Archives for February, 2012

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Monday, February 27, 2012

What dyes should I use to dye a vest corset made of rayon with nylon and spandex?

Name: Cindy

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Country or region: United States

Message: I looked through the questions but I did not see this direct question. What dyes should I use to dye a vest corset 60% Rayon 37% Nylon 3% Spandex.

Your best choice would be a cool water fiber reactive dye, specifically Procion MX dye. You can buy three basic colors of this type of dye in a local crafts store in the form of a good tie-dyeing kit, or you can order any of a hundred different colors online from dye retailers such as PRO Chemical & Dye in Massachusetts, or Dharma Trading Company in California.

The great advantage of this choice of dye is that, since it does not require hot water, you don't have to worry about damaging the spandex. Check the care instructions on the label inside your garment: it will almost certainly say to wash it in cool water, since hot water is damaging to spandex. In addition, Procion MX dye is exceptionally long-lasting, as it is very resistant to fading in the wash.

Procion MX dye, when used with soda ash or washing soda to set the dye, will color the rayon, but not the nylon or spandex. Since your corset contains 60% rayon, you can aim for a pale to a medium color. Dyeing only 60% of the fiber in a blended garment will not produce the darkest colors; a bright red dye will end up a deep pink, while black dye will produce a dark gray. Paler colors and medium-intensity colors are easy to obtain. You can use Procion MX dyes in a large amount of water to dye a solid color, or you can mix them with a small amount of water and apply them directly to the fabric, if you want a multi-colored or tie-dyed effect. Cool water dyes are very versatile.

Another alternative is to use two kinds of dyes: acid dyes to color the nylon (and possibly the spandex), plus either direct dyes or fiber reactive dyes for the rayon. All-purpose dye contains both acid dye and direct dye, mixed together, so it can be used to dye nylon and rayon to more-or-less the same color at the same time. Unfortunately, all-purpose dye is a hot water dye and works best in water that is hotter than spandex likes; it is also inclined to run badly in the wash, so it fades much more quickly than fiber reactive dyes. To use all-purpoose dye on your corset, mix it with the hottest water the care instructions will allow. You will need to add salt to aid the direct dye in coloring the rayon fibers, and vinegar to aid the acid dye in coloring the nylon fibers. In future, after dyeing anything with all-purpose dye, always hand-wash the garment separately, since the color may run onto anything else you wash at the same time.

To avoid uneven or splotchy coloring, wash the corset thoroughly, in the hottest water it can tolerate, before dyeing, and stir continually throughout the dyeing process. There's always a small possibility, when you dye any commercially-made garment that is not labeled by the seller as PFD ("Prepared For Dyeing"), that there may be invisible stains or finishes that will repel dye; that's a risk you have to take.

It's very likely that all of the stitching in your corset was made with polyester thread, which will not take the dye, but instead will remain the original color. The same is true of any polyester trim or lace; some laces are made of polyester, while others are made of nylon, but it's rare to see the content of any trim material even mentioned on the label, even for garments that seem to be half trim. It's something to think about when choosing colors for the more dyeable elements in your corset.

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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

I have a polyester mosquito net that is black. Is there any way I could make this net unique by tie dyeing? Name: Colette

Country or region: Australia

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Message: I have a polyester mosquito net that is black. Is there any way I could make this net unique by tie dyeing?

No, you cannot dye anything that is black. Since dye is transparent, it simply does not show up against a black background.

It's often difficult or impossible to remove color from commercially dyed black fabric. Do not try to do so with chlorine bleach, as the hypochlorite it contains will damage polyester. You can try to use a sulfur-based dye color remover, such as Tintex Color Remover or Jacquard Color Remover, heating it with the netting in a large pot on the stove, but good results are not guaranteed. You could tie the netting first, as you would for tie-dyeing, in order to make a dyeable light design on a black background. Sometimes it works well enough, sometimes it doesn't. Instead, I recommend that you seek out a white mosquito net. The white background will allow you to apply a polyester dye, or possibly a very thin fabric paint.

If you can find a white mosquito net, I think that your best choice would be to use transfer dyes. While you cannot use any ordinary fabric dye on polyester, you can use disperse dyes. Another option would be a fabric paint, but that would be less ideal.

Transfer dyes are a type of disperse dye, a special polyester dye, that you paint or draw designs with onto paper, then use a hot iron or t-shirt transfer press to iron the design onto white or light-colored fabric. With thin mosquito netting, you might be able to apply the design to several layers of the mesh at once. You can also reuse the same image repeatedly, applying more dye to the paper as necessary. Be sure to use plenty of padding underneath to prevent the dye from transferring to your ironing board cover.

The advantage of transfer dye is that it is a true dye, so you can't feel it on the fabric. Unlike fabric paint, it won't clog up the little holes in the netting, and it won't make the netting stiffer or more rough.

