Archives for March, 2011

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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Is there a way to somewhat return the color to the original?

Name: Trenton

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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends

Country or region: Philippine Islands

Message: Thank you for your time. I have read your site. I have a sofa cover that had water marks. The cover was soaked in laundry detergent solution...the dark dye ran, darkening all the material. There is no label saying what type the material, but I think it is a polyester. Is there a way to somewhat return the color to the original? Thanks

The first thing to do is to remove all of the loose dye, by soaking and washing in the hottest water the fabric can tolerate. With luck you will be able to remove not only the loose dye but also the water marks.

Hot water will very often remove dye that has transferred from one part of a fabric piece to another. The hotter the water you use for this, the better. We usually recommend 140°F water, which is 60°C. However, this temperature will probably shrink cotton and other plant-based fibers.

If, after soaking and washing your sofa cover in hot water, you still want to remove more of the dye, there is a chemical that you can use. Do not use chlorine bleach, which contains hypochlorite. Hypochlorite will destroy many synthetic fabrics; it won't destroy polyester, but it will stain it an ugly yellow which cannot be removed in any way. Safer dye-discharging chemicals include sodium dithionite, also known as sodium hydrosulfite, which is found in such products as Rit Color Remover, Dylon Run Away for Whites, and Carbona Color Run Remover. Another chemical, thiourea dioxide, works similarly and is sold under different brand names such as Thiox, Spectralite, Jacquard Color Remover, and Dharma Dyehouse Color Remover. All of these dye removers require hot water to work. See the "Reductive Discharges" section of my page, "What chemicals can be used to remove dye?".

At this point you may wish to redye your sofa cover. It's pretty much impossible to dye anything without knowing its fiber content, because it is extremely important to match the type of dye to the fiber you wish to dye. If your sofa cover is made of a synthetic fiber such as polyester, acrylic, or acetate, then ordinary dyes will not work; these fibers must be boiled in a special sort of dye called disperse dye, or you can create disperse dye transfers on paper and apply them to the fabric with a hot iron. See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes". Finding disperse dyes locally may be a significant challenge, though there are mail-order sources that I can recommend in Australia, Europe, and the US. There are certainly industrial sources not too far from you, but finding a firm that will sell the small quantities suitable for individuals, instead of huge barrels of dye, can be a problem.

To be sure of the fiber content of your sofa cover, before you buy your dye, you can look for a place along the back of a hem or seam where you can cut off a small piece of the fabric, in order to test it. As I wrote in a previous blog entry, different fibers produce different odors and different ashes when burned, so you can carefully try burning your tiny snippet of fabric in a safe place. Rayon is a form of cellulose, so it smells like burning paper. Wool smells like burning hair. Nylon melts instead of burning well, and it smells like celery or burning plastic. Polyester smells sweet and forms a hard black bead. Take a look at Griffin Dyeworks' Burn Test page and Ditzy Prints' Fiber Burn Chart for instructions and for help in interpreting your results. Interpretation can be complicated if your fabric is actually a blend of two or more fibers.

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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Name: Sarah

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Country or region: France

Message: Is it possible to dye a black top that has silver embroidery on it, without ruining the writing? If so, what is the best dye to use?

If the silver embroidery is made of some sort of metal, or mylar, its color will be unchanged after you dye it, assuming that the garment is completely washable. The color of any natural fiber will be affected by the dye, but not the shiny part. If the embroidery thread is a blend of metallic silver and white natural fiber, then the white will assume whatever color you dye it, though the metallic silver itself will remain unchanged.

If the silver embroidery is a non-metallic gray, rather than shiny metallic, then whether the dye will color it or not will depend on what fiber the embroidery is made with, and on what fiber the fabric of the top is made of.

If your top is 100% cotton, or viscose rayon or another plant-based fiber, or silk, you can dye it with fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dyes, using soda ash as the dye fixative. If a light gray embroidery is made with either nylon or polyester, its color will be unchanged by the fiber reactive dye. This is in contrast to using an all-purpose dye, such as Rit Dye or Dylon Multi-Purpose dye, either of which will color both cotton and nylon at the same time. Do not use all-purpose dye unless your aim is to color different fibers the same color, at the same time.

However, if the embroidery is made with rayon floss, and the fabric of the garment is made of cotton, then the same dyes will color both the fabric and the embroidery, regardless of what sort of dye you are using, since both cotton and rayon are made from cellulose.

So, the answer to your question, like every other question about dyeing, requires that you figure out the fiber content of the item you want to dye. In your case, you need to figure out the fiber content of both the shirt and the embroidery floss used on it.

