beautiful blue that inspired this question. There is no mordant that will be able to retain the blue color long-term. I don't recommend dyeing any textile fiber with anthocyanin-based natural dyes, except possibly for very temporary experiments. The only plant-based blue dye I can wholeheartedly recommend is indigo, a substance found in something like fifty species of plants around the world.

Since anthocyanins are water soluble, they tend to leach out into the cooking water. If you want to experiment to see how much more brilliant a color you can retain in your cooked purple cauliflower, try cooking with as little water as possible. I like to cut up enough broccoli or cauliflower florets to fill a two-quart lidded glass pot, adding no water at all, and then microwave on high for approximately five minutes, or until a fork can easily pierce through, watching closely the first time to make sure not to cook for too long. I think that cabbage-family vegetables taste best when cooked without water, or when cooked with a small amount of fat (such as butter or olive oil) in place of water, and doing so will help to retain as much color as possible.

The color in purple cauliflower is related to that found in purple cabbage. It's interesting to note that the color of these pigments changes as the pH (level of acidity) changes. If you lower the pH by adding a mild acid, such as lemon juice or vinegar, the color will change to become more red or more pink. Your cooking water turned blue because it is either neutral in pH, or slightly alkaline. If you increase the pH by adding a basic substance such as baking soda (not nearly so good-tasting, and it can destroy some vitamins when cooked with vegetables), the color will change to be more blue. If you add a much stronger base than you would ever use in preparing food at home, such as washing soda or caustic soda, the blue/red anthocyanin pigments can even turn green.

For a related question, see the September 7, 2008 entry in my dyeing blog, "Dyeing with beautiful blue butterfly pea flowers". For examples of poor results obtained when dyeing with the anthocyanins found in beets, see a Dye Forum entry from January 2006, "Beets as a natural dye".

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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Can I pick and freeze the flowers for later use? Name: Lisa

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

by Jim Liles

Country or region: East Kentucky, USA

Message: I have a metric buttload of goldenrod on my property, but nothing to dye at the moment. Can I pick and freeze the flowers for later use, or will freezing ruin them? Thanks!

Yes, you can freeze goldenrod to use for dyeing later. You can freeze the blossoms themselves, but you may prefer to make an extract of the goldenrod flowers and then freeze that. Jim Liles recommends against drying goldenrod flowers for later use, as apparently they will lose color when dried.

Here is Liles' recipe for dyeing all fibers yellow with goldenrod or Queen Anne's lace (from The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing, 1990, by J. N. Liles, University of Tennessee Press):

"Collect goldenrod when the flower heads are just fully open or nearly so, and Queen Anne's lace when it first comes into full bloom. Queen Anne's lace may be cut off close to the ground, but use just the goldenrod flower heads. It will take about one pound of fresh Queen Anne's lace or 1/2 pound of goldenrod per pound of fiber. These two plants do not dry well for storage and should be cooked up soon after picking. Treat Queen Anne's lace the same as broom-sedge, but goldenrod may be cooked immediately without soaking. Since goldenrod is more concentrated, it is a good dye to prepare, place in plastic jugs, and freeze for later use."

That recipe refers to what he wrote on broom-sedge:

"For 1 pound of material, crowd as much of the dry broom-sedge as possible into a nonreactive 4-gallon vessel with enough water to cover. Soak overnight and cook (simmer or boil) for about two hours. Pour off the dye liquor, which is ready for use. Heat it to further concentrate the dye liquor for storage. Freeze to store, or add 0.1% sodium benzoate (about 1 teaspoon/gallon) [as a preservative]."

Goldenrod is more lightfast than some natural yellow dyes, but it's not as lightfast as quercitron or weld. It might be wise to dry goldenrod-dyed items indoors, and store them in the dark when they are not in use.

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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Attempting to customize a golf club headcover....how to dye a darker color to a lighter one? Name: Janet

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Neopaque is an opaque fabric paint, so white and light colors can cover a dark or colored background.

Country or region: Canada

Message: hello, I love your site...it's just plain awesome!! I'm attempting to customize a golf club headcover, the body of the headcover is composed of a PU leather...it has 3 bright red circles/dots that I want to re-dye/color over, composed of a kind of "corduroy" fabric...the dots are about 2" in diameter each. I've tried using a product called "Dye Na Flow" but it doesn't seem to be great when dyeing lighter colors over a darker color...I also do not want to change the feel/touch of the fabric. If you do a google search for a "scotty cameron studio select headcover" you will find the pictures to get a better idea (I don't think that I can attach photos here)...thank you so much for any advice, it's greatly appreciated.

It was a good idea to try the Dye-Na-Flow. I'm sorry it didn't work out. Often the best solution for difficult-to-dye materials is a fabric paint, such as Dye-Na-Flow. However, most fabric paints, and all dyes, absolutely fail when it comes to putting a lighter color over a darker color. All dyes are transparent, and so are most fabric paints; this means that the color underneath will inevitably show through. When dyeing, or when using transparent fabric paints, you can only go from lighter colors to darker colors, never the other way around.

There is only one exception to the light-to-dark rule. If you use an opaque fabric paint, it will cover the color underneath, if you apply a thick enough coating of the opaque fabric paint. Unfortunately, this means applying a thick enough layer of paint that you can definitely feel it. It will invariably change the feel of the fabric. Using fabric paint instead of other sorts of paints (such as artists' acrylic paints or house paint) will help, because fabric paint is much softer than the others, but you can still feel it. Sometimes that's a big problem, and sometimes it is not. The softest and nicest opaque fabric paint available is probably Jacquard Products' Neopaque, which is sold in some of the better arts and crafts stores such as Texas Art Supply, and is always available from mail-order suppliers such as Blick Art Materials or Dharma Trading Company. Mail-order sources within Canada for Neopaque include The Paint Spot, in Edmonton, Alberta, Opus Framing & Art Supplies, in Vancouver, Artists Emporium in Winnipeg, and Shades of Clay and Wyndham Art Supplies in Ontario.