Transfer dyes are available in several forms, including fabric transfer crayons, liquid transfer dyes, and disperse dye powder that you can mix yourself into paint, using dye print paste thickener if you want a thicker texture of paint.

Fabric transfer crayons look just like ordinary wax crayons, but the ingredients are completely different: don't try this with children's crayons! To see an example, look at my page, "Iron-on Fabric Crayons for Synthetic Fibers".

Transprint Liquid Transfer Dyes are liquid inks that contain disperse dye. In Australia, you can order them online from Kraftkolour or The Thread Studio. Since they're already in liquid form, they're very easy to use. Here's a link to an instruction sheet for them: "Transprint Inks by Kraftkolour P/L" [PDF].

Powdered disperse dyes are more readily available to hand dyers everywhere. Kraftkolour and Batik Oetoro are two sources in Australia; they're also available from Aljo Mfg and PRO Chemical & Dye in the US, and from Kemtex, Rainbow Silks, and other suppliers in the UK. You can see instructions for using powder disperse dye for transfer printing at Batik Oetoro, and at PRO Chemical & Dye .

Keep in mind that none of these materials for dyeing polyester will work on black mosquito netting. You will have to find white or light-colored netting if you wish to color it.

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A question about print paste. When I make my order it will be from Dharma. They have a thickener there, would that be better, worse or no different than Pro Print Paste?

[From Facebook wall posts, to & from me, 2/21 and 2/22/2012]

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Alginate

Carol: A question about print paste. When I make my order it will be from Dharma. They have a thickener there, would that be better, worse or no different than Pro Print Paste?

Dharma's sodium alginate is fine [they've had some supply problems, but apparently so has everyone], but you should be sure to also order sodium hexametaphosphate to use with it. Alginate can form a problematic gel when it combines with the calcium ions in water that's even a little bit hard, but hexametaphosphate prevents this from happening. Dharma does sell it; look for "water softener", and be sure to check the description to be sure it's sodium hexametaphosphate.

Look at my page on sodium alginate and other thickeners. At the end, it says what's in print paste mix.

Carol: Thank you again for answering my questions. I really appreciate it.

Carol: I just got done reading your page that you linked and now I have a couple more questions (sorry!). First, if I use distilled water, does that mean I don't need to use water softener? Second, if I'm using Print Paste, does that mean I don't need to use urea or water softener with the mixture? Also, is it necessary to have a blender to mix all this with?

You don't need to add water softener to distilled water. It can still be a good idea to use water softener in the tap water you use for washing out the excess dye afterwards, because the calcium in hard water can make complexes with the unattached dye molecules, making them more difficult to wash out. This is less important than using water softener or distilled water with alginate.

ProChem's recipe for using their print paste mix with Procion MX dyes for direct application [PDF] calls for additional urea and metaphos (their name for sodium hexametaphosphate). Check the instructions for using whatever brand of print paste mix you're looking at.

I don't use a blender for mixing alginate. For me it works to use a small stainless steel whisk and sprinkle the alginate powder over the water while whisking constantly. I've had no problems with mixing it up. Mix the alginate up a day in advance, just in case (not always necessary, but convenient if it turns out lumpy). To avoid the problem of lumps altogether, mix the alginate with alcohol or vegetable oil first, as explained in the recipe on my alginate page.

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Monday, February 20, 2012

I've been trying some Eco-dyeing with rose petals. Maybe you could share your method of doing it. [From Facebook wall posts, to & from me, 2/19/2012]

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

by Jim Liles

Mindy:

Hi, nice to meet you! I've been trying some Eco- dying with rose petals. I've tried it a couple of time and now I have a reliable resource so I divide all my rose petals by color. Maybe you share your method of doing it. I've only done it with silk but will try in some cotton as well. Thanks!

Personally I wouldn't want to bother using rose petals for dyeing fabric. They won't produce a long-lasting pretty color, especially if you ever wash the fabric. There must be better uses for rose petals. For a much better red or pink natural dye, try cochineal. Other good natural red dyes include madder, lac, or brazilwood. Like most natural dyes, they do not work as well on cotton as they do on silk or wool.

Thanks for! What about purple n greens?

When mordanted with alum or tin, logwood makes great purples. For greens, the best answer for over a thousand years has been to first dye blue with indigo, then, after washing out and airing, turn the blue to green by overdyeing with a yellow. There are no single-colorant greens that work nearly as well as indigo plus yellow. There are many yellow natural dyes; two of the best are quercitron or weld.

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Sunday, February 19, 2012

I want to dye cotton thread and I'm curious if there is a difference between the Jacquard Procion Dyes and the Dharma ones?
Hello,

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Procion MX Dye

cool water dyes
are ideal for cotton

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

Soda Ash

Soda ash fixes Procion dyes to cotton, rayon, or silk at room temperature, with no need for hot water that will melt your wax.