Note also that you cannot dye your black top to any other color than black. Dyes are transparent, and do not cover any colors over which they are applied; instead, the colors mix together. Since black is the darkest of all colors, no other color will show when applied on top of it. The only reason ever to dye a black top is in order to redarken it after it has faded to a lighter shade.

There are two sources I know of for buying Procion MX dyes in France: Teinture Textile, and Couture Passion. You can also mail-order from dye suppliers in other countries that are listed on my page, "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World". Other sources of fiber reactive dyes include some lines of Dylon dye other than their Multi Purpose line of dyes, such as Dylon Hand Dye or Dylon Machine Dye; you can be sure that a certain Dylon dye is a fiber reactive type of dye if the product ingredients listing includes sodium carbonate or trisodium phosphate, which are high-pH chemicals needed to set fiber reactive dyes, or if the label specifies that the dye cannot be used to color nylon or wool.

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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

I need to dye some bath towels. What will I need, and how do I start?

Name: Felicita

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Message: I need to dye some bath towels. What will I need, and how do I start? Help!

Start with towels that are made of 100% cotton, or another dyeable fiber such as hemp, modal, or rayon ("bamboo" towels are made of rayon).

Do not use all-purpose dye, such as Rit. It is not wash-resistant enough to last long in towels or anything else that will be washed frequently, and it bleeds badly in the laundry.

Instead, use a cool water fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. It's most economical when purchased by mail-order from a dye supplier such as PRO Chemical & Dye, in Massachusetts, or Dharma Trading Company, in California. See "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".

You can also find similar high-quality fiber reactive dyes in some local crafts stores, but they are more expensive. For dyeing smaller items of clothing, such as a single t-shirt, or just one towel, consider Dylon Permanent Fabric Dye, or Tulip Permanent Dye, which are available in some crafts stores or sewing stores. They are too expensive, per pound of fabric to be dyed, to be very practical if you are dyeing several large heavy items like towels. Each two-pound towel will require four packets of this sort of dye from the crafts store.

Weigh your towels, while they are still dry. For a pale pastel, you will need only about 3 grams of Procion MX dye powder per pound of fabric to be dyed, but for a dark black, you would need as much as 30 grams of dye powder per pound. See "How much Procion MX dye should I use?".

After you have purchased your Procion dye, plus soda ash and a large quantity of non-iodized salt, follow the instructions in one of the links on the page "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?". Most top-loading washing machines will allow you to dye up to 8 pounds of fabric at a time. Depending on how many towels you have to dye, you might need to do them in two separate loads. After dyeing, rinse the towels once in cold water, then wash at least twice in the hottest water available, to remove all unattached excess dye. Finally, dry as usual. Once all of the excess dye has been removed, fiber reactive dye is permanent and will not run onto other clothing, even if washed in hot water with whites. You should not use bleach when washing the towels, but ordinary laundry detergent is fine.

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Friday, March 11, 2011

How should I dye my dry-clean-only silk taffeta dress? Name: Caroline

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Washfast Acid dyes
at Paradise Fibers

Washfast Acid dyes

These dyes are excellent for use on silk, wool, or nylon. One ounce of dye will dye six pounds of fiber!

Country or region: United States

Message: Hello, I am looking for some advice on dyeing a silk taffeta dress. When I have dyed things in the past, I have ended up with streaky or patchy color. Using my washing machine has greatly improved this. Here are my questions:

1. Which dyes would you recommend? Are there other items I should buy that could help to even the dying?

2. Since the dress is dry clean only, I am guessing washing machine dyeing isn't a good idea. Is there any way to dye silk taffeta? There must be, since it was dyed at some point... right?

3. What are the risks of washing silk taffeta?

4. Since this is a material that has a two tone color (pink overall but it has flashes of gray from another light) will it appear as a uniform color after dying?

Let me answer your questions in a different order than the order in which you asked them.

First, you can't dye anything without washing it. There is no way to dye a garment without having to wash it, both before and after dyeing. You must wash it before dyeing, to remove surface finishes and any invisible stains that will result in uneven dyeing, and you must wash it after dyeing in order to remove the unattached excess dye, which will rub off on other clothing or furniture if you do not remove it.

However, many garments marked "dry clean only" will survive washing just fine. If you have no use for the dress in its current color, then you may as well try washing it, on the most delicate setting your machine can manage. If it survives washing, then you can go ahead and dye it. Don't try this if you don't hate the original color of the dress, since it is quite possible that the dress will be ruined by washing. Also, do not try this with any garment that has a lining.

