Archives for January, 2012

« 2012 February | Main | 2011 December »

Friday, January 27, 2012

Would fiber reactive dye still be a good choice if I'm only dyeing this one garment?

Name: Toby

—ADVERTISEMENTS—

Country or region: USA

Message: I have a khaki cotton twill hat I'd like to dye a deep orange color for a costume I'm making. Would fiber reactive dye still be a good choice if I'm only dyeing this one garment?

Fiber reactive dye is the best choice for cotton. Look for Dylon Permanent Dye or Tulip Permanent Dye at a fabric store or a crafts store, and follow the package instructions as closely as possible. This is a higher quality, longer-lasting dye than the all-purpose dye you can find in grocery stores, and it's not a bit more difficult to use, and usually not significantly more expensive.

For a garment that you will wear only once, with no chance of ever wanting to wash it or wear it again, it doesn't matter if you use a dye that fades quickly, such as Rit all-purpose dye. Of course, it's important even with all-purpose dye to wash out as much of the excess dye as possible, so the dry color doesn't rub off onto your skin, other clothing, or furniture. The only reason to choose an all-purpose dye over a fiber reactive dye is if your local shops do not carry Dylon or Tulip dyes, only Rit dyes, or if you're dyeing something that is a blend of cotton and nylon, or cotton and wool.

Note that the orange you produce will not be as bright, when you dye a khaki-colored hat, as it would if you were to dye a white hat. Khaki would not be a good start for a bright orange, but it should be fine for a deep orange.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Thursday, January 26, 2012

I am trying to find a list of dyes manufacturers. Could you please help?

Name: Natalia

—ADVERTISEMENTS—

Linda Knutson's book
Synthetic Dyes for
Natural Fibers
is still the best introduction to the chemistry of dyeing for hand dyers.

Ann Milner's book
The Ashford Book of Dyeing
describes many brands of dye for hand dyers.

Heinrich Zollinger

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

Waring and Hallas's

The Chemistry and Application of Dyes (Topics in Applied Chemistry)

includes recipes for synthesizing reactive dyes

Country or region: Spain

Message: Hello! I am trying to find a list of dyes manufacturers, but I just find Dystar as the biggest manufacturer, and I'm a bit confused about the big companies that make all the well known products such as Remazol, Procion, Jacquard, etc. Could you please help? I need this info for a textile art project...thanks so much! =)

Most dyes are now made by many different dye manufacturers around the world, especially in China and India. You can find many examples of these dye manufacturers with a quick web search (try "dye manufacturers"), but in order to make a complete list of all dye manufacturers, you'd have to make a huge project of collecting them. You could start with some of the web sites with listings from many different dye manufacturers, such as the DMOZ directory, the Yahoo directory, a directory called Fibre2Fashion, and a list of dye suppliers in India. (Note as you search that the term "organic", when applied to dyes, includes all synthetic dyes, including those made from petroleum products; it does not refer to "organically grown" or "natural" dyestuffs.)

Jacquard Products does not, as far as I know, manufacture dyes, but they do repackage them, mixing their own colors of dyes such as the Procion MX dyes, and also packaging them into new products such as the ColorHue Instant Set Silk Dyes, which act like pigments but are said to be based on fiber reactive dyes. They retail dyes directly to hand dyers, and also sell dyes through other hand-dyeing suppliers around the world. Dye retailers who buy dyes from Jacquard Products may also acquire dyes elsewhere. Other dye retailers in the US that do not manufacture their own dyes, but repackage and mix colors, include PRO Chemical & Dye (and G&K Craft Industries, which I think is their parent company), Dharma Trading Company, and Aljo Manufacturing, all of which sell many different types of dyes. A smaller dye retailer is Colorado Wholesale Dyes, also known as Best Dyes or Grateful Dyes. These are all US dye retailers, just as examples, because you see their names a lot. For a more complete list of dye retailers, including many in Europe and elsewhere, see my page, "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World". This page lists retailers suitable for hand dyers to buy from, in the small quantities a hand dyer can use, with minimum orders ranging from 10 grams per dye color to one pound (454 grams) per dye color, depending on the company. Retailers are very important for hand dyers; dye manufacturers such as Dystar typically require a minimum order of five kilograms of each dye color, which is prohibitively difficult for the dye artist to handle.

There are so many dye factories that making an exhaustive list is not very interesting. It's more interesting to look at the history of which dye companies originally introduced each dye. The fiber reactive dyes are easier to follow than the acid dyes, since they have not been out of patent as long, so I'll concentrate on them.