Artificial leather made of polyurethane might be dyeable, if it is absorbent enough for the dye to easily penetrate, instead of being in any way water-resistant. (Check by sprinkling a few drops of water across the surface; if the water beads up, the material is too water-resistant to dye.) The same rule applies about changing a lighter color to a darker color, never a darker color to a lighter one. Polyurethane is best dyed with acid dyes, preferably a type of acid dye called 1:2 metal complex acid dye, at temperatures of around 140°F (60°C), along with the auxiliary chemicals recommended by the dye's manufacturer; unfortunately, this dyeing temperature will probably distort and change the shape of pre-sewn items. It is best to dye polyurethane before sewing it into a product such as your golf club headcovers.

I believe that the best approach would be to take an old golf club headcover, one that has become too old and worn to be of value, and disassemble it by removing all stitching. Using the pieces of the old disassembled headcover as a pattern (allowing extra material for the widths of the seams), cut out new pieces from fabric or leather of the color that you want (possibly custom dyeing or painting the material first), and assemble them into a new headcover. If water resistance or stain resistance is needed, apply the treatments only after you have fully completed assembling the headcover.

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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Dyeing a multi-fiber blend without damaging the spandex

Name: Sonia

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I have browsed through your fascinating website for the past couple of days, in search of advice on dyeing, which I am attempting for the first time. I purchased three of the same garment thinking that I would experiment with dyeing two of them in different colors. The garment is made of 44% silk, 36% cotton,17% nylon, and 3% spandex, and it can only be washed in COLD water. Because I am not going for a solid uniform color, I thought it would be interesting to dye in stages, for the different fibers. But I learned that silk and nylon require hot water, which will damage the garment. Before I give up, do you have any suggestions? Thank you for your help.

Yes, the hot water needed for dyeing silk and nylon with acid dyes is not ideal for spandex. If the care instructions advise you to wash in cold water only, 105°F or below, I'd suggest skipping all steps involving hot water. You'll still be able to dye these garments, though, no problem. (Be sure to prewash them as carefully as possible before dyeing.) Avoid all hot-water dyes, including all-purpose dyes such as Rit; instead, buy some Procion MX dye, probably by mail-order.

Note that the word "cold", in the textile industry, does not mean icy; using temperatures of 70°F to 105°F (or 21°C to 40°C), which are ideal for Procion MX dyes with soda ash, is considered "cold" dyeing.

Silk can easily be dyed like cotton, with a fiber reactive dye such as Procion MX dye, plus soda ash. Your fiber blend, 80% of which is either cotton or silk, is thus 80% dyeable with fiber reactive dyes. Dyeing four-fifths of the fiber content of a blend is sufficient to get good results. The nylon and spandex will remain undyed, if you use Procion MX dye with soda ash, but that will probably look just fine.

If what you really want is a solid color, I recommend that you use a washing machine, Procion MX dye, soda ash, and salt, carefully following a good recipe such as the one provided by Dharma Trading Company. See my page on washing machine dyeing. For a single garment, use a five-gallon bucket, scaling down the ingredients (water, dye, soda ash, and lots of salt) proportionally, and stir constantly for an hour, using the same procedure as for dyeing in the washing machine.

For a non-uniform color, I recommend that you try low water immersion. It is the easiest-to-do of all dyeing methods, and the results are usually beautiful.

The idea of dyeing the different fibers in a blend to different colors is an interesting one. Dyeing a blend with cotton and silk in it is complicated by the fact that all cotton dyes will also color silk. Silk is a truly versatile fiber in its ability to take different types of dyes. Premixed colors will generally produce a different color on silk than on cotton, since it's a protein fiber and reacts more quickly or more slowly with each of the different individual fiber reactive dyes. However, if you use one of the eleven or so available unmixed single-hue Procion MX colors, then the silk and the cotton in the blend will end up nearly the same color.

You can buy a dye kit called Alter Ego, which is sold by various mail-order suppliers including Dharma Trading, which is designed to color the cotton or rayon in a blend a different color than the silk in the blend. It's expensive, but contains a special reserving agent to prevent the cotton dye from staining the silk, so, for example, the silk backing of a piece of devore silk/rayon velvet will dye a different color than the rayon plush. This is probably not something you'll want to try on this garment, but it's an interesting concept. See "alter ego dyes", a discussion in the Dye Forum from January 2007.

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Monday, August 23, 2010

Is bulk Rit dye more economical than other sources of acid dyes?

I'm interested in dying lacrosse heads. Most use RIT/dylon. Judging from your v. informative website it seems acid dyes are better. However I seem to be able to get RIT in bulk 1lb for $15 but in the UK even 50g of acid dye seems to cost $12 (even 30g of RIT is only $5).

Rit all-purpose dye contains a large amount of salt and detergents, which are very inexpensive, but only a fairly small amount of dye, so it is much less economical than it at first appears.

One small box of Rit dye, containing 32 grams of powder, is enough to dye 1 pound of material to a pale to medium shade; this implies that it contains about 2 grams of direct dye plus about 4 grams of leveling acid dyes, plus about 26 grams of relatively inert ingredients. Calculating upward, it appears that a full pound of Rit all-purpose dye powder contains less than 60 grams of acid dye. If a pound of Rit dye powder costs $15, that's not a better deal than buying 50 grams of a higher quality acid dye for $12.

