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Thursday, September 30, 2010
How can I dye Lycra zentai costumes?
Message: I've bought "zentais" (kind of complete catsuits) which were supposed to be made in Lycra. I've tried a multi-purpose dye by Dylon dyeing by boiling them. The fabric was intact but the dye didn't take on it. I'm planning to try that "Idye Poly" product, that I've seen you've been testing. The problem is that I'm not sure of the fabric composition and I don't know how to know exactly what it is. Do you think Idye Poly could be a good solution and how do you recommand me to use it? Thank you very much for your time answering me!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
If I buy a yellow t-shirt and use green dye will it turn it blue?
Country or region: United States
Message: Our school colors are green and yellow. If I buy a yellow t-shirt and use green dye will it turn it blue? How do I get the green?
Monday, September 27, 2010
I am looking for a dye that will work on sea shells
at Paradise Fibers
Washfast Acid dyes
Also known as Nylomine dyes, excellent for use on nylon and on any protein-containing fiber, such as wool.
Country or region: USA
Message: Lisa White Reber from DippyDyes gave me your name. I am looking for a dye that will work on sea shells. Years ago they used a dye and the shells looked great, that dye has been banned. I do volunteer work for our community in Florida and we dye shells to make flowers. I know there are some shells you cannot dye, but there are many you can. Do you know of any dye I can use, I am willing to experiment. Thank you for your time, any information you can give me will be gratefully accepted.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
How can I tie-dye a design of three crosses?
Message: I'm trying to tie dye for my church. I envision 3 crosses then tie-dye around them. What should I do to make the crosses?
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Friday, September 17, 2010
Finding the chemical structure of two reactive dyes Name: Cristian
Message: Hello! I am a chemistry engineer and I am living in Romania, in the city of Iasi. My speciality is chemistry of dyes (direct dyes, reactive dyes and so on...). I don't find the chemical structure of two reactive dyes: C.I. Reactive Red 267 (Cibacron Scarlet FN-6G) and C.I.Reactive Blue 268 (Cibacron Brilliant Blue FN-G). Would you help me finding these two structures, please? I am waiting your answer! Best wishes!
I'm afraid I don't have these structures. They might be in the Colour Index, but I don't currently have access to this publication.
Do you know how to draw the structure, if you have the name? Reactive Blue 268 is described as being 6,13- Dichlor-3,10-bis{2-[4-fluoro-6-(2-sulfophenylamino)-1,3,5- triazin-2-ylamino]propylamino}benzo[5,6][1,4]oxazino[2,3- .b]phenoxazin-4,11-disulfonic acid, lithium, sodium salts). Its CAS number is 163062-28-0.
I can't find the chemical name or CAS number for Reactive Red 267 and have no further leads.
The Cibacron reactive dyes have been renamed to Novacron, and are now made by Huntsman Textile Effects. At least one of the Cibacron reactive dyes, the beautiful Cibacron Blue F-GF, has been discontinued since the specialty chemicals division of Ciba was purchased by Huntsman. The Cibacron F fiber reactive dyes are monofluorotriazines, very similar in structure and reactions to the dichlorotriazines, which are called Procion MX dyes. Hand dyers in the US often buy them from PRO Chemical & Dye, in their line of Sabracron F dyes.
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Saturday, September 11, 2010
Is there any dye that would leave a metallic shininess on cotton crochet thread?
Message: I have some cotton crochet thread that I'd like to dye a metallic bronze or brass color. Is there any dye that would leave a metallic shininess on the thread? Could the effect be achieved by adding metallic pigment to a regular fabric dye? Could I use metallic faux finishing waxes or paints meant for wood, or would that be dangerous (some I've seen have warnings against prolonged skin contact, and the item I want to make is for wearing)? Or is there just really no good way to achieve this effect?
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Friday, September 10, 2010
Is there any dye that can be used to bring a polypropylene rope bannister back to life?
No, I'm sorry. Polypropylene is a special case. It's simply impossible to dye an item that is made of polypropylene.
Polypropylene (also known under the brand names Herculon and Olefin) is colored by the addition of pigments while still in liquid form, before it is extruded into a fiber. Once it has been made into a fiber or other material (including any plastic marked with a recycle logo containing the number 5), it resists all dyes and almost all paints extremely well. The good side of this property is that it also resists stains and dirt.
The only paint that I can recommend at all for polypropylene is a specialty spray paint called Krylon Fusion for Plastics. The manufacturer claims that polypropylene is among the plastics that this special paint will adhere to. I can't guarantee that this product will perform well enough to meet your needs. It's possible that it will fail to adhere as well and for as long as you would like. It might work well, though, and it's the only product I know that might. It is opaque and seems to cover darker colors well.
Don't get another type of Krylon paint: only the Krylon Fusion paint has any hope of working for your situation. I've found Krylon Fusion paint at a local hardware store in the US, and it does appear to be sold in the UK, as well.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Syuzi Pakhchyan's book
Heinz Durr's book
Photochromism: Molecules and Systems
provides detailed technical and chemical information about photochromic dyes and pigments.
Country or region: U.S.A.
Since you want a color that disappears entirely to white whenever it's in the shade, I think what you're looking for are photochromic pigments.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
I've dyed it twice with Dylon Perm Fabric Dye hand dye. Can I make it more black by doubling the packets?
Don't double the water. The key in doubling the dye is to make the dye more concentrated, so that the fabric takes up more dye. I don't think you should double the salt, either, unless the manufacturer specifically suggests doing so, because it makes the dye less soluble when you do. Reducing the dye solubility is a good thing right up until you overdo it enough that the dye all falls out of solution and collects at the bottom of the dyebath. Then you get very little color added to the fabric.
I don't think you should double the concentration of the Dylon Permanent Hand Dye, either, however, because this fiber reactive dye already contains a high-pH (highly alkaline) ingredient in the mix, trisodium phosphate, which acts to set the dye. This ingredient is analogous to the soda ash used with Procion MX dyes. If you do not dilute the packet exactly as described in the product instructions, the pH will be higher than is desired, and may not work as well. It's a lot simpler to double dye concentration when you're working with a dye to which the helper chemicals have not yet been added, such as Procion MX dye; to use Procion MX dye, you add the soda ash separately, so it's very easy to double or even quadruple dye concentration.
What you should do to get the best color from black Dylon Permanent Hand Dye is to increase the temperature at which you do the dyeing. The black color of Dylon Permanent Hand Dye is a Remazol dye that is happiest at 60°C to 80°C (140°F to 176°F). An easy way to increase the temperature, in addition to starting with sufficiently hot tap water, is to place your bucket that has the dye and fabric in it inside of a large container that is filled with very hot water. What I do is fill my kitchen sink with very hot water, just to the same depth as the dyebath inside the bucket, and rest my bucket in the sink. Or, I use a metal-free container to soak the fabric in the dye, cover the container tightly with plastic wrap, and microwave it, watching very closely. As soon as the plastic wrap on the top of the container started to inflate upwards with steam, I turn off the microwave. I feel the outside of the container to make sure it is hot, then allow it to cool gradually to room temperature, before rinsing with cool water and finally washing out excess dye with hot water.
Something you should also consider is that the black Dylon Permanent Hand Dye naturally has a somewhat bluish cast to it. If you overdye your black polo with an orange dye, it will counter the blue effect, and make the shirt into a darker black. You can buy an orange color of Dylon Permanent Hand Dye.
Unfortunately, it is possible that the shirt has some sort of surface finish on it, for the purpose of making it wrinkle-free, or reducing the tendency of the fabric to pill, which partially prevents dyes from reaching it, so that dyes have less effect than you'd like. You absolutely cannot dye it if it has been marketed as being stain-resistant. Stain-resistant treatments resist dye.
If you ever tire of using Dylon hand dye, and have other dyeing projects that you want to do, I recommend that you check out the dye supply company G&S Dye, which is located in Toronto. They do a lot of mail-order, but I think they also have a storefront that you can visit. Their products include Procion MX dye, which is similar in quality to Dylon Permanent Hand Dye, but less expensive per unit of fabric dyed, and with a vastly wider range of colors available, including clear bright mixing primaries for making your own colors. Dylon does not carry colors that are suitable for use in mixing your own colors.
Monday, September 06, 2010
A weird white residue on the fabric after dyeing an ivory silk gown black
(For silk, wool, angora, mohair & nylon)
Lanaset dyes
are the most washfast of all dyes for protein fibers. Rich, deep colors.
Buy from
Paradise Fibers
What kind of dye did you use? How did you apply it? What auxiliary chemicals did you use, and how did you use them?
It's very possible that some of the surface fibers in the silk fabric of your gown did not get dyed. This can happen if you do not stir frequently enough throughout the dyeing process, or if the silk had some sort of sizing or other substance on the surface when you bought it. Silk may have natural gums on it when you buy it, or it may be that some sort of spinning oils or other chemical used in the manufacture of your garment may have been present. Any of these substances can block the dye from reaching some of the fibers in your fabric, which will give the appearance of a white residue. This has happened to me when using the technique of low water immersion dyeing.