The Procion dyes, including Procion MX, Procion H, and other fiber reactive dye types, were first introduced by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). The Procion MX dyes were the first fiber reactive dyes suitable for use on cotton, starting in 1956. (Some other fiber reactives were introduced earlier for wool.) The ICI company changed into Zeneca in 1992, then merged with BASF in 1996. Dystar was formed in 1995 from a merger of Bayer and Hoechst, which then merged with BASF in 2000. So, the Procion name was owned first by ICI, then Zeneca, then BASF, and is now owned by Dystar. Dystar no longer makes Procion MX dyes, but they still make Procion XL dyes. Dystar also makes Levafix C-A dyes, among others. Unlike most of the new dye manufacturers, Dystar has pursued Oeko-Tex Standard certification for many of its products.

The same type of dyes that are in the Procion MX dyes, the dichlorotriazines, are now made by many different factories in Asia, though not, of course, under the brand name "Procion", though quite a few dye retailers still use the term "Procion" even for dyes manufactured under different names, as long as they're chemically the same type of dye. Manufacturers commonly list their Procion MX-type dyes as "cold" brand dyes, with M codes, instead of MX; for example, the same dye known as Procion Red MX-5B is sold by Jai Radhe Sales (to choose the first one I happened to see) as "'Cold' Brand Dye" Red M5B, also labeled "Red 2" from the generic Colour Index name, reactive red 2.

The Remazol fiber reactive dyes, which are vinyl sulfone dyes, were first introduced by Hoechst, so the name 'Remazol' is now owned by Dystar. Many different factories in Asia now make vinyl sulfone dyes, though not under the brand name Remazol, commonly listed as either "vinyl sulfone" or "vinyl sulphone". Tobasign is a Spanish retailer of vinyl sulfone dyes for dye artists.

Drimaren reactive dyes are manufactured by Clariant, another major dye manufacturer.

The Cibacron dyes and the Lanaset dyes were both originally made by Ciba Geigy. Ciba was the Swiss company Chemische Industrie Basel, which merged with Geigy in 1971. The Ciba Specialty Chemicals Textile Effects business was sold to Huntsman Textile Effects in 2006. Their Lanasol, Lanaset, and Lanacron dyes series retained their names, but the Cibacron dyes, logically, were given a new name, which turned out to be Novacron. (You can see other names affected by this change on a page entitled "Huntsman Product Tradenames".) PRO Chemical & Dye still sells the Cibacron dyes under their own trade name of Sabracron, and the Lanaset dyes under their own trade name of Sabraset, while Maiwa Handprints and some other retailers sell the Lanaset dyes under the brand name Telana.

I don't know when the patents on the Cibacron dyes and the Lanaset dyes will expire (or whether they've already done so), but it looks as though they are still in effect, because I cannot find them being sold by any other manufacturer. International patents last for up to twenty years, if I understand correctly, and the first Lanaset dyes were patented in 1985, so it's an interesting question what will happen next.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Name: Kay

—ADVERTISEMENTS—

The Artist's Complete Health and Safety Guide

by Monona Rossol

Country or region: WI, USA

Message: OLD PUTNAM DYES... acid, fiber-reactive, or blend? Old packages labeled 15-cents say it is good for silk, wool, cotton, rayon and mixed goods except celanese. It ~sounds~ like a Rit-type-blend. But, as some older products over-hyped, is it possible that this is purely an acid dye or purely fiber-reactive which won't perform on some fibers? Any help?

They're not fiber reactive dyes. Old packages of dyes are almost never fiber reactive dyes. Putnam dyes were introduced just before the end of the nineteenth century, long before the development of the first fiber reactive dye in 1956.

They're not purely acid dyes, either, because, if they were, they would never have been advertised for cotton, when direct dyes were so readily available and cheap. It's most likely that they were an all-purpose dye, that is, a blend of direct dyes for cellulose fibers and acid dyes for protein fibers. (The Celanese fiber they were not recommended for was the synthetic fiber acetate, which requires disperse dyes.) As a rule, all-purpose dyes are inferior to more carefully selected acid dyes, for protein fibers, or to fiber reactive dyes, for plant-based fibers. The direct dye and the type of acid dye used in all-purpose dyes are both less washfast than other choices.

E. H. Rosborough's book "Tying & Fishing Fuzzy Nymphs" says that Putnam dye was stronger than Rit dye, so much so that one-third less of it should be used, by volume. (A stronger dye powder would not have been difficult to achieve, Rit dye contains far more salt and detergent than it does dye.)

Since they are old, chances are that they include some benzidine-based dyes, as was common for all-purpose dyes right up until the early nineteen-eighties. Benzidine-based dyes, if absorbed into the body, can regenerate benzidine as the body tries to break them down. Benzidine is a known cause of bladder cancer. Don't allow any of this dye to contact your skin, nor any food preparation areas or equipment.