The threads in your iridescent silk dress were dyed before they were woven together. The risks of washing it now depend on why it was marked "dry clean only". It may be that it was dyed with non-wash-resistant dyes which will bleed when they get wet. It may be that the silk was finished, after dyeing, with some treatment such as tin salts or their modern equivalent, which will wash out in water, leaving the fabric with much less body and none of the original stiffness or luster. It could be that the dress was sewn together so poorly that the stitching will become unraveled when it is washed, or that the fabric is fragile and may wear out very quickly when washed. If the dress is lined, then the lining is almost certainly made of a synthetic fiber such as acetate, which will not shrink to the same degree as the outer fabric; if so, the differential shrinkage will ruin the shape of the dress. Silk in itself can be washed, but the way some silk dresses are constructed means that they can no longer survive washing. Or, it could be that the dress can be washed safely, but the manufacturer found it simpler to mark all of their dresses as safe for dry cleaning only.

Dyeing an iridescent silk will change both of the colors that it's woven from. The yarns of the warp, which go in one direction, are dyed a different color than the yarns of the weft, which run in the perpendicular direction. If you start with a fabric that is woven from pink and gray silk, then overdye it another color, both the pink and the gray will change. The two colors will not be quite the same as each other after dyeing, but they will be much more similar, so the iridescent effect will be mostly destroyed.

If you decide to go ahead with dyeing this dress, after successfully washing it, I recommend that you again use the washing machine for your dyeing, using a delicate setting. See "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?". The best type of dye to use would be acid dye, in the hottest water possible, using a mild acid such as vinegar. You may need to temporarily increase the temperature setting on your water heater. Jacquard Products provides a set of instructions online (linked to on that page) for using their acid dyes in the washing machine. The other kind of dye you can use is fiber reactive dye; you can apply Procion MX fiber reactive dye in lukewarm water, but the soda ash required to fix the dye will make your silk softer and a little bit less shiny, so I think that you would prefer acid dye. Weigh the dress first, after washing it and allowing it to dry, so that you will be able to calculate how much dye will be required.

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Thursday, March 10, 2011

Can I use fabric paint to change a cream-colored top to a pure white?

Name: Georgia

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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: Australia

Message: Hello

I bought a 100% polyester top online which I thought was going to be white, but it's cream. I was wondering about your opinion on my best option to get it white. I've researched a bit that using fabric paint will work.

Thank you!

No, I don't think you will want to use a fabric paint to turn a cream-colored polyester top to white.

You are correct in preferring to use a fabric paint instead of bleach. It is extremely common for the hypochlorite in household chlorine bleach to permanently turn polyester a dingy ugly yellowish color. There is no way to remove bleach stains from polyester.

However, most fabric paints will not allow you to go from a darker color (cream) to a lighter color (white); all of the very thin fabric paints that don't disrupt the "hand" of the fabric are transparent, so they can change lighter colors to darker ones, but never the reverse. Transparent fabric paints, like true dyes, lack the ability to turn a darker color lighter. Covering a darker color with a lighter one requires a heavy application of a fabric paint that is specifically labeled as being "opaque". The results are far less soft and subtle than those you will get by coloring a lighter color with a darker one; it's better to go from cream to purple, say, than from cream to white.

Another problem is that fabric paints, especially opaque fabric paints, are not very good at producing a smooth single solid color. They are much better at producing the slightly mottled or uneven look of "instant age", especially after a few washes. Fabric paints also leave a small but perceptible change in the "feel" of the fabric; opaque fabric paints are the worst, leaving a much greater change in the feel of the fabric than a transparent fabric paint will. The blouse will not feel as soft, nor lie as smoothly, once you have saturated it with an opaque white fabric paint.

The best way to get your top to be a true white would be to return it for a refund and buy a shirt that is white. If that is impossible, I recommend that you change the color in a different way, to a darker color, rather than white. For a smooth solid color, boil the top in a very large cooking pot with disperse dye in a color that you like, a color other than white. (You can mail-order the disperse dye in Australia from Batik Oetoro or Kraftkolour; see "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".) For a more mottled color, you can "pigment dye" by dipping the top in a thin fabric paint, such as Dye-Na-Flow or Dharma Pigment Dyes. While it is possible to buy Dye-Na-Flow in white, I believe that its purpose is only for color mixing; I don't think that it will produce good results in lightening the color of your blouse.