What I would recommend, if that's what happened to you, is that you clean the silk as thoroughly as possible by washing in hot (not boiling) water with detergent and rinsing thoroughly. After doing so, redye the gown, using plenty of black dye. This will work if in fact the problem was caused by incomplete dyeing.
However, my recommendation above will not help if the problem is due to some sort of damage to the fiber. The way you describe it as disappearing in the light suggests that some of the fabric may be flattened, or physically damaged in some way, possibly by heat. If that is the source of the problem, I don't think that there is any solution, other than covering the damage by embellishing the fabric. You can make beautiful effects on silk charmeuse by painting, stenciling, or stamping with a metallic or pearlescent fabric paint, or by adding a texture by rubbing Shiva's Artist's Paintstiks on the front while the fabric is against a textured surface, or by using fabric foils to make shiny metallic designs. See my pages, "Beyond dye: more ideas for coloring fabric" and "Fabric Paints: a different way to color fibers". Any of these would change the effect of your gown completely, but will also cover the problem.
Sunday, September 05, 2010
How do I keep the white, white? In all the shirts I've done, the colors bleed and end up looking muddy or faded
There are three parts to the answer to this problem.
1. The first and most important is to use the right dye. If you use an all-purpose dye, such as Rit dye, some of the dye will inevitably transfer where you do not want it. Instead, you must choose a fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. Most good tie-dyeing kits include Procion MX dye. I recommend the Jacquard Products tie-dyeing kits, or kits obtained by mail-order from specialty dye suppliers such as PRO Chemical & Dye or Dharma Trading Company.
2. Once you're using the right dye, you should allow plenty of time for the dye to react with your fabric. The fabric must be a dyeable material, such as cotton, linen, or viscose rayon. You must include a high-pH chemical, such as washing soda or soda ash, to set the dye by encouraging the cellulose molecules to react with it. After applying the dye to the fabric, keep it moist and in a warm place overnight. The dyes should react well within six hours, but allowing more time ensures that all of the excess dye molecules will react, whether they react with the fiber in the fabric, or with the water that is also present. (If the dyes have all reacted before you wash out, then they won't be active and ready to react when they run onto the wrong part of your design.) The dye reaction must be kept over 70°F, because the dyes react more slowly at cooler temperatures, and they must be kept somewhat moist, either by using urea in your dye solutions (it holds onto water) or by wrapping in plastic, because dye reactions cannot take place when the dye is dry.
3. Thirdly, you must use adequately HOT water to wash out the unattached excess dye. With fiber reactive dyes, there is always some unattached excess dye. If you do not wash it out, it will rest on the wrong sections of your project, coloring the whites and making the colors look duller. The way to wash out tie-dyes properly, after the reaction time has completed, is to wash once in cool water, to remove auxiliary chemicals such as salt or soda ash, and to remove some of the excess dye. Next, wash in very hot water. You may need to turn up your water heater a bit, or you can add some boiling water from the stovetop to your washing water. The generally recommended water temperature for washing out excess dye is 140°F or above. Hotter water is even more efficient, so some dyers reduce the amount of time and water require for washing by using boiling water to soak and rinse their dyed items. In machine washing, it usually takes two washings in hot water, or sometimes three, to remove all of the excess dye.
If you combine these three tips, you will find that your dye colors are much brighter and more vivid. Your whites should stay completely white.
You can also consider mixing your Procion MX dyes with a dye thickener, such as sodium alginate, to keep contrasting colors from running together.
Saturday, September 04, 2010
Have you any advice to turn the stitches as black as the rest of the jacket?
This is a common problem. See my FAQ page, "Dyeing thread in pre-sewn clothing".
None of the remedies seem very good to me. I'll describe them, and you can decide which you prefer:
1. I've tried coloring with fabric markers over undyed polyester stitching, but the markers came out lighter in color on the polyester, so the results weren't worth the trouble, and it was a surprising amount of trouble. You never realize how long the seams at the hems all around a garment are until you work on every inch of them.
2. More effective is to use disperse dye, made into special paint or crayons (such as the Crayola Fabric Crayons in the ad to the right), to create long, narrow iron-ons, and then press with a hot dry iron to transfer the dry disperse dye onto the stitching. This is even more trouble than coloring with markers, so I can't recommend it either, but the color will be better. Disperse dye used as an iron-on does not require the intensifier chemicals that make immersion dyeing polyester so unpleasant, so I think this is the least undesirable of the three remedies.
3. It will work to dye the threads, if you dye the entire jacket by immersing it in an enormous cooking pot with disperse dye, plus the intensifier chemical often supplied with disperse dye, but this, too, is a lot of trouble. First, you have to obtain a stainless steel or enamel cooking pot that is large enough for the garment to move in freely, at least two or three gallons in size, which you don't plan to reuse for cooking food. That is generally a sizable investment. An aluminum pot will be okay for dyeing with disperse dye, but it cannot be used with other types of dye. You have to mail-order the disperse dye, which is the only type of dye that will color polyester. (You can order Jacquard Products' iDye Poly from Fibrecrafts in the UK.) You have to boil the garment in the dye for half an hour or longer. The smell of the intensifier chemical, during the boiling, is extremely unpleasant, requiring excellent ventilation; when using disperse dye, I had to open all of the doors and windows, in addition to setting fans to blow out of the windows, and yet the odor was still very strange and unpleasant. It would be better to set up a hot plate to boil the dyebath out-of-doors, rather than cooking the dye in your kitchen. The disperse dyes themselves don't smell too bad, but they work much better on polyester if you include the intensifier dye carrier, which is included in the packet of iDye Poly.
The best answer is, before ever starting to dye, to choose PFD or RTD clothing for dyeing. PFD means Prepared For Dyeing, and RTD means Ready To Dye. PFD and RTD garments are sewn with cotton thread, so the thread gets dyed along with the cotton in the rest of the garment. Unfortunately there are only a few places that carry much PFD or RTD clothing in quantities suitable for individuals to buy, and those that do carry the right sort of clothing do not have every style that you are likely to want. Alternatively you can dye fabric, and choose pre-dyed fabric in a color you like, and have a local seamstress or tailor copy the garment. This may be expensive, depending on the style.
The simplest answer is to look at the contrasting-color stitching as a decorative element. It does look fine in many garments. It's unfortunate that this does not work for every style.
Friday, September 03, 2010
Clearing up confusion on immersion dyeing recipes
Here's the timeline for low water immersion dyeing, which is an excellent way to dye interesting subtle random patterns (see "How to Do Low Water Immersion Dyeing"):
Thursday, September 02, 2010
How can I dye a polyester comforter set? What fabric would be easier to dye? Name: Alaina
Country or region: USA
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Looking for Procion Red MX-GBA in the UK
Do you know of any UK suppliers for Procion fiber reactive MX dyes? I recently bought a sample off an American supplier which is perfect (red MX-GBA). It is needed for a bulk dying project that needs to be completed fairly quickly and international shipping costs of a bulk order from the US do not make it viable. Any help would be great!
How can I dye Lycra zentai costumes?
Name: Chloe
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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends
Message: I've bought "zentais" (kind of complete catsuits) which were supposed to be made in Lycra. I've tried a multi-purpose dye by Dylon dyeing by boiling them. The fabric was intact but the dye didn't take on it. I'm planning to try that "Idye Poly" product, that I've seen you've been testing. The problem is that I'm not sure of the fabric composition and I don't know how to know exactly what it is. Do you think Idye Poly could be a good solution and how do you recommand me to use it? Thank you very much for your time answering me!
I do think that a disperse dye, such as iDye Poly, is the logical next step for you to try. Polyester seems very likely to be one of the components of your zentais. The iDye Poly I tested came with an additional packet of a dye carrier chemical, inside the package of dye. While this carrier chemical is not needed for dyeing synthetic fibers other than polyester, it helps a great deal in getting a deep color on polyester.
Another alternative to iDye Poly, which would be safer for the spandex, would be a very thin fabric paint, such as Jacquard's Dye-Na-Flow, SetaSilk fabric paint, or Dharma's Dharma Pigment Dyeing System. Pigment "dyeing" with fabric paint is likely to give a somewhat mottled appearance, not perfectly smooth in color, which works beautifully for some projects but not for others. If you try fabric paints, you will want to dilute with as much water as the manufacturer of the fabric paint recommends. Dye-Na-Flow can be diluted with up to 25% of the original volume, while Dharma Pigment Dyes can be diluted with 200% to 400% as much water. Don't neglect the creative possibilities of a metallic or pearlescent fabric paint, though it may be rather expensive in the quantities you'll need. Lumiere, which is another much-recommended fabric paint made by Jacquard Products, is available in various metallic and pearl colors. An advantage of fabric paints is that they do not require nearly as much heat as polyester dyeing requires. Some heat setting is required for most fabric paints, but pressing with a hot iron is usually sufficient, and less damaging than the boiling required for polyester. They are also much more pleasant to work with; boiling disperse dye plus the carrier chemical produces a powerful and unpleasant smell, which requires excellent ventilation.