Unlike fiber reactive dyes, all-purpose dyes might still work even decades after their manufacture, if you can get them to dissolve at all. However, because of the hazards of benzidine-based dyes, I don't recommend you use these unless you are skilled in the use of all applicable safety procedures.

Interestingly, Amazon currently has a used copy for sale of an old Putnam How to Dye Manual, offered for an extremely high price considering that it's no more than a typewritten pamphlet. The table of contents listed includes "How to Dye in the Washing Machine", "Dye Instructions", and even "Dyeing Upholstered Furniture". I've heard of several disasters when people tried to dye upholstered furniture with Rit dye without first removing the fabric from the furniture, since they weren't able to properly rinse off the excess dye.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Monday, January 23, 2012

How do you remove batik wax without boiling silk?

Name: Harriet

—ADVERTISEMENTS—

Country or region: UK, Bristol

Message: Hi, I'm wanting to do some batik with silk (to make silk scarves) but I'm worried about how to get the wax out as with silk you cannot boil it and ironing doesn't always get all the wax out. Have you any suggestions to how I can achieve this?

When "boiling" out batik wax, you don't actually need to get up to boiling temperature. The often-recommended 85°C (or 185°F) limit for heating silk should be hot enough. If you fill the pot with enough water to cover the fabric with room to spare, the wax will float up to the top of the water, as you heat it, long before it's hot enough to boil. In my experience it's easier to "boil" out batik wax if you add real castile soap to the water, instead of detergent; liquid castile soap is very convenient. I let the whole pot cool off before removing the fabric, so as not to pull the fabric through the layer of wax on the top of the pot, sometimes adding ice if I'm in a hurry.

I recommend that you use natural beeswax, instead of the prepackaged batik wax that contains synthetic microcrystalline wax, because the melting point of beeswax is lower, so it's easier to boil out. You can mix beeswax with paraffin wax to get the desired amount of "crackle". Dharma Trading Company lists the melting temperature for beeswax as 142 to 149°F (62°C to 65°C), for paraffin wax as 145°F (63°C), and for microcrystalline wax as 175°F (80°C). (Microcrystalline wax is also called "sticky wax"; it's a less expensive substitute for beeswax.)

As an alternative, instead of immersing your dyed silk in boiling water to remove the wax, it's very common to steam-set the dyes used in silk painting. (This is suitable for true dyes, but not for fabric paints, which should be set with dry heat.) If you wrap the wax in plenty of unprinted newsprint paper, the paper absorbs the wax as it melts during the steaming process, at the same time that the steam drives the reaction between the dye and the silk, setting the dyes.

Another alternative is to use processed soy wax instead of traditional beeswax and paraffin wax. A huge advantage to soy wax is that it can be washed out with hot tap water and detergent. (I advise hand-washing the wax out in a bucket so that you can be sure you've used enough detergent to solubilize the wax; if you don't dissolve all of the melted wax, it might harden inside your pipes, resulting in an expensive repair bill.) Soy wax is similar to batik wax in how it works. It's important to get the wax as hot as you would ordinary batik wax to apply it, and it's important to test the stuff out on a quick small project first to see whether you like it. The edges of soy wax designs erode more quickly in the dyebath than the edges of beeswax and paraffin.

There are also other resists that you can use instead of wax, water soluble resists, but they don't produce the cracks seen in batik, and they are less suitable for immersion dyeing since the tend to dissolve in the dye bath. They work well if you apply the dye directly, in small enough quantities that you do not wash away the water-soluble resist.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Name: Kate

—ADVERTISEMENTS—

Ann Milner's book
The Ashford Book of Dyeing

The 7"x9.5" blue revised edition, dated 1998, is a very useful guide, but apparently there's a problem with a different edition. Look for ISBN 0-908704-88-7.

Linda Knutson's book
Synthetic Dyes for Natural Fibers

Country or region: Australia

Message: I would like to find a cold method of dye suitable to dye 3 metres of fine wool fabric. I would like to use the tray method of dyeing so that I can get a variation in colour. Are you able to help? many thanks. Kate

Let's start by talking about what "cold dyeing" means. It can be misleading. The word "cold", in the textile industry, does not mean temperatures that feel cold to your hand; it merely refers to temperatures below boiling. Batik Oetoro, near Newcastle NSW, sells "cold wool dyes" that can be applied at 50°C for pale shades, or 70°C to 75°C for darker shades (that's 122°F for pale shades and 158°F to 167°F for darker shades). I think that these are most likely a type of acid dyes that is more forgiving as to temperature than most other acid dyes. Most people consider 70°F water to be truly "hot"; it's not what any novice dyer would consider calling "cold", and yet it is "cold dyeing" according to the industry. There are no instructions listed for using this dye in direct application, unfortunately, so it may not be suitable for what you want to do, "tray dyeing" being a name for direct application of dye to slightly crumpled fabric.