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Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Temporary dyes for marking emboridery designs

Name: Hana

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Country or region: London, UK

Message: I've got a rather peculiar problem I'm struggling to find a solution to. Came across this website and it seams to be the place to come with 'dye' issues...

I'm looking for a temporary fabric dye (ideally spray) to use in embroidery. Is there such a thing?
This would be used while embroidering a fabric with a thread of the same colour. It is often difficult to see what you doing and it would be very helpful to be able to dye the fabric while working on it and then wash the dye out once finished. I have tried turmeric but it doesn't wash out clean.

Have you got any suggestions?

Yes, there are temporary dyes used for marking embroidery patterns. There are several types. All are far superior to turmeric for this purpose, since turmeric is a direct natural dye that bonds fairly well without mordanting to both animal fibers such as silk and wool, and to plant fibers such as cotton. Turmeric is highly susceptible to light fading, so it does not make a good permanent clothing dye, but its color will certainly last long enough to interfere with washing it out.

All of the inks most commonly used for marking embroidery patterns are available in only one or two colors, and are typically available only in the form of marking pens. Your local sewing supplies store should carry a variety of these products. These are the most popular types:

The first type fades in the air, so it's very useful only for work that will be completed soon after the transfer. The actual fading requires moisture; fading occurs more quickly under humid conditions, and instantly upon wetting the markings with water. The markings fade even more quickly on thin fabrics than on heavier fabrics; reportedly the markings may last as little as five minutes on some fine silk fabrics. Examples include the purple Collins Vanishing Fabric Marker (see it at Dharma), or the Dritz Disappearing Ink Marking Pen.

Another type of marker sold for use in embroidery washes out quickly in water. Examples include the Washable Wonder markers (see Dharma) and the Jacquard Auto Fade Pen. The latter brand washes out even if it has been subjected to high heat, used to set other dyes or fabric paints, and is safe to use even on silk (see Dharma). Silk is a fiber that is able to bond to many different types of dyes, so it's more difficult to be certain that a specific type will wash out of silk than cotton.

A third type, the iron-on transfer pencil or marker, is based upon the disperse dyes used to color polyester and other synthetic fibers. Since disperse dyes do not bond to natural fibers, these markings will wash out if they are used on 100% cotton or other 100% natural fibers. However, these dyes are permanent on fabric that has a significant synthetic fiber component, such a polyester or acrylic, and there is a possibility that they will cause some staining even on natural fiber. The huge advantage of this type of dye, when used on cotton, is that you can trace over published designs, or make your own designs, and then iron them on to the fabric. You can even buy ready-made embroidery transfers in various colors that are made using this idea. The easiest and cheapest way to buy disperse dye, for making your own iron-ons, is to buy Crayola Fabric Crayons, or another brand listed as "transfer crayons" or "transfer markers"; for temporary use on 100% cotton, check to make sure that the label tells you that permanent use requires that the fabric contain at least 50% of a synthetic fiber such as polyester.

All of these temporary inks are most widely available in the form of marking pens. For large areas, you say you'd like to be able to use it in the form of a spray. You can find instructions online on how to make your own disappearing ink by dissolving the chemical thymolphthalein in water and adjusting its pH to 10 or 11 (see Steve Spangler Science) , or, as that site points out, you can go to a toy store and simply buy cheap bottles of disappearing ink.

Your description makes it sound as though none of these disappearing inks quite suit your needs, though, since they each come in only one or two colors. If you want to paint each of the different colors of your design in the same color as the embroidery floss that you plan to use, you will need a wide variety of colors. An easy to find type is the sort of washable marking pen marketed for children's drawings on paper, but it can be relied upon to be temporary only on cotton; when used on silk, these markings may, rarely, become permanent. I would be afraid to trust them on silk.

It's best to keep the washable marker colors on the fabric for as short a time as possible, preferably only a few days or weeks, instead of starting a project, setting it aside for a year, and then expecting the inks to wash out as well as ever; though it will probably work fine, well-aged marker designs may not be quite as reliable for washing out completely. These markers will not disappear without washing, as in the first type of embroidery marker I listed above; instead they must be rinsed out with water, so they are suitable only when you are using washable, colorfast embroidery floss. They may be just what you are looking for, from your description. You can buy them with fine points for detail work, or broad-tipped markers for covering large areas quickly.