However, even if you get the right type of dye or fabric paint for the fibers in your garments, if there is any surface finish on them that repels water, you're not going to be able to color them satisfactorily. There are some zentais made with a PVC coating which appears to be undyeable. The dye has to be able to penetrate the fiber in order to work. I hope that this is not the issue with the garments you are trying to dye.
It's unfortunate that you can't find out what the exact fiber content of your suits is. So many of this sort of garment are described as Lycra, with no mention being made of what other fibers are included in the blend. Are they 100% spandex? I have read that 100% spandex is never used for garment construction, and it's certainly true that garments usually contain a much smaller percentage of spandex. (Spandex and elastane are generic terms for the same product that is sold under the brand name of Lycra). For example, there are blends of 20% Lycra and 80% nylon, or blends of 10% Lycra and 90% cotton. The usual rule, in these cases, is to dye the other fiber in the blend, and ignore the spandex.
I'm guessing that your suits might be made of a blend of spandex with polyester, since they did not take the all-purpose dye that you used. Both cotton and nylon should have taken some of the color from boiling with Dylon multi-purpose dye, as long as there is no water-repelling surface finish on them. Dylon multi-purpose dye contains both acid dyes, which work well on nylon, and direct dyes, which work on cotton though they're not the most long-lasting of dyes. Lycra itself can be dyed, under some circumstances, with many acid dyes. (I have read that Dylon Multi Purpose dye contains some disperse dye, the type of dye that works on polyester, but this is probably untrue.)
If your suits are made of polyester and spandex, then boiling them with iDye Poly will color the polyester, assuming that there is no water-resistant or stain-resistant finish on the fabric. I am concerned that boiling the spandex will ruin its shape. I think it is very likely that boiling spandex garments for an extended period of time, long enough for the disperse dye process, will ruin them. However, you've already boiled yours at least briefly, and they seemed to be okay. I hope that the amount of full boiling required to dye polyester will not do more harm. I am very concerned that you may see damage from the additional boiling; please let me know how it works out for you.
To use iDye Poly, follow the instructions that Jacquard Products supplies for the Stove Top Method. (You cannot dye polyester using the washing machine instructions that are also found on that page.) You will need to use a very large cooking pot, large enough for the garment to move in freely as you stir it. (As a general rule, dyeing pots should not be reused for food preparation later.) Unless you have a truly enormous dyeing pot, you will probably have to dye only one garment at a time. Weigh your garments; one packet of iDye Poly is sufficient for two to three pounds of dry fabric (or 1 to 1.3 kg). For a lighter color, use less than the full packet. Dissolve the dye in the water before adding the fabric. Depending on the project, you may wish to strain your dyes after dissolving them, using a piece of fine nylon stocking, or a coffee filter; this will prevent spots of unwanted colors, caused by imperfect dissolving of the dye. To repeat the exact same color on another garment, you will have to use exactly the same amount of dye powder and the exact same total volume of water, as well as the exact same quantity of the carrier chemical (which is a liquid enclosed in a small pouch), each time you repeat this process. If you are not concerned with making each garment the same color, you might, as an experiment, try reusing the first dyebath on a second garment, expecting to obtain a paler color.
Although other dyes, such as acid dyes for nylon, or the iDye formula for natural fibers, can be used by simmering the fibers at temperatures below a full boil, dyeing polyester does require boiling temperatures, as close to 100°C (212°F) as possible. You will need to see bubbles as your dyebath boils. In fact, disperse dyes typically work better at temperatures above 100°C, no longer requiring the carrier chemical that is needed for good performance on polyester at temperatures as low as the temperature of boiling water, but using temperatures above boiling is impractical at home, since you cannot stir your garments throughout the dyeing process if you are using a pressure cooker to reach higher temperatures. Stirring is important, in order to obtain a smooth solid color with no mottling or imperfections.
Note that all items to be dyed should first be prewashed in hot water, with detergent and perhaps some extra washing soda or soda ash, to help remove any invisible stains from the manufacturing process, which can prevent smooth dye uptake by the fiber. Sometimes a garment which has not been labeled 'Prepared For Dyeing" or "Ready To Dye" will take dye unevenly; it's difficult to predict when this will happen, and almost impossible to solve when it does.
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Wednesday, September 29, 2010
If I buy a yellow t-shirt and use green dye will it turn it blue?
Name: Taylor
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Country or region: United States
Message: Our school colors are green and yellow. If I buy a yellow t-shirt and use green dye will it turn it blue? How do I get the green?
No, green dye plus yellow dye will not produce blue. You're in luck. It's yellow plus blue that produce green, where they mix together. Green already has yellow in it. You won't have a problem combining yellow and green.
If you add green dye to a yellow shirt, the result will be a somewhat more yellowish green. If you use blue dye on a yellow shirt, the result will be green; the shade will depend on how strong the yellow is, as compared to how strong the blue is. A pale blue on a strong yellow will produce a yellowish green, while a strong blue on a light yellow will produce a very bluish green.
I recommend that you look for a good tie-dyeing kit, or use Procion MX fiber reactive dyes plus soda ash (which are what you'll find in the best tie-dyeing kits, such as the Jacquard tie-dyeing kit). This will produce much better results than all-purpose dyes, such as Rit or Tintex. Look at a crafts store or sewing store. Avoid the Rit brand tie-dyeing kit, because it contains an inferior dye.
Monday, September 27, 2010
I am looking for a dye that will work on sea shells
Name: Loretta
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at Paradise Fibers
Washfast Acid dyes
Also known as Nylomine dyes, excellent for use on nylon and on any protein-containing fiber, such as wool.
Country or region: USA
Message: Lisa White Reber from DippyDyes gave me your name. I am looking for a dye that will work on sea shells. Years ago they used a dye and the shells looked great, that dye has been banned. I do volunteer work for our community in Florida and we dye shells to make flowers. I know there are some shells you cannot dye, but there are many you can. Do you know of any dye I can use, I am willing to experiment. Thank you for your time, any information you can give me will be gratefully accepted.
I'm glad that you are willing to experiment, because I have no personal experience with dyeing shells.
Seashells are made primarily of calcium carbonate, with perhaps 10% of the total being a protein matrix that is produced by the shellfish. To color the proteins, you would use an acid dye. There are thousands of different acid dyes in the world. The easiest to find in a hurry would be food coloring; most food colorings are acid dyes, and, though they do not perform as well as the best textile dyes, they do perform surprisingly well.
The normal technique is to mix the food coloring with water and a bit of vinegar, then heat the item to be dyed in this dyebath, on the stovetop, to nearly boiling if the heat does not damage the shells. Maintain the dyebath at a simmer for a while, perhaps fifteen minutes or an hour, then allow the dyebath to cool, and rinse the excess dye off the shells.
(Be careful not to expose the shells to too high a concentration of vinegar, or for too long a time peroid. Don't leave your shells soaking in vinegar overnight without testing to be sure that this does not damage them. In assessing the results of your tests, check carefully to see whether the acid has removed too much of the sheen of the sea shells. A little bit of acid aids the dye in bonding to the proteins, but an excess may cause damage to the shells' surface.)
An even simpler technique using grocery-store materials is to buy Kool-Aid or another drink mix that is sold in unsweetened form. They consist of acid dyes, artificial flavoring, and citric acid; the presence of the citric acid means that you do not need to add vinegar. Experiment to see how much drink mix powder you need to use to get a certain color.
If the food colorings turn out to be entirely satisfactory, then you will have an additional selling point to put on your labels, indicating that they are completely safe even for use by children (except for the obvious issues of choking hazards). However, as a general rule, dyes made specifically for textiles tend to be more satisfactory for non-food purposes, because they are more resistant to fading from light or from washing. You could consider using ProChem's Washfact Acid Dyes, or Jacquard Acid Dyes, or Dharma's new acid dyes, or Lanaset dyes, or any other sort of dye that is sold for use on wool. Wool is almost always dyed only with acid dyes. All-purpose dyes, such as Rit, do contain some acid dyes (as well as another type of dye), but they are usually not as satisfactory as other acid dyes; however, they are very easy to find, even in grocery stores and pharmacies, which may make them worth a try.
Some people have used Procion MX fiber reactive dyes, the type of dye found in all of the best tie-dyeing kits (though not the Rit brand tie-dyeing kit), with soda ash rather than vinegar, to dye shell buttons. It would be worth a small experiment, if you have any of this sort of dye on hand.
Alternatively, you might prefer to use a paint, rather than a true dye. One of the thinner paints that is intended to imitate a dye would be a good choice, such as Dye-Na-Flow or SetaColor. Since these fabric paints are very thin, they will give an effect similar to that of dye. You could also try diluting ordinary artists' acrylic paints with water to thin them enough for a similar effect.
Please let me know the results of your tests. I hope that you will be able to find a dye or a paint that is easy to use and produces the effects that you want.
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Sunday, September 19, 2010
How can I tie-dye a design of three crosses?
Name: Margaret
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Country or region: United States
Message: I'm trying to tie dye for my church. I envision 3 crosses then tie-dye around them. What should I do to make the crosses?