The usual way to hand-dye wool yardage is by either immersing it in a heated dyebath, or by direct application at room temperature followed by thirty minutes of steaming, during which time the dyes to bond to the fiber. Temperatures close to the boiling point of water are best for forming bonds between acid dyes and wool. In two examples of the steam-set direct-application dyeing of wool, PRO Chemical and Dye, in the US, provides instructions for both "Rainbow Dyeing using Lanaset Dyes" [PDF] and "Direct Application on Wool and Silk using WashFast Acid Dyes" [PDF]. Steam setting is very effective for many types of dye that require heat, but it is an extra step, and more trouble than room-temperature methods of dye setting.

If you're not interested in either immersion dyeing or in steam-setting your wool, there are other methods for applying heat. These methods may be less reliable than methods in which the temperature is carefully controlled; their success depends to a large extent on how much warmth you manage to add to the wool-dye reaction.

There are some "cold" dye application methods for wool using Procion MX dyes and other fiber reactive dyes that are more typically used on cotton. When these dyes are used on wool, an acid is substituted for the usual auxiliary chemical soda ash, whose high pH is damaging to wool; this substitution causes them to act as acid dyes, rather than as fiber reactive dyes. (See "Fiber reactive dyes on protein fibers".) This means that, like all other acid dyes, they really do perform better with added heat; the heat is helpful in forming acid dye bonds to the fiber. A recipe by PRO Chemical & Dye for warp painting wool [PDF] calls for Procion MX dyes plus an acid, but the fixing method involves merely covering the fabric, after applying the dye, with plastic, and leaving it in a warm room at 21°C (70°F) for 24 hours or longer. Unfortunately, at room temperature, color yield is apt to be poor in many cases. The recipe indicates, "The warmer the 'cure' temperature, the darker the final color", but room temperature is not warm enough for really great results. Another ProChem recipe, "Garbage Bag Dyeing with Wool using PRO MX Reactive Dyes", which uses sodium bisulfite as an auxiliary chemical, clarifies that a black plastic bag works best, as long as the bag is not placed directly on the cold ground, since black plastic absorbs heat from sunlight. A better way to use this recipe would be to place the black-plastic-wrapped wool inside a closed car on a sunny day, so that the greenhouse effect can produce quite warm temperatures, which will help to properly set the dye.

While Procion MX dyes can produce fine results on wool, even better results will be obtained with specialized wool dyes, such as the Lanaset dyes or the Lanasol Dyes. The Lanasol dyes are true fiber reactive dyes that react with wool at an acid pH, forming extremely washfast, long-lasting bonds; they are said to work at "cold" temperatures, though added warmth will certainly aid the dye-fiber reaction. You can order Lanasol dyes in Australia from Kraftkolour, which is located near Melbourne, Victoria. Kraftkolour sells a wide range of dye types. Their "Cold dyeing system for wool and silk & other protein fibres" [PDF] instruction sheet, explains how to use a method that sounds like exactly what you're looking for, using an auxiliary chemical called "Cold Wool S".

Ann Milner's 1992 book, The Ashford Book of Dyeing, mentions another brand of dyes, the Earth Palette reactive dyes, which are intended for cold dyeing wool. I imagine that these too are probably Lanasol fiber reactive dyes. You can order Earth Palette Dyes from the Earth Palette company's website; they are located in Gladstone, South Australia. To work with the Earth Palette dyes, you will need to buy the auxiliary chemical they call "Fixing Agent A".

In your situation, a good choice would be to order Lanasol dyes, and the auxiliary chemicals to go with them, and follow Kraftkolour's instructions, but it wouldn't hurt to place the plastic-wrapped wool in as warm place as possible to react with the dye. If you already have Procion MX dyes, you may prefer to use the sunlight and black garbage bag method as described by PRO Chemical & Dye, possibly combining it, if the weather in your area cooperates, with the heat inside a car, for improved color yield.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Saturday, January 14, 2012

What would you use to dye a Georgette dress?

Name: Barb

—ADVERTISEMENTS—

Country or region: UK

Message: What would you use to dye a Georgette dress? My daughter wants to dye some dresses for a wedding. Thank you.

What fiber is the georgette woven from? If you have silk georgette, your question is a very different one than if you have polyester georgette, and yet a different one if you have rayon georgette. Each of these fibers requires an entirely different type of dye, and different methods of dye application.