The acid dye in Rit dye is a type called, variously, leveling acid dye, acid levelling dye, or strong acid dye; it is not as long-lasting as other types of acid dye. In particular, the metal complex acid dyes should give you better results. The weak acid dyes and neutral acid dyes found in the Fibrecrafts acid dye line (which is sold by mail-order in the UK), and in the somewhat more expensive Jacquard acid dye line, should produce more predictable, reliable results than you can expect from Rit dyes. This is especially when dyeing black; lacrosse head dyers have complained many times about black Rit dye producing purple instead of black.

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Sunday, August 15, 2010

Can we dye a floral print couch?

Name: Cynthia

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Country or region: U.S

Message: We have a floral print couch, which I think is a cotton blend. Can it be dyed? Will it rub off on our clothes?

Don't try to dye any upholstered furniture whose fabric cannot be removed. You must be able to remove the fabric for the dyeing and for the washing-out of the excess dye afterwards. Dye that is not properly washed, after the dye is applied, will in fact rub off on the clothing of anyone who touches it.

Here's an earlier blog entry with an example of what can happen if you try to do this, from February 1, 2008: "I just dyed our white canvas couch yesterday DARK BLUE with RIT, then when we went to move it inside both of our sets of hands were blue. HELP!"

Even if you could dye this couch, the floral print would always show through. You cannot dye a floral print, or any other sort of print, to make a solid color, though you can often turn it into a more subtle tone-on-tone version of the design.

Although dye will not work, it is possible to recolor upholstered furniture by painting it with a good quality fabric paint. However, it's a lot of trouble, and the cost of the fabric paint will be considerable, since you will need at least a quart of it, probably more. It would make more sense to buy a book on how to make your own slipcovers. The results of making a new slipcover will look more professional, and will last much longer. Fabric paint will tend to wear off of the most-used surfaces of the upholstery. To learn how to use fabric paint to change the color of upholstered furniture, see Scarlet Zebra's Instructions for Painting Upholstered Furniture.

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Saturday, August 14, 2010

I would love to dye the cushion covers (they come off) a dark color to avoid them getting stained and dirty

Name: Debbie

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Country or region: USA

Message: I just bought a Pottery Barn outdoor sofa. The cushions are a stone color and the fabric is ring-spun water repellent polyester. I would love to dye the cushion covers (they come off) a dark color to avoid them getting stained and dirty. Is this possible?

No. Nothing that has been treated to be water-repellent or stain-resistant can be dyed. The same finish that repels water and stains will also repel dyes.

When buying anything that is water-repellent or stain-resistant, first be sure that it is already the color you want it to be, because you will not be able to change its color. The only way to change the color of your water-repellent cushions will be to sew new slipcovers to put on them.

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Friday, August 13, 2010

I have very pale yellow canvas slipcovers. How can I bleach them white?

Name: Cindi

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Dye Removal Chemicals

Country or region: USA

Message: I have very pale yellow canvas slipcovers. I want them white. When I try using bleach, they turn baby pink! How to do this? Thanks

This may not be possible.

Not all dyes can be destroyed with bleach. Even some dyes than can be damaged with bleach, as you saw, will bleach to an unexpected color, instead of turning colorless. Some dyes that don't respond to bleach will respond to other discharging chemicals, but many dyes will not respond to either one.

It's very likely that the best thing for you to do will be to sew some new slipcovers, using the old slipcovers as a guide. You can sew your own slipcovers, or you can hire an upholsterer to sew them for you.

You can try a dye discharge chemical of a different type, a sulfur-based discharge such as sodium dithionite (found in Rit Color Remover) or thiourea dioxide (found in Jacquard Color Remover), but there is no guarantee that it will work. Also, all discharge chemicals other than bleach require heat. Sometimes the hottest tap water you can get in your washing machine will be hot enough, but in other cases nearly-boiling hot water are required, which is impractical unless you already own a very large dyeing pot.

For more information on the different chemicals that can be used to remove dye, see my page, "What chemicals can be used to remove dye?".

By the way, it is important to specify what fiber your canvas is made of. A 100% cotton or 100% hemp canvas can be bleached with chlorine bleach, but it's a mistake to use bleach on a synthetic-fiber canvas such as polyester canvas or acrylic canvas. The hypochlorite in chlorine bleach will damage synthetic fibers, so use it only on 100% natural plant-based fibers.

If your slipcovers are made of an easily-dyeable material, such as cotton, you might decide to choose a different color, instead. While it can be very difficult to turn any color of previously-dyed material white, it's a lot easier to turn it a darker color, assuming that it's made of an easily-dyed natural fiber. See "Choosing the right dye for your fiber".

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Thursday, August 12, 2010

How can I dye orange t-shirts red? Name: Renee

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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends

Country or region: USA

Message: Bought t-shirts for my kids that are orange but I thought they were red. How can I dye the shirts red? Do you have a red dye that I could purchase for the process? Thanks

What are the t-shirts made of? The answer on how to dye them is different for 100% cotton than for 50% cotton/50% polyester.

Do the shirts have any sort of stain-resistant or water-resistant finish? Those will interfere badly with any attempts to dye them. Don't bother trying to dye anything that is stain-resistant, as the results will not be worth the trouble.

If the shirts are made of 100% cotton, the best dye to use is fiber reactive dye. The most popular brand of fiber reactive dye is Procion MX dye. You can buy it through one of the affiliate links on my site, or you can order from a specialty dye supplier. See my page, "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".

Some crafts and hobby stores sell Procion MX dyes. Others do not. Most serious dyers buy their dyes by mail-order, but you might be able to find a decent dye in a local shop. Dylon Permanent dye works well and is carried in our local fabric store. Our local Michael's crafts store carries Tulip Permanent dye, which I have not tried, but I expect it to be similar to Dylon Permanent dye. Both contain fiber reactive dyes of a different type than Procion MX. For a very bright red, it is best to use more dye than the package indicates, since red is such an intense color. A light red will appear to be pink.