This question is very close to one that appeared in my All About Hand Dyeing Q&A blog on March 4, 2004, entitled "How to Dye a Cross Pattern". Here's an excerpt.....
There are many different ways to dye a cross shape. Trial and error is the best way to learn how to tie-dye. Here are some ideas:
Little circles (Bandhani)
The oldest form of tie dye still practiced is the art of Bandhani, in India, claimed by some to be 5000 years old. Bandhani involves tying a lot of little circles so that they add up to your design. Draw the cross shape on the shirt with a pencil, then, using either thread, or the tiny rubber bands that are used on orthodontic braces, grab a lot of little points along the lines, one at a time, pull each one up about an inch or two, and wrap each one with thread (which you have to knot) or a rubber band. Each line is just a string of circles. The effect can be very nice. Great Indian practitioners would use thousands of tiny circles to outline a more complex cross design, but there's nothing wrong with a simple string of circles for each line! This design can be vat dyed one color as an alternative to having different colors applied directly where you want them, if you wish.
Simple fold/drip
You can fold a shirt in half, with the fold line going vertically down the center of the shirt from neck to hem, and then in half again with this second fold crossing the chest. Then fold once more on the diagonal, so that the edges of the fabric that will form the parts of the cross are all straight together.
No need to tie at all, here, just drip dye directly from squirt bottles, or dip the fold lines in a shallow pan of dye mix. (You MUST use cold water fiber reactive dye, NOT all purpose dye such as Rit, if you are not boiling the shirts in a pot of dye. Procion MX dye is the best choice, for most people.) I personally prefer to apply dye directly where I want it, without tying at all. I really love smooth rainbow gradations. The best dye to use for the cross itself in this case is the one which will spread the least, which is fuchsia.
Fold/tie
You can fold the same as in the previous description, but also tie it. Fold the shirt in half, then quarters, then eighths, and then take a rubber band to tie up a circle in the middle near the long diagonal that won't be part of the cross itself. Carefully apply dye to the arms of the cross by dipping it or by squirting cool water dye on with a squirt bottle, then apply other colors of dye to the tied part.
Fold the outline
Using a pencil or a washable marker, draw the outline of a cross on your shirt, making the bars at least two or three inches wide. Fold the shirt in half so that the fold passes symmetrically through the vertical bar. Starting at one end, on the fold, scrunch the fabric tightly along the line, continuing until you reach the fold at the other end. Tie tightly across the fold line. Add rubber bands, spaced evenly, for repeats of the cross outside of the design.
Drip dye/Iron-on
You can also dye a shirt in several colors with no white at all, and then iron-on a cross made by printing on opaque computer printer iron-on paper.
Batik
You can also draw a cross design with melted wax, as batik, and then dye it. This one is cool if you have some words you want to include in the design, just write them with the melted wax. This requires that you have special equipment, though, an electric skillet to melt the wax and tjantings to draw with the wax on the shirt. This is all explained on How to Batik, but it is more trouble than the rest, so it's not a starter project.
Little circles (Bandhani)
The oldest form of tie dye still practiced is the art of Bandhani, in India, claimed by some to be 5000 years old. Bandhani involves tying a lot of little circles so that they add up to your design. Draw the cross shape on the shirt with a pencil, then, using either thread, or the tiny rubber bands that are used on orthodontic braces, grab a lot of little points along the lines, one at a time, pull each one up about an inch or two, and wrap each one with thread (which you have to knot) or a rubber band. Each line is just a string of circles. The effect can be very nice. Great Indian practitioners would use thousands of tiny circles to outline a more complex cross design, but there's nothing wrong with a simple string of circles for each line! This design can be vat dyed one color as an alternative to having different colors applied directly where you want them, if you wish.
Simple fold/drip
You can fold a shirt in half, with the fold line going vertically down the center of the shirt from neck to hem, and then in half again with this second fold crossing the chest. Then fold once more on the diagonal, so that the edges of the fabric that will form the parts of the cross are all straight together.
No need to tie at all, here, just drip dye directly from squirt bottles, or dip the fold lines in a shallow pan of dye mix. (You MUST use cold water fiber reactive dye, NOT all purpose dye such as Rit, if you are not boiling the shirts in a pot of dye. Procion MX dye is the best choice, for most people.) I personally prefer to apply dye directly where I want it, without tying at all. I really love smooth rainbow gradations. The best dye to use for the cross itself in this case is the one which will spread the least, which is fuchsia.
Fold/tie
You can fold the same as in the previous description, but also tie it. Fold the shirt in half, then quarters, then eighths, and then take a rubber band to tie up a circle in the middle near the long diagonal that won't be part of the cross itself. Carefully apply dye to the arms of the cross by dipping it or by squirting cool water dye on with a squirt bottle, then apply other colors of dye to the tied part.
Fold the outline
Using a pencil or a washable marker, draw the outline of a cross on your shirt, making the bars at least two or three inches wide. Fold the shirt in half so that the fold passes symmetrically through the vertical bar. Starting at one end, on the fold, scrunch the fabric tightly along the line, continuing until you reach the fold at the other end. Tie tightly across the fold line. Add rubber bands, spaced evenly, for repeats of the cross outside of the design.
Drip dye/Iron-on
You can also dye a shirt in several colors with no white at all, and then iron-on a cross made by printing on opaque computer printer iron-on paper.
Batik
You can also draw a cross design with melted wax, as batik, and then dye it. This one is cool if you have some words you want to include in the design, just write them with the melted wax. This requires that you have special equipment, though, an electric skillet to melt the wax and tjantings to draw with the wax on the shirt. This is all explained on How to Batik, but it is more trouble than the rest, so it's not a starter project.
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Friday, September 17, 2010
Finding the chemical structure of two reactive dyes Name: Cristian
Country or region: Romania
Message: Hello! I am a chemistry engineer and I am living in Romania, in the city of Iasi. My speciality is chemistry of dyes (direct dyes, reactive dyes and so on...). I don't find the chemical structure of two reactive dyes: C.I. Reactive Red 267 (Cibacron Scarlet FN-6G) and C.I.Reactive Blue 268 (Cibacron Brilliant Blue FN-G). Would you help me finding these two structures, please? I am waiting your answer! Best wishes!
I'm afraid I don't have these structures. They might be in the Colour Index, but I don't currently have access to this publication.
Do you know how to draw the structure, if you have the name? Reactive Blue 268 is described as being 6,13- Dichlor-3,10-bis{2-[4-fluoro-6-(2-sulfophenylamino)-1,3,5- triazin-2-ylamino]propylamino}benzo[5,6][1,4]oxazino[2,3- .b]phenoxazin-4,11-disulfonic acid, lithium, sodium salts). Its CAS number is 163062-28-0.
I can't find the chemical name or CAS number for Reactive Red 267 and have no further leads.
The Cibacron reactive dyes have been renamed to Novacron, and are now made by Huntsman Textile Effects. At least one of the Cibacron reactive dyes, the beautiful Cibacron Blue F-GF, has been discontinued since the specialty chemicals division of Ciba was purchased by Huntsman. The Cibacron F fiber reactive dyes are monofluorotriazines, very similar in structure and reactions to the dichlorotriazines, which are called Procion MX dyes. Hand dyers in the US often buy them from PRO Chemical & Dye, in their line of Sabracron F dyes.
UPDATE as of July 6, 2011: Dr. Dambe, of India, has kindly alerted me to a site with a drawing of the chemical structure for reactive blue 268, CAS No.163062-28-0, Cibacron Brilliant Blue FN-G. The following image is from Chemfamily.com:
As you can see, it has the monofluorotriazine group typical of the Cibacron F dyes, along with a triphenodioxazine-based blue chromophore; it is symmetrical and bifunctional. It differs from the structure given by Dr. Steve Mihok for Cibacron Blue F-GF only in the number of sulfonic groups on the rings at the extreme ends of the molecular structure, plus the mention of the lithium ions.
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Saturday, September 11, 2010
Is there any dye that would leave a metallic shininess on cotton crochet thread?
Name: Zen
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Country or region: NJ, USA
Message: I have some cotton crochet thread that I'd like to dye a metallic bronze or brass color. Is there any dye that would leave a metallic shininess on the thread? Could the effect be achieved by adding metallic pigment to a regular fabric dye? Could I use metallic faux finishing waxes or paints meant for wood, or would that be dangerous (some I've seen have warnings against prolonged skin contact, and the item I want to make is for wearing)? Or is there just really no good way to achieve this effect?
There is no true dye that will give a metallic effect, but that doesn't mean the effect is out of your reach. In order to get a metallic or pearlescent effect, you must use pigments, usually in the form of fabric paint. Fabric paint is a mixture of particles of pigment with a binder that holds the pigments to the fiber.
Fabric dye will not work to bind metallic pigments to thread. You need to use something that will act as a glue to attach the pigments to the fiber. If you want to use a pigment that has not had a binder mixed with it, such as the wonderful Pearl-Ex pigments, the best choice is to add it to a colorless clear fabric paint. A good choice to use would be the colorless Neopaque Flowable Extender, which is made by Jacquard Products.