If it's polyester, you'll have to buy a special kind of polyester dye called disperse dye, and you'll have to have a huge non-reactive cooking pot to do the dyeing in, one made of stainless steel or coated with enamel, probably five gallons or more in size, since it must be large enough for the dress to move in freely. Don't plan to use this dyeing pot for food again afterwards, since textile dyes are not safe for food use. See my page, "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes", for more about the way to dye polyester.

Is the dress washable? You can't dye anything that isn't washable. If it is washable, can it survive the treatment required by the dye it needs? Even a washable dress might not survive boiling. See my page, "Can I dye clothing that is labeled 'dry clean only'?".

The right way to dye a georgette dress for a wedding or other formal occasion is not to dye a ready-made dress. Instead, you should buy some georgette material, in the form of yardage, fabric that has not been sewn into a dress yet. Look for a fabric made of a natural fiber, such as silk; it's much more beautiful and luxurious than polyester, and also far easier to dye. Pre-wash the fabric, then dye it with the type of dye most appropriate for the fiber content. After you have dyed the fabric, hire a professional to sew it into the dress you want, using thread that matches the color of the fabric.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Friday, January 13, 2012

Is canvas too thick to use for batik?

Name: Janine

—ADVERTISEMENTS—

Country or region: Canada

Message: I have been using muslin to do my mixed media batik but I am wondering if regular canvas would be too thick or not for the wax.

Also, is there a way to prevent the yellow of the bee's wax from discolouring dyes?

Is it possible to get good cracks with just parafin?

How does one get the batiked lines to look pure white? Should I bleach the canvas first?

Canvas can be used for batik, as long as it is 100% natural fiber (cotton, hemp, or linen), but the heavy weight and the tightness of the weave do make a difference. I don't like canvas as much for batik as I do lighter fabrics. Your wax temperature will probably have to be hotter in order for the wax to penetrate the fabric, and you may not be able to get details as small as you would on a finer fabric. Try a small project with canvas as a test, to see how you like it, before you decide to use canvas in a large project. Be sure to scour the canvas thoroughly before use, preferably in boiling water, using both Synthrapol and soda ash or washing soda.

It is also harder to get dye to penetrate inside the fibers of the canvas. Dye tends to roll off of dry canvas, and, even when it gets into the fiber, it may color only the outside of the fiber, rather than penetrating throughout. Dyeing just the outside of the individual fibers is called ring-dyeing, and material that is ring-dyed shows wear much more quickly. Pre-soaking canvas overnight in water with a drop of Synthrapol or other detergent before dyeing, is helpful for getting the fabric to dye better, but I'd be afraid to do this with waxed fabric, thinking that long soaking in water, especially with a drop of detergent, may encourage the edges of the wax to peel away from the fabric. Note that the fabric must be absolutely dry before you can apply wax to it. Wax will not stick to damp fabric, even if it's only slightly damp.

The yellow of natural beeswax has no effect on the color of the final product. The color is not a dye and does not become permanent on fabric or affect the final color of the dye.

Microcrystalline wax is a common substitute for beeswax, used primarily because it costs less. You might like the fact that it tends to be whiter in color than natural beeswax. I find microcrystalline wax less convenient to use than beeswax because its melting temperature is much higher, at 175°F, as compared to beeswax's melting temperature between 142°F and 149°F. This makes it slightly more difficult to remove afterwards.

Paraffin wax is brittle, so it is the source of the cracks in batik wax. You will certainly get a lot of cracking with paraffin alone, but you might have trouble caused by getting more cracking than you want. The big problem with using paraffin alone is that the wax is apt to flake off of the fabric entirely in some places when you crack it, messing up the design. Pure beeswax is used without paraffin when no cracking is desired at all. Most batik artists prefer a combination of beeswax with paraffin, so as to get cracking without excessive flaking. You can use ratios anywhere between one part beeswax mixed with one part paraffin, all the way up to one part beeswax mixed with four parts paraffin, or even more.

To get the waxed lines to look pure white rather than yellowish after the dyeing process is complete and the wax has been removed, you must start with bleached canvas. Natural-color canvas is distinctly yellowish in color. It's easier to buy bleached canvas than to get it white enough by bleaching it yourself.

Let me close with a safety warning: never breathe the fumes from hot wax, especially the synthetic waxes. The fumes can permanently damage your lungs. Be careful to use excellent ventilation whenever you work with melted wax. A dust mask provides no protection; a respirator with an organic vapor cartridge is better. I'm sure you are careful about the risk of fire and burns when working with melted wax, but not everyone realizes that the fumes can be dangerous.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

I am doing arashi shibori in 100% light silk and using Dupont acid dye. I have problems having even colors with dark colors. Any suggestions?