Incidentally, I have heard of a few sad cases in which the supposedly permanent color in embroidery thread turned out not to be washfast, and bled onto the background when washed. Always test a bit of each color of your embroidery threads before you start on a project! If your embroidery floss has been improperly colored with dyes that tend to run, the best thing to do is to look for another supplier, or you can wash the floss in hot water until all excess dye is removed. If the dye in your floss still runs after washing, you can treat it with a commercial dye fixative such as Retayne. All washing and dye-fixing should be done before use, with each of the different colors separated; once the embroidery has been completed, it is impossible to satisfactorily stop improperly applied dyes in the embroidery thread from bleeding.

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Monday, March 07, 2011

Can I use your image, "Chemical structure of Cellulose"?

Name: Maria

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Linda Knutson's
Synthetic Dyes for Natural Fibers

Country or region: Italy

Message: Please, can I use your image, "Chemical structure of Cellulose", for a publication on Photography in my Institute? It's a very good image. If it's possible, please send me the exact bibliography. Thank you.

cellulose molecule...this public-domain image created by ben mills and found on wikipedia

Yes, you may use the image. It's not mine, but it has been placed in the public domain by its author.

I was careful to credit the image in the source code on my page, which says,

alt="cellulose molecule...this public-domain image created by Ben Mills and found on Wikipedia"

Please see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose

and, especially, the page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cellulose-Ibeta-from-xtal-2002-3D-balls.png

The latter page includes the notice, "Benjah-bmm27 grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law."

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Wednesday, March 02, 2011

How can I keep my batiks made with Rit dye from fading the way my first one did?

Name: Kap

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Country or Region: Austin, Texas

Message: I haven't made a batik since the mid 70's. I've attached a picture of the one I made this past weekend. Would you happen to know if there is something I can spray this with to keep it from fading like the one from 1974? This one use to be so pretty---now you can't even tell that it was dyed--- it's all blended together. Thank you for your time!

What kinds of dyes did you use? And, was the batik ever washed, or was the fading completely due to light?

The one from HS--- I'm sure it faded from light through the years....never washed. Both were made from RIT dye--- I just wonder if there's something to spray on the new one to save it.

I'm sorry about the Rit all-purpose dye. Sadly, it is not a very good choice for batik. Some of the dyes it contains are reasonably light-fast, but some are very poorly lightfast and will fade quickly. All-purpose dyes are also known for bleeding together badly when they get wet, especially if the dyes were used at room temperature.

What you can do with the batiks you've already made is protect them from both light and air. When no one is looking at the batiks, it is best to store them in a dark place, such as a drawer, ideally wrapped in acid-free paper. If you must display them, try to choose a place away from bright light or direct sunlight. You should frame them behind ultraviolet-filtering glass, and expose them to as little light as possible.

Unfortunately, filtering out ultraviolet light will not stop all of the light-induced fading from occurring. Even visible light will cause some fading, especially in the presence of the oxygen in the air. When light of any wavelength is absorbed by the dye in a fabric, some of the energy actually breaks apart the dye molecules. (I studied this topic, known as the photodynamic effect, in my PhD thesis research.)

Fabric treatment sprays are as likely to increase light-fading as they are to decrease it. Never use any fabric treatment that is claimed to protect against fading, unless you have tested it with the very same dyes that you're planning to use, to see whether it provides any real protection. In some cases, an ultraviolet-absorbing chemical actually absorbs more energy from the light, passing it on the the dye molecules and causing them to be destroyed more quickly. When, for a science fair project, my son tested a supposed ultraviolet protectant spray on two dyes, he found that it actually increased light damage considerably. There is more information on lightfastness and on treatments intended to minimize it on my page, "Lightfastness of Different Types of Dyes".

To test a fabric treatment or spray, dye a scrap of similar fabric with the same dyes, using the same methods as before, then cut the rag into three pieces. One should go into a dark place, shut away in a box or drawer, one should get the treatment, one should go untreated, and the the treated and untreated pieces should be exposed to bright sunlight in a sunny window for a few weeks, or placed outside, weighted down so the wind will not blow it away. (See my son's science fair project on the Dye Forum, under "ultraviolet protection of dyes".)

Now, for the batiks that you will create in the future, I would like to suggest that you use better materials. The best dye for batiking cotton, or other cellulose fibers such as rayon, is a cool water fiber reactive dye, Procion MX dye. This is the same type of dye that is found in all of the best tie-dyeing kits; if you have difficulty finding these dyes locally, you can always mail-order from a good dye supplier. Dark colors last longer then paler colors, since they are made with a larger number of dye molecules. The Procion dyes form a permanent bond to the fabric, so it is safe to wash the batik after it has been completed. This permanent bonding means that you can safely rinse out any excess unattached dye; this is important because unattached dye is more vulnerable to damage from light.