Another good choice would be Jacquard Products' metallic and pearlescent line of fabric paints, Lumiere. Like the Neopaque extender, the Lumiere fabric paint can be diluted with up to 25% as much water. After you apply it, allow it to dry, and then heat-set with a hot iron or a heat gun. Fabrics and clothing can also be heat-set in a commercial clothes dryer, but home clothes dryers are likely to not get hot enough to use for this purpose.
Still another good choice would be Shiva Artist's Paintstik Colors, which are available in a wide range of metallic and pearlescent colors. Other brands of similar products are not as highly recommended for use on textiles. After application, the colors from the paint sticks must be allowed to dry for several days before heat-setting with an iron.
When you use fabric paints on thread, be careful not to glue the different strands of your threads together. The binders in fabric paints are much more glue-like than any fabric dye is. All fabric dyes merely provide color, however, not the reflectiveness that is an essential part of the metallic effect. You must use pigments, either in the form of a commercial fabric paint, or in the form of fabric paint that you mix yourself using metallic-effect pigments plus a binder, in order to get that sort of effect.
If you are going to be combining dyeing with the use of any sort of pigments or fabric paints, you must complete the dyeing steps before using the paints. The binders in fabric paints will act as a resist, which will prevent later applications of dye from reaching the fibers. It's important to use your fabric paints only after you're done dyeing. Wash out any excess dye and allow the thread to dye before proceeding to use the paints. Combining dyes with paints can result in wonderful effects.
I do not recommend using any product intended solely for wood on any fibers that will be used for clothing. Even without considering possible health issues, we can expect that the wood waxes and paints are not designed to withstand the stresses that clothing is subject to, such as laundering or dry cleaning. There are many excellent and relatively non-toxic products that have been tested for how well they work on threads and fabrics.
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Friday, September 10, 2010
Is there any dye that can be used to bring a polypropylene rope bannister back to life?
Name: Karen
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Country or region: Leicestershire, UK
Message: Hi, we have a rope bannister which is made of polypropylene, which has faded in the light. Is there any dye that can be used to bring it back to life or even another colour?
No, I'm sorry. Polypropylene is a special case. It's simply impossible to dye an item that is made of polypropylene.
Polypropylene (also known under the brand names Herculon and Olefin) is colored by the addition of pigments while still in liquid form, before it is extruded into a fiber. Once it has been made into a fiber or other material (including any plastic marked with a recycle logo containing the number 5), it resists all dyes and almost all paints extremely well. The good side of this property is that it also resists stains and dirt.
The only paint that I can recommend at all for polypropylene is a specialty spray paint called Krylon Fusion for Plastics. The manufacturer claims that polypropylene is among the plastics that this special paint will adhere to. I can't guarantee that this product will perform well enough to meet your needs. It's possible that it will fail to adhere as well and for as long as you would like. It might work well, though, and it's the only product I know that might. It is opaque and seems to cover darker colors well.
Don't get another type of Krylon paint: only the Krylon Fusion paint has any hope of working for your situation. I've found Krylon Fusion paint at a local hardware store in the US, and it does appear to be sold in the UK, as well.
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Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Name: Chris
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Syuzi Pakhchyan's book
Fashioning Technology:
A DIY Intro to Smart Crafting
includes instructions for using photochromic screenprinting ink to make light-darkened window blinds
A DIY Intro to Smart Crafting
includes instructions for using photochromic screenprinting ink to make light-darkened window blinds
Heinz Durr's book
Photochromism: Molecules and Systems
provides detailed technical and chemical information about photochromic dyes and pigments.
Country or region: U.S.A.
Message: I have bought T-Shirts in the Caribbean that are white until they are in the sun. Then the colors come out. I'd like to make my own. Where can I find these markers? Or is it a paint?
Since you want a color that disappears entirely to white whenever it's in the shade, I think what you're looking for are photochromic pigments.
Most dyes you see described as "UV-reactive" are actually fluorescent, with an added brilliance that shows up under ultraviolet light, such as a blacklight. I don't think that's what you're looking for, because fluorescent dyes are not white under regular light. A blacklight just makes fluorescent dyes shine much more brightly, almost as though they had a light source in them, usually (though not always) in the same color as the one you see without the blacklight. Photochromic pigments are much rarer and harder to find than ordinary fluorescent dyes and pigments, and they are much more expensive.
I wrote about these pigments several years ago, in a paragraph on a page entitled "Thermochromic pigment changes color when warm, and changes back when cool", in the December 01, 2007 entry in my All About Hand Dyeing Q&A blog:
MUTR (Middlesex University Teaching Resources) in the UK sells the photochromic pigments. As they describe them (the picture at the left is an example from their website),
Some screen-printing ink suppliers carry specialty inks, including screen-printing ink that contains photochromic pigments. Note that screen-printing ink, unlike dye, tends to leave a very noticeable change in the feeling of the fabric. Apollo Colours, in the UK, sells photochromic inks in red, blue and yellow. As they describe their products, "Prints produced using these inks will change from colourless to coloured when exposed to light. They can be supplied in several ink types for plastic, metal and paper. This product is available in standard and a long afterglow version." The long afterglow version seems like it would be more fun.
Look for photochromic pigments from screen-printing suppliers in the form of Photochromic Plastisol Inks. One source for these in the US is the Union Ink Company, who list it among their specialty inks. They write, "Photochromic Plastisol Inks are almost colorless when viewed indoors but when viewed outside or under a source of intense UV light they quickly acquire a rich, bright color. This enables you to provide your customers with prints that display one design indoors and a dramatically changed design indoors." The only drawback to ordering from a large-scale screen-printing supplier is likely to be the large size of a minimum order. You should contact screen printing suppliers to ask about minimum order sizes and prices for their photochromic plastisol inks. They might be able to refer you to a retailer who sells their products in smaller quantities. Photochromic plastisol inks are said cost about four times as much as other plastisol inks.
Photochromic pigments are also available in automotive paint, not suitable for use on fabrics, largely because it would be extremely stiff and scratchy; see Stardust Colors. You can also purchase photochromic embroidery thread! There are many other photochromic products available from Solar Active International.
Color-changing pigments are a fascinating novelty, but they tend to be less useful for clothing than other colorants, due to a limited lifespan when subjected to repeated laundering. Pigment-dyed photochromic shirts will not remain colorful nearly as long as a shirt that has been permanently dyed in non-changing color using a fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye.
A different but related phenomenon is sunprinting, in which the sun is used to make a one-time-only change, in order to use light to create designs on fabric. Sunprinting can be done with transparent fabric paints, with light-sensitive vat dyes, or with cyanotype printing using the same principle as old-fashioned blueprints. For more on this subject, please see my page, "How to Dye and Paint Fabric with Light".
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I wrote about these pigments several years ago, in a paragraph on a page entitled "Thermochromic pigment changes color when warm, and changes back when cool", in the December 01, 2007 entry in my All About Hand Dyeing Q&A blog:
"...UV-reactive pigments...are colorless indoors, but turn into bright colors in the sunlight. This is a different phenomenon than that of fluorescence, in which a dye or pigment absorbs one wavelength of light (usually invisible ultraviolet) and then emits that same energy as another wavelength. Instead, the UV-reactive pigments actually change their structure to a colored form, under the influence of ultraviolet light."Photochromic pigments then return to their original color shortly after being returned to low-ultraviolet conditions. I haven't seen these pigments being sold in marker form, but you can buy photochromic screen-printing ink, or you can buy the photochromic pigments in order to mix your own color-changing fabric paint.
MUTR (Middlesex University Teaching Resources) in the UK sells the photochromic pigments. As they describe them (the picture at the left is an example from their website),
"These pigments normally have a pale, off-white appearance but in sunlight or UV light they instantly change to a bright, vivid colour. The pigments revert to their pale colour when away from sunlight or UV light.
"The active photochromic dye is contained in micron-size microcapsules dispersed in water to make up the pigment, which has the consistency of thick cream. If the pigment is mixed with a binder such as our acrylic base, it can be permanently applied to almost any surface. The more dilute the pigment, the less dramatic the colour change; the mixing proportions are therefore a matter for trial and error but a 50:50 mix is a good starting point.
"The practical applications of the pigments are almost limitless. Uses range from UV warning systems to ‘smart graphics’ in publications and packaging and garment design. Methods of application include brush painting, block printing, stencilling, screen printing etc."
The pigments are rather costly, compared to non-changing dyes and fabric paints, and it's possible that they will not endure many launderings. A three-gram syringe of pigment, which is made using microencapsulated photochromic dyes, costs about £2, or about 3 US dollars (plus significant shipping costs). It should be mixed with an equal quantity of a colorless clear acrylic fabric paint binder, such as Jacquard Products' Neopaque Clear Extender; this binder will serve to 'glue' the pigment particles to the outside of the fibers in the fabric. You would probably need at least ten or twenty of these syringes in order to make enough fabric paint to cover an entire t-shirt. This means that it makes more sense to use this material to make smaller designs on a shirt that is otherwise dyed conventionally, rather than using it for coloring the entire surface of the shirt; since paints made from photochromic pigments are transparent, be sure to apply them only to white sections of fabric, or to colors selected for how well they will combine with the photochromic colors. The syringes of photochromic pigment are available in four colors: magenta, blue, orange, and purple.