Name: Corina

—ADVERTISEMENTS—

Shibori: Creating Color and Texture On Silk

by Karren Brito

Shibori: The Inventive Art of Japanese Shaped Resist Dyeing

by Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada, Mary Kellogg Rice, and Jane J. Barton

Country or region: Canada

Message: I am doing arashi shibori in 100% light silk and using Dupont acid dye. I have problems having even colors with dark colors. Any suggestions?

I'm not a great fan of any of the French silk dyes, including H. Dupont, Pebeo, Sennelier, and Kniazeff, because they contain a wide range of different dye types, but you almost never know which dye type you have in any particular color. Some colors contain acid dyes, some contain basic dyes, and some even contain fiber reactive dyes. The manufacturers of the French silk dyes are very secretive about their formulas, making it extremely difficult to know how to trouble-shoot problems. (See my forum post "what's in the French silk dyes?".)

If you look at the bottles of H. Dupont Silk Dyes, assuming that they are the dyes with which I'm familiar, you will not see them described as acid dyes, only as "colors for silk and wool". Their purpose seems to be entirely for painting, not for immersion dyeing for shibori, nor for producing an even solid color. If you want to produce more even colors, I think you will be happier with another type of dye, one in which level coloring is one of the manufacturer's goals.

The two forms of acid dyes I've seen most recommended for silk shibori are the WashFast Acid dyes, and the Lanaset dyes. Lanaset dyes are more washfast than the WashFast acid dyes (in spite of the name of the latter), and, with the recommended auxiliary chemicals, are better for obtaining level colors, but both should be much more reliable at producing a smooth even color, and both more light-resistant and washfast than most colors of the French silk painting dyes. Lanaset dyes are more expensive than WashFast Acid Dyes, but they produce very concentrated, rich colors. All powdered dyes are highly economical, in the long run, when compared to small jars of silk paint. A good Canadian source for both of these dye classes is Maiwa Handprints, while good US sources include PRO Chemical & Dye, Earth Guild, and Paradise Fibers.

There is more information available about how to solve specific dyeing issues with the Lanaset or WashFast dyes than there is for any of the French silk painting dyes. Karren Brito provides detailed information about using WashFast Acid Dyes and Lanaset dyes in her book, Shibori: Creating Color and Texture On Silk. It's a very good book, and I would recommend you take a look at it. It's currently out of print, but you might be able to find a copy at your local public library, or through interlibrary loan.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Thursday, January 05, 2012

If I send you a picture of the type of fabric that is used in the dress will you tell me if you can or can't dye it?

Name: Quinterricca

—ADVERTISEMENTS—

Country or region: United States

Message: I have a dress that I would like to have dyed and I searched my question no help.... If I send you a picture of the type of fabric that is used in the dress will you tell me if you can or can't dye it.

I'm afraid I am unable to take on your dyeing project for you. You can find a dyer to custom dye your dress, but only if your dress is made from a dyeable fiber or fiber blend.

A picture will not tell us what your dress is made of. You will have to examine the label in the dress to find what its fiber content is. Cotton or cotton/spandex is easy to dye, and polyester is difficult but sometimes possible to dye, but a polyester/spandex blend can never be dyed.

While you are checking the label, look for care instructions. You can't dye the dress if it is not washable. Dyeing always requires a great deal of washing, both before and after the dye is applied.

If your dress is washable, and made of a dyeable fiber, then you can find a custom dyer on the following page: "Where can I find someone to dye my clothing for me?".

You may be surprised to find how much it costs to have a dress dyed for you. If it turns out to be impractical, you may be able to dye it yourself, if the dress is washable and made of cotton. If so, here is the page you should look at the page, "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?" .

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

I would like to hire someone to dye my cotton furniture slipcovers

Name: Colleen

—ADVERTISEMENTS—

The Complete Guide to Upholstery: Stuffed with Step-by-Step Techniques for Professional Results

Country or region: Michigan

Message: I would like to hire someone to dye my furniture slipcovers. They are cotton. Do you do this or would you be able to recommend someone?

Do you want a solid color or multiple colors?

If you want a solid color, I recommend you contact one of the five garment redyers listed in the box near the top of my page, "Where can I find someone to dye my clothing for me?". The list includes True Color Fabric Dyeing, Dye Pro Services, Spectrum Custom Fabric Dyeing, Metro Dyeing Service, and Alteria Color Restoration Services. All accept items through the mail for dyeing. Ask if they will use a cool-water dye so that the slipcovers don't shrink. Or, dye the slipcovers yourself using Procion MX dye in the washing machine, following a good recipe from the links on my page, "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?". Be sure to use cool or warm water, not hot water, regardless of what the recipe says, since shrinking your slipcovers will make them unusable.