I would be happy to help with any questions you may have when you switch to the better dyes for your batik projects. You can also join the Dye Forum Community of Dyers, which is a wonderful free resource for information and support. Here's a link to my page on How to Batik, to get you started with the new dyes.

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Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Can I dye nylon twine into multiple colors?

Name: Ruth

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How to dye yarn and string

Gail Callahan's
Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece:
Custom-Color Your Favorite Fibers with Dip-Dyeing, Hand-Painting, Tie-Dyeing, and Other Creative Techniques

Washfast Acid dyes
at Paradise Fibers

Washfast Acid dyes
Also known as Nylomine dyes, excellent for use on nylon. One ounce of dye will dye six pounds of fiber!

Country or region: Louisiana

Message: Can I achieve the multicolors on twine as shown at the Twine By Design blog - the twine labeled "tye dye (de colores)"? Or would it simply be more feasible to order from them?

You can dye twine to a multicolored effect. However, you can't dye it so that each ply is consistently a single color, different from the others. The picture you reference shows one ply that is made of yellow, orange, and pink strands, another that is made of pink, lilac, and teal strands, and a third that is made of green, aqua, and blue strands. What you can do, instead, is combine similar colors in a true variegated effect, in which the same pieces combine different colors. Is this what you want to do?

The Twine by Design twine is solution-dyed, meaning that the color is added to the nylon before it is extruded into the form of a fiber, while it is still liquid. Given that, the color variegation within a strand must be created during the spinning step, when thin fibers are combined to make a thicker string.

In my opinion, while the blending of colors in the Twine by Design "Tye Dye / De Colores" twine is nicely colorful, a truly variegated twine would be more beautiful, with different hues blending gradually from one into the next. To make your own, you would start with white twine, or twine that is as close as possible to white. Since some nylons have coatings that make them impossible to dye, it would be best to try dyeing only a small sample first, to find out whether the twine you are trying to dye is in fact dyeable.

Note that there are twine manufactured with many different materials. A jute twine would be colored with the same kind of dye used for tie-dyeing cotton, and the same methods, but that won't work on nylon twine. It's essential to match the type of dye you use to the fiber content of what you're trying to dye.

To dye nylon, you should use a type of dye called acid dye. There are many different types of acid dye, but all will work on any dyeable nylon, as well as on animal fibers such as wool. It is also possible to dye nylon with a different class of dye called disperse dye, but it's more difficult and the colors are less wash-resistant. A third way to color nylon is to use a type of fabric paint called pigment dye, which can be more convenient to use, but it produces colors that are not quite as intense, and that wear off more quickly if the dyed material is given a lot of use.

Some acid dyes, such as the leveling acid dyes found in all-purpose dye mixtures such as Rit dye, are better at smoothing out and producing a solid color, while others are better at bonding permanently to the fiber and not moving around. For a multi-colored rainbow effect, you want the latter type of acid dye. A good choice for nylon is the WashFast Acid Dye line, which is also known as the Nylomine Dyes; another good choice, more expensive, would be the Lanaset dyes. These dyes are usually not available in local stores, but you can purchase them by mail-order. (See Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World.) In the US, you can purchase WashFast Acid dyes from the dye supply company PRO Chemical & Dye, which is located in Massachusetts, as well as from another company called Paradise Fibers.

To use the WashFast Acid Dyes to color nylon in multiple colors, you would use ProChem's recipe, "Direct Application on Nylon using WashFast Acid Dyes". [PDF] Other ingredients called for include a detergent named Synthrapol, soda ash, ammonium sulfate, a mixture called PRO Print Mix F, and the water softener they call Metaphos. All of these items can also be ordered from PRO Chemical & Dye. Before dyeing, the twine should be skeined loosely, as described in my April 12, 2008 blog entry, entitled "How to dye silk ribbon to be variegated in color". The dye should be painted onto the prewashed nylon twine in long stripes of color, and allowed to dry, after which it must be set with moist heat, using steam, following the instructions given in the recipe.

I recommend that you undertake this project only if you would like a truly variegated twine, or one which looks more tie-dyed than the Twine by Design "Tye Dye / De Colores" multi-colored solution-dyed nylon twine. If the Twine by Design twine is exactly what you want, then I recommend that you order it from them, instead. Given the amount of trouble that would be involved in dyeing the twine, it's worth dyeing it yourself only if you want to get a more unique hand-dyed product with more beautiful variegation, or if you want a different color scheme than is currently available.

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