Some screen-printing ink suppliers carry specialty inks, including screen-printing ink that contains photochromic pigments. Note that screen-printing ink, unlike dye, tends to leave a very noticeable change in the feeling of the fabric. Apollo Colours, in the UK, sells photochromic inks in red, blue and yellow. As they describe their products, "Prints produced using these inks will change from colourless to coloured when exposed to light. They can be supplied in several ink types for plastic, metal and paper. This product is available in standard and a long afterglow version." The long afterglow version seems like it would be more fun.
Look for photochromic pigments from screen-printing suppliers in the form of Photochromic Plastisol Inks. One source for these in the US is the Union Ink Company, who list it among their specialty inks. They write, "Photochromic Plastisol Inks are almost colorless when viewed indoors but when viewed outside or under a source of intense UV light they quickly acquire a rich, bright color. This enables you to provide your customers with prints that display one design indoors and a dramatically changed design indoors." The only drawback to ordering from a large-scale screen-printing supplier is likely to be the large size of a minimum order. You should contact screen printing suppliers to ask about minimum order sizes and prices for their photochromic plastisol inks. They might be able to refer you to a retailer who sells their products in smaller quantities. Photochromic plastisol inks are said cost about four times as much as other plastisol inks.
Photochromic pigments are also available in automotive paint, not suitable for use on fabrics, largely because it would be extremely stiff and scratchy; see Stardust Colors. You can also purchase photochromic embroidery thread! There are many other photochromic products available from Solar Active International.
Color-changing pigments are a fascinating novelty, but they tend to be less useful for clothing than other colorants, due to a limited lifespan when subjected to repeated laundering. Pigment-dyed photochromic shirts will not remain colorful nearly as long as a shirt that has been permanently dyed in non-changing color using a fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye.
A different but related phenomenon is sunprinting, in which the sun is used to make a one-time-only change, in order to use light to create designs on fabric. Sunprinting can be done with transparent fabric paints, with light-sensitive vat dyes, or with cyanotype printing using the same principle as old-fashioned blueprints. For more on this subject, please see my page, "How to Dye and Paint Fabric with Light".
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Tuesday, September 07, 2010
I've dyed it twice with Dylon Perm Fabric Dye hand dye. Can I make it more black by doubling the packets?
Name: Gary J
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Country or region: Canada
Message: I have purchased a long sleeve polo that looked black. It is a blue black. I've dyed it twice with Dylon Perm Fabric Dye hand dye. Can I make it more black by doubling the packets? If so should I double the water and salt amounts? FYI I've dyed this garment twice. It's 100% cotton and expensive. Please advise. Cheers. Gary J. Toronto.
Don't double the water. The key in doubling the dye is to make the dye more concentrated, so that the fabric takes up more dye. I don't think you should double the salt, either, unless the manufacturer specifically suggests doing so, because it makes the dye less soluble when you do. Reducing the dye solubility is a good thing right up until you overdo it enough that the dye all falls out of solution and collects at the bottom of the dyebath. Then you get very little color added to the fabric.
I don't think you should double the concentration of the Dylon Permanent Hand Dye, either, however, because this fiber reactive dye already contains a high-pH (highly alkaline) ingredient in the mix, trisodium phosphate, which acts to set the dye. This ingredient is analogous to the soda ash used with Procion MX dyes. If you do not dilute the packet exactly as described in the product instructions, the pH will be higher than is desired, and may not work as well. It's a lot simpler to double dye concentration when you're working with a dye to which the helper chemicals have not yet been added, such as Procion MX dye; to use Procion MX dye, you add the soda ash separately, so it's very easy to double or even quadruple dye concentration.
What you should do to get the best color from black Dylon Permanent Hand Dye is to increase the temperature at which you do the dyeing. The black color of Dylon Permanent Hand Dye is a Remazol dye that is happiest at 60°C to 80°C (140°F to 176°F). An easy way to increase the temperature, in addition to starting with sufficiently hot tap water, is to place your bucket that has the dye and fabric in it inside of a large container that is filled with very hot water. What I do is fill my kitchen sink with very hot water, just to the same depth as the dyebath inside the bucket, and rest my bucket in the sink. Or, I use a metal-free container to soak the fabric in the dye, cover the container tightly with plastic wrap, and microwave it, watching very closely. As soon as the plastic wrap on the top of the container started to inflate upwards with steam, I turn off the microwave. I feel the outside of the container to make sure it is hot, then allow it to cool gradually to room temperature, before rinsing with cool water and finally washing out excess dye with hot water.
Something you should also consider is that the black Dylon Permanent Hand Dye naturally has a somewhat bluish cast to it. If you overdye your black polo with an orange dye, it will counter the blue effect, and make the shirt into a darker black. You can buy an orange color of Dylon Permanent Hand Dye.
Unfortunately, it is possible that the shirt has some sort of surface finish on it, for the purpose of making it wrinkle-free, or reducing the tendency of the fabric to pill, which partially prevents dyes from reaching it, so that dyes have less effect than you'd like. You absolutely cannot dye it if it has been marketed as being stain-resistant. Stain-resistant treatments resist dye.
If you ever tire of using Dylon hand dye, and have other dyeing projects that you want to do, I recommend that you check out the dye supply company G&S Dye, which is located in Toronto. They do a lot of mail-order, but I think they also have a storefront that you can visit. Their products include Procion MX dye, which is similar in quality to Dylon Permanent Hand Dye, but less expensive per unit of fabric dyed, and with a vastly wider range of colors available, including clear bright mixing primaries for making your own colors. Dylon does not carry colors that are suitable for use in mixing your own colors.
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Monday, September 06, 2010
A weird white residue on the fabric after dyeing an ivory silk gown black
Name: Sasha
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Country or region: Texas, USA
Message: I dyed an ivory silk charmeuse gown black, and after rinsing and drying, I noticed that there was a weird white residue on the fabric. It's kind of dull-looking and disappears in the light, but it doesn't come out when I dab it lightly with water or when I steamed it using a commercial steamer. What is it, and what can I do to remove it?
What kind of dye did you use? How did you apply it? What auxiliary chemicals did you use, and how did you use them?
It's very possible that some of the surface fibers in the silk fabric of your gown did not get dyed. This can happen if you do not stir frequently enough throughout the dyeing process, or if the silk had some sort of sizing or other substance on the surface when you bought it. Silk may have natural gums on it when you buy it, or it may be that some sort of spinning oils or other chemical used in the manufacture of your garment may have been present. Any of these substances can block the dye from reaching some of the fibers in your fabric, which will give the appearance of a white residue. This has happened to me when using the technique of low water immersion dyeing.
What I would recommend, if that's what happened to you, is that you clean the silk as thoroughly as possible by washing in hot (not boiling) water with detergent and rinsing thoroughly. After doing so, redye the gown, using plenty of black dye. This will work if in fact the problem was caused by incomplete dyeing.
However, my recommendation above will not help if the problem is due to some sort of damage to the fiber. The way you describe it as disappearing in the light suggests that some of the fabric may be flattened, or physically damaged in some way, possibly by heat. If that is the source of the problem, I don't think that there is any solution, other than covering the damage by embellishing the fabric. You can make beautiful effects on silk charmeuse by painting, stenciling, or stamping with a metallic or pearlescent fabric paint, or by adding a texture by rubbing Shiva's Artist's Paintstiks on the front while the fabric is against a textured surface, or by using fabric foils to make shiny metallic designs. See my pages, "Beyond dye: more ideas for coloring fabric" and "Fabric Paints: a different way to color fibers". Any of these would change the effect of your gown completely, but will also cover the problem.
Sunday, September 05, 2010
How do I keep the white, white? In all the shirts I've done, the colors bleed and end up looking muddy or faded
Name: Valerie
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Country or region: USA
Message: How do I keep the white, white? In all the shirts I've done, the colors bleed and the white parts end up looking muddy or faded out no matter how sparingly I use my dye. Thanks
1. The first and most important is to use the right dye. If you use an all-purpose dye, such as Rit dye, some of the dye will inevitably transfer where you do not want it. Instead, you must choose a fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. Most good tie-dyeing kits include Procion MX dye. I recommend the Jacquard Products tie-dyeing kits, or kits obtained by mail-order from specialty dye suppliers such as PRO Chemical & Dye or Dharma Trading Company.
2. Once you're using the right dye, you should allow plenty of time for the dye to react with your fabric. The fabric must be a dyeable material, such as cotton, linen, or viscose rayon. You must include a high-pH chemical, such as washing soda or soda ash, to set the dye by encouraging the cellulose molecules to react with it. After applying the dye to the fabric, keep it moist and in a warm place overnight. The dyes should react well within six hours, but allowing more time ensures that all of the excess dye molecules will react, whether they react with the fiber in the fabric, or with the water that is also present. (If the dyes have all reacted before you wash out, then they won't be active and ready to react when they run onto the wrong part of your design.) The dye reaction must be kept over 70°F, because the dyes react more slowly at cooler temperatures, and they must be kept somewhat moist, either by using urea in your dye solutions (it holds onto water) or by wrapping in plastic, because dye reactions cannot take place when the dye is dry.