For a multiple-color effect, use Procion MX dye for either tie-dyeing or low water immersion dyeing. Candy Glendening is a dye artist who has recently done a beautiful job on a similar project. See her work at this link: Custom Dyed Ikea Footstool Slipcover. You might be able to contact her with a request for your own custom dyeing job. There are also custom tie-dyers listed on the same "Where can I find someone to dye my clothing for me?" page that I referred to in the previous paragraph, some of whom may be willing to consider this assignment.

First, though, please make sure that your cotton slipcovers have not been treated for stain resistance. Nothing that is stain-resistant, Scotch-guarded, or water-resistant can be dyed.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Is there any way to just dye the flowers and leaves which are thick tufts and not the fabric of the bedspread itself?

Name: Vicky

—ADVERTISEMENTS—

Country or region: USA

Message: Hello, I hope that you can help me. I did look through your questions and did not see this asked before.

I bought a beautiful 100% cotton Chenille bedspread that had multicolor (pink, blue, yellow) flowers and green leaves that are tufts scattered on a white background. I paid a good bit of money for it. When I got it the white seemed a little dull. I thought that I could use some oxyclean on it. But I had mentioned to my daughter that it was dull and it needed to be brightened up. Well, before I knew it she washed it and put some bleach in. It washed all the pinks and greens out of the floral and leaf tufts all on the spread. It left all the blues and very, very pale yellow.

I am so upset. Is there any way to just dye the flowers and leaves which are thick tufts and not the fabric of the bedspread itself? Or will it bleed into the rest of the spread? If so what would I use and how would I do it? I have never dyed anything before. And I am scared to death! I just hope that I am not in the hole for a $150 bedspread after saving for 2 months to get it. I would appreciate any advice/help you can give me. Thank you so much for your time.

I recommend that you use a kind of fabric paint, rather than a true dye. For this project, you should use the form of fabric paint which is the very easiest to apply: fabric markers.

You can buy fabric markers in many different colors and shades, so it should be easy to find some in the colors you like. It's important to note that some fabric markers need to be heat-set with a hot iron, after they are dry, while others do not; it doesn't matter which you get, as long as you follow the instructions and do the heat-setting if it is necessary.

It certainly is possible to directly apply the right type of dye, instead of using markers, but I don't think you want to do that right now. You absolutely cannot succeed with this project if you use an all-purpose dye, such as Rit brand dye, because that sort of dye would bleed badly onto the rest of the bedspread. A completely different kind of dye, a fiber reactive dye such as Procion MX dye, works much better and can be thickened so you can paint it just where you want it, but you would need to complete the project all at one time, and there is a little bit to learn about how to do it, in order to perfect the amount of thickening and the soda ash used to set the dye. Using fabric markers would be easier, and you could work on it a little at a time, instead.

Don't use any marker that is not specifically labeled as being a fabric marker. An ordinary Sharpie pen is not as good for your project as any fabric marker. Sharpie has recently come out with a line of fabric markers, which are probably fine. Just be sure that what you buy is specifically intended for use on fabric.

Not all fabric markers are alike, but just about all of them will do fine for a project like yours, as long as the labels say clearly that they are for fabric (often the same manufacturer also makes non-fabric markers, so check carefully). The Jacquard Tee Juice markers are especially good for bold, bright designs, because it is easy to squeeze out large amounts of the fabric marker ink as needed. I don't think that's your priority here; that will depend on the size of your leaf and flower motifs. My own favorite fabric markers are the Marvy Uchida fabric markers (sometimes sold as just Uchida fabric markers), because, if you leave them in the drawer for months, they take longer to dry up than the Fabricmate and Identipen markers, but the Fabricmate and Identipen markers are very good, too. These brands are all are available in a wide range of colors, and the marks they leave on fabric are almost impossible to feel with your hand. A set of markers in pastel colors is likely to be what you want, but also test the fluorescent colors, because some of those are equally suitable for the leaves and flowers in a project like yours. The FabricMate Tropical colors are also very suitable. You don't want the puffy velvet type of marker for this project, and you definitely do not want the erasable type of fabric marker.

Many local crafts, hobby, and art supply stores carry a range of different fabric markers. You can also easily find them online from an art supplier such as Blick Art Materials. A very wide number of different brands of fabric markers can be ordered from Dharma Trading Company.

I would advise you to buy a few fabric markers in colors that seem suitable for restoring your bedspread, but—this is important!—try them first on some cotton rags to see how easy they are to use, and to test the colors. It is common for a fabric marker to be a different color than you expect, due to a misleading choice of cap or barrel color for the pen. Test each of your fabric markers, then, if necessary, use the marker on opaque white first-aid tape or masking tape to label each one (covering it with clear adhesive tape so it doesn't rub off), so that you do not become confused.