All brands of fiber reactive dye are superior to any brand of all-purpose dye, such as Rit dye, because fiber reactive dyes stay bright on your clothes years longer, and can be applied at room temperature, and will not run onto other clothing in the laundry. You should avoid all-purpose dye unless you have mail-ordered a commercial dye fixative, such as Retayne, to improve the washfastness. If you are going to the trouble of mail-ordering a dye fixative, however, you may as well go ahead and mail-order the good fiber reactive dye, instead of using all-purpose dye.

Unfortunately, 50% polyester shirts will not dye well with fiber reactive dyes OR all-purpose dyes. All-purpose dyes, like fiber reactive dyes, do not stick to polyester at all. Only a special polyester dye, known as disperse dye, will work at all on polyester. You can buy this dye in the form of iDye Poly, made by Jacquard Products. If you have a large enough dyeing pot, made of stainless steel or enamel, which you don't plan to ever reuse for food, you can dye both the polyester and the cotton in a cotton/poly blend shirt at the same time, by combining iDye for natural fibers with iDye Poly for synthetic fibers. These two dyes can be applied at the same time. Unfortunately, merely hot water will not work at all to dye polyester; it requires a full boil for at least half an hour. iDye for natural fibers will require an after-treatment with Retayne or a similar commercial dye fixative, to keep the color bright longer, just like all-purpose dyes.

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

How can I dye the colors used in your Watercolor Rainbow drip-dyeing shirt?

Name: Laura

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Country or region: England

Message: Hi, can you please advise me how I would go about getting the same dye effect as you have created on the t-shirt your son is wearing, the picture is called Watercolor Rainbow drip-dyeing. The colours are beautiful and I want to create this effect on a pair of trousers I have.

Watercolor rainbow drip-dyeing I dyed that shirt sixteen years ago, but, fortunately, I still remember what dyes I used. That's on the page "Watercolor Rainbow drip-dyeing".

All of the dyes were Procion MX type fiber reactive dye. You can buy this dye from several different mail-order companies in England, such as Fibrecrafts or Kemtex Educational Supplies. (See the 'Europe' section of my "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World" page.)

I mixed up fuchsia (red MX-8B, or Colour Index reactive red 11), lemon yellow (yellow MX-8G, or reactive yellow 86), and cerulean blue (blue MX-G, or reactive blue 163), by placing approximately four teaspoons of dye powder (20 ml) in one cup of urea water (240 mls). In the similar shirt, "Drip dyeing: toddler's swirl tee", I did the same except for substituting turquoise (turquoise MX-G, or reactive blue 140) for the cerulean blue.

The urea water contained one-quarter to one-half cup (60 to 118 ml) of dry urea per quart (liter) of water.

(Use distilled or softened water, or add the powdered water softener whose chemical name is sodium hexametaphosphate, if your water is at all hard, as is common in England. Avoid the use of liquid water softeners. See "Dyeing with hard water: water softeners, distilled water, and spring water".)

I placed each color in a squeezable plastic squirt bottle with a pointed "yorker" tip, such as are sold in tie-dye kits and from any good dye supplier. I probably also mixed a green by taking equal parts of the blue mixture and the yellow mixture and placing them in another plastic squirt bottle, and I know that I mixed a purple by taking equal parts of the fuchsia and blue dye mixtures and placing them in yet another plastic squirt bottle.

Using a large plastic bucket, I dissolved 1 cup (240 ml) of sodium carbonate (a.k.a. soda ash) in 2.5 US gallons (10 liters) of water, water that was warm (body temperature), not hot, as this is the temperature in which soda ash dissolves most easily. Soda ash is a high-pH chemical used to activate the cotton in the fabric so that it will react with the fiber reactive dye. See "What is soda ash, and what's it for in dyeing?".

I took a 100% cotton child's t-shirt, which was free of surface finishes such as stain-resistance or permanent press, and prewashed it in hot water, and soaked it in the bucket of soda ash for fifteen minutes or so. (Note that your trousers will dye equally well only if they are 100% cotton, or nearly so, with no polyester, and not treated to be stain- or wrinkle-resistant.) Wearing waterproof gloves, I removed the shirt from the soda ash solution and squeezed out some of the excess water. I then laid the shirt flat on a gridded surface, made of what the hardware store calls hardware cloth, a stiff wire mesh with square holes that are 1/4 inch (0.6 cm) on each side. Holes of this size work better than the much smaller holes of winder screen, which tend to collect puddles of muddy-colored dye. Some people use the plastic grid from a refrigerator shelf or the diffuser of an office ceiling fluorescent light; other use layers of paper towels, or simply lay the fabric out on the grass, though we should note that soda ash is not good for plants.

Instead of tying the shirt, as in tie-dyeing, I simply laid the shirt out flat and squirted the dyes where I wanted them, in a pattern of diagonal stripes, making sure to place the colors in rainbow order. I did not tie because I did not want any white to remain on the shirt at all, after dyeing.

The interesting pattern on the shirt, between the red and the yellow, was caused by using red MX-8B, a dye widely known as fuchsia (though different suppliers apply their own common names to the different dyes, so it's wise to check on the MX code or the Colour Index number when ordering). Fuchsia is the quickest-to-react of all of the Procion MX type dyes. As soon as it hits the soda-soaked cotton, it reacts where it is, and does not creep along on the fabric much, unlike the other colors. This means that both the red and the purple show a more complex pattern than the green or the yellow do. When this effect is not desired, it can easily be avoided by substituting red MX-5B (reactive red 2), which does not react so quickly, for the red MX-8B. However, in this case the additional detail adds more interest to the design. The pattern of the grid I laid the shirt on also left its mark in the fine detail of the dyes on the shirt.