3. Thirdly, you must use adequately HOT water to wash out the unattached excess dye. With fiber reactive dyes, there is always some unattached excess dye. If you do not wash it out, it will rest on the wrong sections of your project, coloring the whites and making the colors look duller. The way to wash out tie-dyes properly, after the reaction time has completed, is to wash once in cool water, to remove auxiliary chemicals such as salt or soda ash, and to remove some of the excess dye. Next, wash in very hot water. You may need to turn up your water heater a bit, or you can add some boiling water from the stovetop to your washing water. The generally recommended water temperature for washing out excess dye is 140°F or above. Hotter water is even more efficient, so some dyers reduce the amount of time and water require for washing by using boiling water to soak and rinse their dyed items. In machine washing, it usually takes two washings in hot water, or sometimes three, to remove all of the excess dye.
If you combine these three tips, you will find that your dye colors are much brighter and more vivid. Your whites should stay completely white.
Another important tip: if you have hard water, be sure to use softened water to mix your dyes. The ions in hard water can make unbonded dyes difficult to wash out. You can use distilled or softened water, but the simplest choice is to buy some sodium hexametaphosphate water softener powder when you order your dyes, and add a teaspoon of that when mixing your dyes, and also to all stages in the washing-out process.
You can also consider mixing your Procion MX dyes with a dye thickener, such as sodium alginate, to keep contrasting colors from running together.
Some dye colors are inherently brighter than others, especially if you choose turquoise, fuchsia, and lemon yellow from among the unmixed single-hue dye colors of the Procion MX dyes sold by your dye supplier, so your results will be particularly bright if you use them. Using pre-mixed colors such as royal blue or true red can produce wonderful results in tie-dyeing, but the colors you mix from them will not be as bright.
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Saturday, September 04, 2010
Have you any advice to turn the stitches as black as the rest of the jacket?
Name: Shirley
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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends
Country or region: UK
Message: Hi, my son dyed a cotton jacket with polyester stitching, Black. Needless to say he did not expect that the stitches would remain pale grey. Have you any advice to turn the stitches as black as the rest of the jacket?
None of the remedies seem very good to me. I'll describe them, and you can decide which you prefer:
1. I've tried coloring with fabric markers over undyed polyester stitching, but the markers came out lighter in color on the polyester, so the results weren't worth the trouble, and it was a surprising amount of trouble. You never realize how long the seams at the hems all around a garment are until you work on every inch of them.
2. More effective is to use disperse dye, made into special paint or crayons (such as the Crayola Fabric Crayons in the ad to the right), to create long, narrow iron-ons, and then press with a hot dry iron to transfer the dry disperse dye onto the stitching. This is even more trouble than coloring with markers, so I can't recommend it either, but the color will be better. Disperse dye used as an iron-on does not require the intensifier chemicals that make immersion dyeing polyester so unpleasant, so I think this is the least undesirable of the three remedies.
3. It will work to dye the threads, if you dye the entire jacket by immersing it in an enormous cooking pot with disperse dye, plus the intensifier chemical often supplied with disperse dye, but this, too, is a lot of trouble. First, you have to obtain a stainless steel or enamel cooking pot that is large enough for the garment to move in freely, at least two or three gallons in size, which you don't plan to reuse for cooking food. That is generally a sizable investment. An aluminum pot will be okay for dyeing with disperse dye, but it cannot be used with other types of dye. You have to mail-order the disperse dye, which is the only type of dye that will color polyester. (You can order Jacquard Products' iDye Poly from Fibrecrafts in the UK.) You have to boil the garment in the dye for half an hour or longer. The smell of the intensifier chemical, during the boiling, is extremely unpleasant, requiring excellent ventilation; when using disperse dye, I had to open all of the doors and windows, in addition to setting fans to blow out of the windows, and yet the odor was still very strange and unpleasant. It would be better to set up a hot plate to boil the dyebath out-of-doors, rather than cooking the dye in your kitchen. The disperse dyes themselves don't smell too bad, but they work much better on polyester if you include the intensifier dye carrier, which is included in the packet of iDye Poly.
The best answer is, before ever starting to dye, to choose PFD or RTD clothing for dyeing. PFD means Prepared For Dyeing, and RTD means Ready To Dye. PFD and RTD garments are sewn with cotton thread, so the thread gets dyed along with the cotton in the rest of the garment. Unfortunately there are only a few places that carry much PFD or RTD clothing in quantities suitable for individuals to buy, and those that do carry the right sort of clothing do not have every style that you are likely to want. Alternatively you can dye fabric, and choose pre-dyed fabric in a color you like, and have a local seamstress or tailor copy the garment. This may be expensive, depending on the style.
The simplest answer is to look at the contrasting-color stitching as a decorative element. It does look fine in many garments. It's unfortunate that this does not work for every style.
Friday, September 03, 2010
Clearing up confusion on immersion dyeing recipes
Name: Elizabeth
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A guide to low water immersion dyeing
Color by Accident: Low-Water Immersion Dyeing
by Ann Johnston
Country or region: USA
Message: Dear Paula, after reading low water and general instructions, I'm a bit confused.
1 - Do you rinse the washed fabric of all chemicals and allow it to DRY?
2 - MOST IMPORTANTLY, when you are pouring the dye mixed with water over the scrunched fabric, am I correct that this is clean fabric with NO FIXER & is the SCRUNCHED fabric wet or dry?
Here's the timeline for low water immersion dyeing, which is an excellent way to dye interesting subtle random patterns (see "How to Do Low Water Immersion Dyeing"):
- wash fabric in hot water to remove sizing
- place wet or dry fabric in container, scrunched as desired
- mix dye powder with water and pour it over the fabric
- repeat with another color if desired
- add more water if needed
- allow time for dye to soak into the fibers in the fabric, between fifteen minutes and an hour
- mix soda ash with water and pour it over the fabric. do not stir.
- allow time for dye to react with fabric (one hour to overnight)
- wash in cool water to remove auxiliary chemicals and some of the dye
- wash twice in very hot water (140°F) to remove remaining excess unattached dye
- machine dry or line dry
- wash fabric in hot water to remove sizing
- add predissolved salt to a large amount of water
- stir (if you're dyeing in a bucket) or agitate (if you're dyeing in a washing machine)
- add predissolved (and possibly filtered) dye
- stir or agitate
- add the fabric
- stir or agitate for twenty minutes
- add part of the soda ash
- stir or agitate for five or ten minutes
- add more of the soda ash
- stir or agitate for five or ten minutes
- add the rest of the soda ash
- stir or agitate for thirty to sixty minutes
- pour out dyebath
- wash in cool water to remove auxiliary chemicals and some of the dye
- wash twice in very hot water (140°F) to remove remaining excess unattached dye
- machine dry or line dry
Of course you should select a good recipe, and follow it closely; these summaries are just to give you a feel for the differences.
Thursday, September 02, 2010
How can I dye a polyester comforter set? What fabric would be easier to dye? Name: Alaina
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Message: I want to dye the white parts of this polyester bed set to a coffee/latte brown. If I use a disperse dye, will it change the black parts, too?
You will not be able to dye that bed set at home.
You are correct that disperse dye is the only sort of dye that can be used successfully on polyester. Unfortunately, however, disperse dye (including Jacquard's iDye Poly) does not work on polyester unless you keep the dyebath at a boil for the full dyeing time (half an hour or longer). This means that you cannot successfully dye polyester in the washing machine or bathtub.
Dyeing a comforter like the one in your picture would require a huge cooking pot, which, like all dyeing pots, you should not plan to reuse for food. The cooking pot would need to be large enough for the comforter to move in freely, in the mixture of dye and water. My three-gallon cooking pot would not be nearly large enough. A comforter will barely fit into my twenty-six gallon top-loading washing machine. The cost of a sufficiently large cooking pot, one large enough to allow you to dye a comforter, would be many times greater than the $59 cost of the entire bedclothes set in the link you sent.
Good luck in finding a comforter set that is either the color you want it to be, or that is made of an easily dyeable cellulose fiber, such as cotton.
Instead of dyeing, you could choose to paint the lighter portions of the comforter set with a fabric paint. The results would be somewhat uneven, not a smooth solid color, however. Comnsider this as an option only if you would like a mottled effect. See "Fabric Paints: a different way to color fibers".
By the way, if the comforter set were made of a dyeable fiber, such as cotton or rayon, dyeing it with a coffee brown color would not change the black portions to anything but black. Dye can only change textiles from a lighter color to a darker color, never from a darker one to a lighter on.
You are correct that disperse dye is the only sort of dye that can be used successfully on polyester. Unfortunately, however, disperse dye (including Jacquard's iDye Poly) does not work on polyester unless you keep the dyebath at a boil for the full dyeing time (half an hour or longer). This means that you cannot successfully dye polyester in the washing machine or bathtub.