A large project may require several pens of each color. As soon as you have started, you might want to buy one or two more of each of the colors you are using most, so you'll be sure to have enough. Don't open the new pens until needed; keep the caps on all of your fabric markers closed as tightly as possible when they are not in use, and store them in an airtight zip-top plastic bag or a plastic storage box. I've had some brands of fabric markers stay fresh and good for years after first opening, while other brands do not last even one year.

Instead of starting at one corner of your bedspread and completing it before you move on to the rest, I suggest you spread out where on the bedspread you choose to work, coloring in a few leaves or flowers in each section, so that the bedspread will not look so unfinished if you decide to use it before you are done. Your project should be easy to do, since you'll just be coloring in the shapes that are already on the chenille bedspread.

Here are a couple of examples of projects I completed using fabric markers that involved a lot more hand-drawing: a batiked red shirt with fabric marker butterflies, and a Wildflowers of Texas t-shirt.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Monday, January 02, 2012

What will work for a red cotton knit sweater whose color has run onto the white collar and cuffs?

Name: Joan

—ADVERTISEMENTS—

q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B00027C8N8&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=dyeblog-20&ServiceVersion=20070822

Clorox Bleach Pen Gel

Country or region: USA

Message: One website said that Rit Fixation is good to use for bleeding that has already occurred on my white cotton collar and cuffs (on a red cotton knit sweater). Clorox 2 has not worked. Your site does not talk about bleeding after the fact. Will this work in my case?

No. Now that the bleeding has already occurred, Rit Dye Fixative, like other cationic dye fixatives, can only make the stains on your collar permanent. This is obviously not something you want!

Cationic dye fixatives can be used only before you have dye where you don't want it, and only when the garment can be immersed in hot water the first time without causing problems when the dye does run. This is clearly not possible when white cotton has already been attached. The fixative should be used on the red part of the sweater only before attaching the white collar and cuffs. (See my page, "Commercial Dye Fixatives".)

Your garment was improperly made; if it was purchased, rather than hand-made by a close relative, it should be returned to the seller or the manufacturer, unless the care label says "dry clean only"'. If it does, dry cleaning instead of washing might have prevented the problem, and provides the maker with a legal "out" for having dyed and finished the garment improperly. Dry cleaning is a ridiculous requirement for an otherwise washable garment, though. The maker of the sweater should have used Retayne or Rit Dye Fixative, or any other brand of cationic dye fixative, on the improperly-fixed red-dyed parts, before ever putting the white collar and cuffs on the sweater. It does not take a great deal of intelligence to understand that unfixed red dye should never be combined in the same garment with white fabric. The construction of this garment was not planned correctly.

The best solution now would be to unpick the collar and cuffs from the sweater, actually removing the stitching that holds them together. Once you have completely separated the collar and cuffs from the sweater, you can use very hot water to remove the red dye stains from the white collar and cuffs (I hope they're pre-shrunk), or a good dye remover such as Rit Color Remover. (See "What chemicals can be used to remove dye?".) If the collar and cuffs are 100% cotton with no synthetic content at all, you can use diluted household chlorine bleach, once you've removed them from the sweater. Meanwhile, without the collar and cuffs, the excess dye in the sweater can be removed safely by washing, or, if washing is not sufficient, the dye can be treated with a cationic dye fixative such as Retayne or Rit Dye Fixative. (You will probably have to order this online, since few local stores carry it.) Only after the red dye is 100% safe should the white collar and cuffs be reattached. You can test the dyed part of the sweater for safety by dampening it, placing a white cotton cloth on each side, and then pressing it dry with a hot iron; if color transfers, the dye has not yet been washed out and/or fixed adequately.

If you are unwilling to remove the collar and cuffs from the sweater and then sew them back on again later, then you are limited in what you can do to repair them. A Clorox Bleach Pen can be used to remove color from the cotton collar and cuffs, but only if they have no synthetic fiber content at all, and you would have to be extraordinarily careful to avoid bleaching out color from the red part of the sweater. Rinsing the bleach out of the color and cuffs without allowing any of the rinse water to drip or splash on the red part of the sweater would be extremely difficult, and yet essential, in order to avoid further ruining the garment. If you can arrange the sweater on a rack in such as way that you can pour boiling water on the pink-stained collar without getting any on the sweater, the hot water might remove the dye, but there is no good way to stop the dye in the sweater from running again, while the collar and cuffs are still attached. Since Retayne, Rit Dye Fixative, and the other cationic dye fixatives all requite immersion in hot water with the dye fixative, there is no way to apply them without risking further bleeding onto the white fabric.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)