After you have applied your dyes, keep the garment in a warm place, at least 21°C (70°F), overnight. Be sure to keep the dye on the fabric moist (the urea will do this for you, by retaining some of the water; if you don't use urea, be sure to wrap the garment in plastic, to keep it damp). Finally, wash out the excess unattached dye sometime the next day. Start by rinsing in cool water, to remove all of the auxiliary chemicals such as soda ash, and some of the excess dye, then wash twice in very hot water, preferably 60°C or above (140°F).

When applied this way, the fiber reactive dye will be highly resistant to washing out, unlike, for example all-purpose dye. It will stay bright for years, even if you wash it in boiling water, as long as you avoid using chlorine-based bleaches.

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Sunday, August 08, 2010

Using old Drimarene K, Dylon Colourfast, and Dylon Permanent dyes

Name: Helen

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Fabric Dye

Dylon Permanent Fabric Dye contains mostly Drimarine K dyes, except for the black which is a Remazol dye.

Procion MX Dye

ideal for cotton, rayon, linen, and silk

When mixed with soda ash, Procion dyes are permanent, colorfast, and very washable. You can easily create a palette of brilliant colors ranging from light pastels to deep, vibrant hues.

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Dylon Permanent Fabric Dye Burnt Orange

Dylon Permanent Fabric Dye is a permanent dye that gives vibrant colors that won't run or wash out. Specially designed for use by hand in warm water. 1 pack dyes 1/2 lb dry weigh fabric. Dyeing larger amounts will give a lighter color. For cotton, linen, ramie and rayon in full shades. Lighter shades on polyester/cotton mixes, wool and silk. Do not dye 100% polyester, acrylic or nylon. Materials with special finishes cannot be dyed. Stains, faded areas and bleach marks may not be covered with dye. Keep out of reach of children and away from eyes. Burnt Orange- 1.75 oz

Country or region: Fiji

Message: Hi Paula
Apologies in advance if my questions have already been covered, I'm a bit of a novice to the internet! I live in Fiji and am currently unable to buy dyes over here. I have however been given some and am somewhat confused!

A friend has given me five tubs of Drimarene K which are about 20 years old! Have you ever used dyes this old?! I am loathe to waste them but am worried the colours may no longer be good.

I have also been given some discontinued Dylon Colourfast Dye in a box and a sachet of new Dylon Permanent Fabric Dye. The instructions for these two are the same only the box weighs 100g and the sachet weighs 50g but they are both for 250g of fabric. Have the manufacturers condensed the dye?

Lastly, when I finally take the plunge to dye my project, how long will the liquid dye last for. Because it is so hard to get, I thought I might keep it in a bottle in the fridge. Do you know what would happen if I used it a second time round?

Actually I am planning to dye some masi (Fijian bark cloth) which I have been told dyes beautifully (it's for a handbag). I am also wondering whether it would be ok just to paint the dye on so I only need to mix up a teaspoonful!

I know you are thinking "silly girl, just experiment" but, like I said, I only have very limited supplies at present.

I look forward to hearing from you! Many thanks and kind regards

I'm reminded of the old scientists' adage that a month in the laboratory can often save you from spending an hour in the library! Yes, you can go ahead and try the dyes, but it never hurts to have as much information as possible, first, especially when your supplies are so difficult to replace.

Twenty-year-old Drimarene K dyes are probably hydrolyzed, but not necessarily. There is one Procion dye I've had stay good for eight years (though usually Procion MX dyes are good for no more than a couple of years after purchase), and Drimarene K dyes are a little less reactive than Procion MX dyes, so they last significantly longer. It's certainly worth a small test. Drimarene K dyes are fiber reactive dyes intended for use on cellulose fibers such as cotton and linen, though they can also be used on silk. Bark cloth is obviously a plant-based textile, which must contain both cellulose and lignen, which can be dyed with the same types of dye as cotton. For more information about Drimarene K dyes, see my page "About Fiber Reactive Dyes".

To test fiber reactive dyes for freshness, what you should do is get some dyeable cotton fabric, something small and cheap, that's been pre-washed. Cut the fabric up into swatches, perhaps three or six inches wide, whatever's small and convenient. Using zip-lock-type plastic freezer bags (not the storage bags which are too thin for use in storing frozen foods), place one piece of fabric in each bag. I like to use quart-sized bags for this (i.e., one-liter bags or smaller). Mix a small amount of each fiber reactive dye that you want to test with a small amount of water and pour it over a swatch of fabric in the bag. Also mix up some sodium carbonate, one teaspoon (5 ml) of soda ash per one cup (250 ml) of water, and pour some of this into each bag. Seal each bag, pressing out most of the air.

Do you have a microwave oven? If so, you can microwave the bags, all at once, inside a dish of some sort, watching closely until the bags puff up with steam; stop the microwave before they can explode. The bags will slump down as the steam condenses again. Repeat this if you want to be sure the dye's good and hot, then allow to cool at room temperature. If you do not have a microwave oven, then fill a bucket or a sink with hot water, at least 60°C (that's 140°F), or hotter, heating the water on the stove if necessary, then place the sealed bags into the hot water and leave them for an hour or so. The extra heat from the waterbath or the microwave oven speeds up the dye reactions, to make the test more practical, so you don't have to wait until the next day to get your results. Drimarene K dyes like extra warmth more than Procion MX dyes do, but I have used this test for Procion dyes many times.

After the bags have cooled, rinse the swatches out with cool water (a colander is handy to prevent small slips of fabric from going down the drain), then with the hottest water you have available, to see how much dye remains in the fabric after the hot water has removed as much as possible of the unattached, unbonded dye. You can place all of the swatches in a net lingerie bag to do this in the washing machine, or, for greatest efficiency, you can even pour boiling water over the fabric.