Dyeing a comforter like the one in your picture would require a huge cooking pot, which, like all dyeing pots, you should not plan to reuse for food. The cooking pot would need to be large enough for the comforter to move in freely, in the mixture of dye and water. My three-gallon cooking pot would not be nearly large enough. A comforter will barely fit into my twenty-six gallon top-loading washing machine. The cost of a sufficiently large cooking pot, one large enough to allow you to dye a comforter, would be many times greater than the $59 cost of the entire bedclothes set in the link you sent.
Good luck in finding a comforter set that is either the color you want it to be, or that is made of an easily dyeable cellulose fiber, such as cotton.
Instead of dyeing, you could choose to paint the lighter portions of the comforter set with a fabric paint. The results would be somewhat uneven, not a smooth solid color, however. Comnsider this as an option only if you would like a mottled effect. See "Fabric Paints: a different way to color fibers".
By the way, if the comforter set were made of a dyeable fiber, such as cotton or rayon, dyeing it with a coffee brown color would not change the black portions to anything but black. Dye can only change textiles from a lighter color to a darker color, never from a darker one to a lighter on.
Thank you so much for your reply! I will look for a cotton set similar to this.
Another question: what would be the best way to dye a large item such as a comforter like this? I want to try something cheap, and I've heard black tea can dye cotton, but I'm not sure how much I would need, or how I would go about making enough hot, black tea to dye it.
The best way to dye a large item is to use a cool water fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. This dye is not fixed with heat, the way all-purpose dyes such as Rit are, so it will not require a large cooking pot. Instead. Procion MX dye is fixed with sodium carbonate, a common household chemical found in washing soda. This makes it much more practical and easy to work with. You probably will not be able to find Procion MX dye in your local crafts or sewing store; if not, you will need to mail-order it from an art supplier or a specialized dye supplier. See "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World"
The best way to dye a large item is to use a cool water fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. This dye is not fixed with heat, the way all-purpose dyes such as Rit are, so it will not require a large cooking pot. Instead. Procion MX dye is fixed with sodium carbonate, a common household chemical found in washing soda. This makes it much more practical and easy to work with. You probably will not be able to find Procion MX dye in your local crafts or sewing store; if not, you will need to mail-order it from an art supplier or a specialized dye supplier. See "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World"
.
In contrast to Procion MX dye, tea is not a very practical form of dye. It requires a large cooking pot to apply it in, since the dye and fiber must be heated together, and it's not very permanent, tending to wear off in the laundry. You can use tea to temporarily dye fabric to a light beige or tan color, but not a darker color such as a medium brown or dark black. Some dyers warn that the acids in tea may degrade cotton fibers over time, though I am not sure how much of a problem this really is.
To dye cotton, first be sure that the fabric has not been treated to make it stain-resistant or wrinkle-resistant. Stain-resistant finishes are the worst, because they repel both dye and water. Wrinkle-resistant finishes are not as bad as stain-resistant finishes, but they do tend to make unexpected lighter-colored blotches where an uneven application of the surface finish repels the dye partially.
For a perfectly smooth solid color, use a top-loading washing machine, if your items to be dyed will fit into it loosely enough that the fabric can move freely in the water. The large amount of water and constant agitation help considerably in making the dye color as smooth and even as possible. See "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?".
For a more interesting mottled or multi-color form of dyeing, the easiest method is low water immersion dyeing. See "How to Do Low Water Immersion Dyeing"
. You can use a bucket, washtub, bathtub, or large unused plastic trash can.
Looking at your link, I see one very major problem. The care instructions say to dry clean only. You cannot dye anything that is not washable. This comforter set is not washable, although it's made of cotton, which is usually washable. In the case of a cotton item marked "dry clean only", the fabric is probably subject to severe shrinkage, due to the failure of the manufacturer to preshrink the fabric. though it's also possible that either the dyes that have been used, or some sort of interfacing, are soluble in water, or that the stitching is so poorly done that it will rip out when washed. Try to find a 100% cotton set that is labeled as being machine washable. Or, look for a duvet cover and dye it, to cover a comforter that you will then not need to dye at all. This would save a lot of effort. Alternatively, you can cover any comforter by sewing together two bedsheets of a larger size. It is much easier to dye sheets or a comforter cover than it is to dye a comforter, because they are less bulky and they weigh less. Sheets are much easier to fit into the average washing machine than comforters are.
Please note that the stitching that holds together the seams of any textile you buy will almost certainly be made of polyester, which will not dye. Any cotton item that has been sewn together will have undyeable seams sewn with polyester thread. How much of a problem this is depends on the style of the stitching and on the contrast between the "before" and "after" colors. (See "Dyeing thread in pre-sewn clothing".)
Also note that the weight of whatever you are dyeing determines how much dye powder you will need. (See "How much Procion MX dye should I use?")To dye one pound of cotton fabric to a medium color, you would need about 7.5 grams of Procion MX dye powder, or about one tablespoon. Dyeing anything a very dark color requires more dye, so dyeing a one-pound piece of fabric to a dark brown would require about 15 grams of dye powder, or about two tablespoons. Dyeing an eight-pound comforter to a dark brown would therefore require 120 grams of dye powder, which is a little over four ounces of dye. Be sure to weigh everything that you want to dye, while it is still dry, and from that weight determine how much dye to order.
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Looking for Procion Red MX-GBA in the UK
Name: Amy
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Country or region: UK
Message: Hello,
Do you know of any UK suppliers for Procion fiber reactive MX dyes? I recently bought a sample off an American supplier which is perfect (red MX-GBA). It is needed for a bulk dying project that needs to be completed fairly quickly and international shipping costs of a bulk order from the US do not make it viable. Any help would be great!
Thank you
Take a look at my page, "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World". There are four UK dye suppliers listed there. The prices for dyes tend to be significantly higher in the UK and the rest of Europe than in the US, so it's possible that buying from a local source will not save you a great deal of money, as compared to paying for the slower forms of overseas shipping. It will save you the bother of dealing with customs fees, however, if there are any, and the faster forms of shipping are expensive.
Buying Procion Red MX-GBA in Europe looks like a problem. This particular color is what is called a manufacturer's mix. It does not have a Color Index name, which is the most generic designation for a dye, because it is not a pure single-hue unmixed dye; instead, it is composed of two or more other dye colors, mixed together. This is true of all but about eleven of the single-hue unmixed dye colors that are available in the Procion MX dye line. If your dye supplier carries more than eleven or so colors, the rest are all mixtures.
Not all suppliers of Procion MX type dyes carry Red MX-GBA. It is not included in the Procion MX dye line sold by Jacquard Products, which is exported from the US to many different countries. You will probably want to individually call each of the UK dye suppliers in my list, to determine whether or not they sell this particular mixture, instead of relying on the web sites. I do not see it listed on any of the web sites of dye suppliers in the UK. Red MX-GBA is sold under the name "Chinese Red" by Dharma Trading Company in the US, "Strongest Red" by PRO Chemical & Dye in the US, "Warm Red" by Earth Guild in the US, and "412 Red" by G&S Dye in Canada. While you are contacting the UK suppliers, be sure to ask whether you can buy larger jars, for better bulk prices.
If you want to buy Procion MX type dye in the UK for this project, it looks as though you will have to mix your own color. I recommend that you buy either Red MX-5B or Red MX-8B, as well as Orange MX-2R, all of which are single-hue unmixed dyes. Red MX-5B and Red MX-8B are both bluish-toned reds; red MX5B is closer to the color that you want than is Red MX-8B, which is fuchsia. By adding a small amount of Orange MX-2R to either Red MX-5B or red MX-8B, you should be able to get a close approximation to Red MX-GBA. Using a yellow dye in place of Orange MX-2R will also work, but may result in yellow halos around fuchsia centers, if you are applying the dye directly by painting or tie-dyeing; this is not an issue in solid-color immersion dyeing. Be sure to do small-scale tests, weighing your test fabrics and your dye powders in gram quantities, before scaling up to your large project.
Look closely into the cost of shipping from US suppliers, keeping in mind that you will need something like 5 to 10 grams of dye to color one pound of fiber, depending on the intensity of the color desired. If you order a pound (454 grams) of Red MX-GBA from Dharma Trading Company, the dye itself will cost $15, while 1st Class International Mail will add $18. Even the most expensive form of shipping, Fedex International Priority, looks like it would add $42 to the cost of one pound of dye. At the current exchange rate, as I write this, US$57 is equal to approximately GBP £37. A similar quantity of Jacquard Procion MX dyes from Fibercrafts in the UK, which is sold in tiny jars of only 21 grams, would cost £110, not including shipping, while their store band, sold in jars of 50 grams, would cost £78 for 450 grams. (If you can find a source for larger jars of dye, they will be far more economical for large projects.) Depending on the quantity of dye you want and your comfort with mixing your own colors, you may decide that it makes sense to consider importing your dye yourself from the US. If you do, be sure to find out how hefty the Customs fees, if any, may turn out to be, and which carrier is least subject to delays while their packages are waiting to get into the country.