You may see that some of the dyes are completely hydrolyzed, meaning that they can no longer react with the cellulose in cotton. They are not entirely useless, though, especially in your circumstances of being unable to buy dye. Although hydrolyzed fiber reactive dyes can no longer be used as fiber reactive dyes, because they will no longer react, they can still serve as acid dyes. The color-bearing part of the dye molecule is in fact some sort of acid dye. You can use acid dyes on protein fibers such as wool or silk, as well as on the one synthetic fiber nylon. Don't try to use acid dyes on cotton or other plant fibers, nor on synthetics other than nylon. Nylon happens to chemically resemble the protein fibers enough that it can be dyed with most of the same dyes. To use Drimarene K dyes, or any other fiber reactive dye, as an acid dye for wool, silk, or nylon, you should follow a recipe that calls for an added acid, such as vinegar, and that calls for some form of added heat, such as simmering the fabric in the dye on the stovetop (using a stainless steel or enameled cooking pot that you don't plan to use again for food), or painting the dye on, letting it dry, wrapping it in paper, and then steaming it, much as you might steam a vegetable. For more information on using Drimarene K and other fiber reactive dyes as acid dyes, see my page, "Fiber reactive dyes on protein fibers".

Dylon Colourfast Dyes were a group of dyes that contained either vinyl sulfone (Remazol) type fiber reactive dyes or Drimarene K type fiber reactive dyes, along with sodium carbonate and salt. This means that my advice above holds true for testing. Unfortunately, the presence of sodium carbonate in the dye powder mixture may have caused it to go bad more quickly. Also unfortunate is that fact that the sodium carbonate in the dye mixture will directly oppose any acid that you add in order to try to use the dyes as acid dyes. You would have to add a very large amount of acid in order to first neutralize the sodium carbonate, and then to produce the acid conditions required for fixing acid dyes. I would recommend that you attempt to use this dye by following the package directions as closely as possible, but only on a cellulose fiber such as cotton or viscose rayon. You could also use it on silk, which, unlike wool, can survive the high-pH of the sodium carbonate, and unlike nylon, which does not like to dye under high-pH conditions at all. If the dye does not work, you can always set aside the project to overdye with another dye. You will probably get some color, but probably a lighter color than the box indicates, depending on how old the box is. There's always some hope that the dye will still be fresh enough to work.

Dylon Permanent Fabric Dye is a range of dyes that, like Dylon Colorfast Dyes, includes both Remazol type dyes and Drimarene K type dyes. I suspect that Dylon Colorfast Dye contained more of the non-dye ingredients, such as salt and soda ash. In fact, at least some of the Dylon Permanent dyes contain trisodium phosphate, a chemical that produces a higher pH than sodium carbonate does, so the weight needed of this dye fixative would be less. You can expect one packet of either dye mixture to contain a similar amount of the dye powder itself. Follow the instructions as closely as possible.

Pure Drimarene or Remazol dyes are very suitable for painting. Dye painting with Dylon dyes is more difficult, because they are not designed for this purpose and have been mixed with chemicals in advance that assume that you are going to follow the instructions exactly. If you mix the dye powder with less water than is recommended, than the auxiliary chemicals in the mixture will create a higher pH than is desirable, resulting in less even colors. Dylon dyes are not really designed for use by artists, being premixed into whatever colors the manufacturers deem fashionable. You cannot buy a single dye, unmixed with other dye colors, in the Dylon line, in order to use as a mixing primary to mix your own dye colors. You can, of course, mix Dylon dyes to make different colors; however, the colors are harder to mix, and the results may be duller in color, than if you started with single-hue unmixed dyes as your mixing primaries. It is still worth trying, when that's the only dye that you can obtain.

Drimarane K dyes and Remazol (vinyl sulfone) dyes will stay good in water solution much longer than Procion MX dyes. For them to last well, the water you mix them with should be pH-neutral (neither acidic nor alkaline), with a pH around 7.0, and you should use soft water, such as rainwater, in preference to calcium-containing groundwater. Both of these types of dye last so well in water solution, in fact, that you can buy them in that form. You cannot buy Procion MX dyes already dissolved in water, because they go bad too quickly. However, even Drimarene K and Remazol dyes will go bad fairly quickly if there is any sodium carbonate or other high-pH chemical present. Expect a pure water mixture of Drimarene K or Remazol dye to last for months, but a mixture containing either of these dyes with sodium carbonate or trisodium phosphate to last less than a day, perhaps as little as one hour. Do not mix your Dylon dyes with water until you are ready to use them. If you use only part of the packet of Dylon dye, be careful to seal the rest away from any chance of contamination from moisture, such as the humidity in the air.

The majority of the material in a packet of Dylon dye is either inert material or dye fixative, including salt, possibly some detergent as a wetting agent, and either sodium carbonate or trisodium phosphate. Assume that your entire packet of Dylon dye, of either brand, to contain onlly about 5 grams of actual dye. When you measure out dye from a Dylon dye package, the entire packet contains about 5 grams of dye, although the total weight is more like 50 or 100 grams. Do not use the same recipes that you would use for pure unmixed dye powder of any sort, such as your Drimarene K dye powder, which, like Procion MX dye powder and Remazol dye powder, is far more concentrated. Of course this means that you must add your sodium carbonate and any salt needed (some types of dyeing need a lot of salt, others none at all) auxiliary chemicals yourself for your Drimarene K dye to work properly.

Drimarene K dye can pretty much be used according to the same recipes as Procion MX dyes, such as the tie-dyeing or low water immersion (LWI) recipes on my web site. However, they require more warmth for the reaction between cellulose and dye. For recipes specific to hand-dyeing with Drimarene K dyes, see the Batik Oetoro website. Note that the Drimafix chemical called for in one of the recipes is also known as sodium silicate; see my page on using sodium silicate as a dye fixative.

For accounts of the problems involved in using Dylon Permanent Dyes in ways different from the package instructions, which will also apply to the use of Dylon Colourfast Dye if it is still fresh enough to use, see the following discussion in the Dye Forum on my website: "Dylon Dyes"

I would be very interested to hear how this works out for you. I hope that you will eventually be able to find a source for fresher dyes.

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Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Trying to dye a grass strand material

Name: Jason

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Country or region: Arkansas

Message: I'm trying to dye a grass strand material, I believe to be organic. It is currently a tan color and I would like to dye to a darker brown color. It's currently bound into large strands and I have 10 lbs of this material. Can you help me?

Can you wash and rinse this material? Will it be damaged by being washed?

If you can wash your grass-like material, you can easily dye it with any of several types of dye. If the material will not be expected to get wet again in the future, choosing your dye carefully and making the dye very permanent is much less important than it would be for clothing that will be laundered repeatedly. The best dyes do not wash out in the laundry, but that's not a concern if you're not going to repeatedly clean your grass material with water in the future.

Any true dye that you use will have to be rinsed thoroughly after application, because there is always unattached excess dye remaining, which, after drying, will rub off on anyone or anything that touches it. If you do not want to rinse your grass fiber at all, in case the large amounts of water might damage it, then I will recommend that you use a thin fabric paint, rather than a true dye, to color your material. Paint in some cases also has the advantage of resisting fading caused by sunlight, better than many dyes.

The dye I like best to use is Procion MX dye powder. For a medium color, you can use as little as five grams of dye powder per pound of fiber, though you will want to use more in order to get a darker color. Procion MX dye is a type of dye called fiber reactive. It is set, in any plant fiber, with sodium carbonate, which you can purchase as soda ash or as washing soda. It can be applied without heat, and the results are exceptionally permanent. You don't have to use this excellent form of dye for your project, however. Other products will also work.

Basket-making materials are also often dyed with either direct dyes, or with the dye mixtures known as all-purpose dyes (which happen to contain direct dyes). Direct dyes are inferior to fiber reactive dyes on clothing, because they are less wash-resistant, but that's not a problem if you won't be washing your material. However, even direct dye needs a considerable amount of rinsing after it is applied, because of the tendency of the excess unattached dye particles to crock, or rub off, when dry.

All-purpose dye is rather expensive for what you get. A box of Rit all-purpose dye contains only enough dye for half a pound of fiber. Direct dye can cost far less, and still be just as good; for example, Dharma Trading Company sells direct dye, under the name "Industrial Dyes", for less than $7 for enough to dye a hundred pounds of material, and they do include a brown color. For a darker brown, use more dye powder than the instructions indicate, or add some black dye to your brown dye.

If you choose to use paint, instead of dye, the question is whether adding stiffness to the material would be a problem for you. If not, you can simply dilute ordinary artists' acrylic paints with water and paint them on. No rinsing will be necessary. The results will certainly be stiffer and scratchier than you'd get with a good fabric paint, but this doesn't necessarily matter for material that will not be worn as clothing.

Fabric paint is softer and smoother and has much less of a stiffening effect on the material you paint it on. You can turn artists' acrylic paints into fabric paint by adding a product called "fabric medium", if you can find it. Alternatively, you can buy a paint which is already manufactured as a fabric paint. You would want to use a very thin fabric paint, not a slick or puffy sort of paint.

Suitable brands of thin fabric paints include Dye-Na-Flow, by Jacquard Products, which is available in many hobby supply stores; Dharma Pigment Dyes, which are available only from Dharma Trading Company, which is a good mail-order source; or Pebeo SetaColor. Be careful to check the label for manufacturers' instructions concerning heat setting. Most fabric paints require ironing or baking to set the acrylic binders in the fabric paint. Heat setting is not required for materials that will never become wet, but it is important, for many fabric paints, if you want the color to survive washing.

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Monday, August 02, 2010

How can I use Dye-Na-Flow to dye a dress black?

Name: Nenagh

Country or region: Australia

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Message: Hi! I've found your site very helpful so far, but I have one question I really need answered. I have a dress that has the inside slip made from 98% polyester and 2% spandex. I really want to dye this dress black. I know I can't dye a poly/spandex blend fabric, but I read on your website that I could maybe use Dye-Na-Flow instead. How would I do this? Please help!

Whether you can use fabric paint in place of dyes depends on the effect that you want. Using fabric paints can produce good results when what you want is a multi-colored watercolor effect. If what you want is a perfectly smooth solid color, fabric paint is not for you. (See my page, "Fabric Paints: a different way to color fibers".)

Dye-Na-Flow is a fabric paint that is designed to be very thin, so it flows like a dye. Unlike true dyes, fabric paints contain tiny insoluble particles of pigment, which are mixed with a binder that acts to glue the pigment particles to the outside of the fibers in the fabric. This means that the color does not really penetrate inside the fiber, as textile dyes do; as a result, the color wears off the outside of the fiber relatively quickly. Pigment dyeing is a common treatment for clothing in order to make it look pre-worn. It can be a nice effect, but I am not sure that it is the effect you will want for your dress.

The problem with using a fabric paint to color your dress is that the color tends to take unevenly. Professional pigment dyeing requires agitation in a large machine that is like an automatic washing machine, in order to apply the pigments uniformly to the entire garment. I doubt that you will want to use your washing machine for pigment dyeing, as, unlike true dyes, pigment dyes are very likely to permanently stain your washing machine, though it can still be used for washing clothes; it will stain your clothes dryer, too. For information on the washing machine method of pigment dyeing, see PRO Chemical & Dye's instructions for pigment dyeing, "Pigment Dyeing using PROfab Color Concentrates". [PDF]

Even if you manage to apply your fabric paint with perfect evenness, you will find that, as the pigments dry on the shirt, the color tends to move. This means that areas of fabric that dry first end up lighter in color, while areas that dry later end up darker in color. This effect can be wonderful when it's part of the design, as in sunprinting (see my page on "How to Dye and Paint Fabric with Light".) However, it will never work to produce a completely solid black color, or any other truly solid color.

If you decide that you want to try pigment dyeing your dress, in spite of the unevenness of the color that will result, the technique is to take a plastic bucket or dishpan that you won't mind permanently staining. Dilute your fabric paint with the amount of water recommended by the manufacturer. You can add up to 25% water to Dye-Na-Flow paint; that is, if you have a one-quart bottle of Dye-Na-Flow, you can add up to one cup of water. (That works out to adding 236 milliliters of water to each 946-ml bottle of fabric paint.) If, instead, you choose to mail-order Dharma Pigment Dyes for this purpose, you can dilute them with considerably more water, because they are more concentrated; dilute Dharma Pigment Dye with between two and four times as much water. Since you want to color your dress black, you would probably want to use the smaller amount of water, for a darker color. If you buy a one-pint bottle of Dharma Pigment Dye, then, you can add two pints of water to it. Mix the fabric paint carefully with the water, so that it is thoroughly blended, but without stirring in a lot of bubbles.

(Note that, before coloring any clothing, whether you are using fabric paints or true dyes, you should be sure to wash it first, in the hottest water recommended on the care instruction label, in order to try to remove any invisible stains that might repel dye or paint.)

Using a large enough amount of diluted fabric paint to immerse your garment, dip the garment into the paint and stir it around. Using waterproof gloves that cover part of your arms as well as your hands (dishwashing gloves are better than disposable latex gloves, for this purpose), pull the garment out of the fabric paint, make sure that it is evenly colored, then replace it in the fabric paint in another orientation. Repeat this process until you are sure that the fabric is throughly and evenly soaked. Squeeze out excess liquid and smooth the fabric out, noting that the pigments will tend to settle into any creases, leaving darker lines. For drying, it would probably be best to hang the dress on a plastic hanger, since the fabric paint will tend to collect on any surface the dress is touching, as it dries. Drying the dress on a hanger will not produce perfect results, but it's better than drying flat, in my experience.

Since you are in Australia, you will want to look into local mail-order alternatives to the US retailers I have mentioned. Batik Oetoro, in Gateshead NSW, sells pigment concentrates that are similar to those sold by PRO Chemical & Dye, to be used in a washing machine and heated tumble clothes dryer. The Thread Studio, in Perth, sells paints and dyes made by Jacquard Products, including Dye-Na-Flow; call them to ask whether they carry larger sizes than the small jars mentioned on their web page. I don't know what shipping costs are like between New Zealand and Australia, but it seems likely to be less than shipping between the US and Australia; 2Dye4 in New Zealand sells Dye-Na-Flow in larger bottles, up to one gallon.

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Sunday, August 01, 2010

Where can I buy Direct Dyes online?

Name: Johil

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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends

Country or region: New York

Message: I want to buy direct dyes for cellulose fabrics, but I can not find a link on this site that leads me there. Where can I purchase these dyes on line?

There are several US sources of direct dyes, which are used on cellulose fibers, in the small quantities required by individual dye artists. The most inexpensive would be the Industrial Dyes at Dharma Trading Company, which are sold in one-pound packages, which works out to just under seven cents per pound of fiber to be dyed. Of course, like all direct dyes, their washfastness is poor, as direct dyes tend to wash out relatively quickly, but after-treatment with a cationic dye fixative, such as Retayne, solves that problem, although with some loss of lightfastness.

Dharma Trading and many other dye companies, such as Blick Art Materials, also sell products made by Jacquard Products, such as iDye. Regular iDye is a direct dye, while iDye Poly is an entirely different type of dye, the disperse dye that is used only on synthetic fibers such as polyester ands acrylic. (They can be mixed to dye poly/cotton blends in a single boiling-water dyebath.) The color selection is much wider than for the Industrial dyes, but the cost is correspondingly higher still, at $2.69 to $3 for 14 grams of dye powder, enough to dye 2 to 3 pounds of cellulose fiber. That works out to about a dollar of dye per pound of fiber dyed, a dramatically higher price; fourteen times higher, in fact. That's significantly higher than the best deals available for the much superior Procion MX fiber reactive dyes, which, from some suppliers, cost as little as 40¢ for enough to dye one pound of cellulose fiber, if you buy half-pound jars, or 56¢ if you buy two-ounce jars.

Aljo Mfg, in New York, sells a wide range of direct dyes, for prices that are lower than the prices of iDye. You must call or write them to order, as they do not yet have an online ordering system. Their selection is good, and their prices are reasonable. Since you are in New York, this is probably your best choice. If you are in New York City, you could even go to their store at 49 Walker Street in Manhattan, instead of ordering by mail as most serious dyers must do. In either case, please tell them that you heard about them on Paula Burch's dyeing site.

PRO Chemical & Dye, in Massachusetts, used to be a good source for direct dyes, but they have discontinued selling their line of Diazol direct dyes. Cushing sells both acid dyes and direct dyes, if you can find them in a retail outlet, but it is impossible to determine which exact dyes they sell, as they do not reveal the color index numbers (just like Jacquard Products with their iDye line of dyes), and they say that both their direct dyes and their acid dyes are intended for use exactly as they are sold, without mixing any colors together. Aljo is the only source I know for appropriately small quantities of direct dyes that will also let you know the generic Color Index Number for their unmixed direct dye colors. (All dye sellers keep the composition of their proprietary premixed dye colors a secret.)

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