 
My name is Carol and I have a couple of questions to ask. First, I want to dye cotton thread and I'm curious if there is a difference between the Jacquard Fiber Resistant Procion Dyes and the Dharma ones? I see that Dharma has many more colors to choose from, but are the colors going to be as vibrant on the thread as Jacquard? I've never used either and before buying one I just want to make sure I'm getting the right one. Also, (sorry for the long post and all the questions!) I will be dying the thread just for my own use, not to sell, so how small of a batch of dye mixture will I need? Should I invest in those little tiny dye spoons? I want to make them variegated, not solid colors (mostly). Is there a place with good recipes for a large variety of colors to be able to produce with these types of dyes? Anything you can tell me will be GREATLY appreciated!

The Dharma Fiber Reactive Procion Dyes are the same type of fiber reactive dyes as the Jacquard Procion MX dyes. They are the same strength and the same quality. Most of the colors are slightly different, because they are mixed in-house, but the most basic and important colors are exactly the same; see my page listing the handful of single-hue unmixed dye colors. If you are buying large jars of the dye, both Jacquard Products and Dharma Trading have similar prices; for small jars, though, Dharma gives you a better deal.

To choose which colors to order to start out with, check out my page, "What colors should I buy to start out with?". I recommend you buy one two-ounce jar of each of the most important colors for mixing. I recommend (using Dharma's names) lemon yellow, either light red or fuchsia, turquoise, and new black; if you can buy a few more colors, get strong orange, cobalt blue, and grape, and also consider cerulean blue and sky blue. You will also need soda ash, water softener (sodium hexametaphosphate) if your water is hard, and probably urea.

To learn about color mixing, see my page, "How can I mix Procion MX dyes to get specific colors?".

You don't need the tiny dye spoons. I usually mix no less than one teaspoon of dye at a time. You will probably want to use the recipe for tie-dyeing concentrates, to make a thin liquid dye paint to drip onto your threads. I have a page on "How much Procion MX dye should I use?"; you should also look at the recipe on the page "How to Hand Dye".

Thank you SO SO much!!! You have no idea how much I appreciate it!!

[from Facebook wall posts on All About Hand Dyeing, 2/18/2012]

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Friday, February 17, 2012

Can you please tell me if your dyes will dye bugaboo pram fabrics?

Name: Hilary

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Country or region: UK

Message: Hiya, can you please tell me if your dyes will dye bugaboo pram fabrics? Thank you.

To decide what sort of dyes to use for any project, you have to first find out three things: 1, what the fiber content of the material is; 2, whether or not it is washable; and 3, whether it is water-resistant or stain-resistant.

It looks as though the canvas in Bugaboo brand products is made from 100% polyester, at least in some cases. Polyester cannot be dyed with any dye that works on natural fibers. You can use only a special kind of dye designed for synthetic fibers, which is called disperse dye. In the UK, you can order disperse dyes from George Weil or Kemtex Educational supply. (See my page, "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".) The transfer type of disperse dyes can be applied pretty easily by making a design on paper and then ironing it on, but solid-color dyeing requires boiling the fabric in a large pot of dye plus water plus a foul-smelling dye carrier/intensifier chemical. The only color intensifier chemical I've seen for sale on sites in the UK is in the little packets inside one brand of disperse dye, iDye Poly, which George Weil does sell. Without the color intensifier chemical, disperse dye produces only relatively pale colors on polyester.

None of that information is at all useful if your pram's material is water-resistant or stain-resistant. Try sprinkling some water on the fabric. If it beads up, instead of soaking in right away, then it is water-resistant and will also resist dye. Stain resistance is usually advertised in the promotional material about a product. You cannot dye anything that is water-resistant or stain-resistant.

It's also not possible to immersion-dye any fabric that is not washable. What does the care information for your pram say? Does it say you can remove the fabric in order to wash it? If you can't remove the fabric, you won't be able to boil it with the dye.

The iron-on transfer might work, though, even for some non-washable items, if they are not water-resistant. It's no good for getting a solid color. It's only good for drawing designs which you then transfer to the polyester (or other synthetic fiber) by ironing. For an example of this method, see my page, "Iron-on Fabric Crayons for Synthetic Fibers". You can use disperse transfer dye powder from Kemtex Educational Supplies to make paints to use to make iron-on transfers on paper.

Like any dye, disperse dye will be visible only if the original fabric color is light enough. White fabric can be changed to any color you like. Dark colors can't be changed at all. The only way to decorate a dark-colored material is by painting on it with an opaque fabric paint, such as Jacquard Products' Neopaque. Unfortunately, opaque fabric paints will wear off from polyester canvas rather quickly, so they are not something I can recommend for anything as subject to wear as a pram.

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Thursday, February 16, 2012

I have a dress that is 57% cotton, 43% acetate and the lining is 100% acetate and is also dry clean only. How I would go about dying this dress?

Name: Ashly

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Country or region: United States

Message: Hi so I have a dress that is 57% cotten, 43% acetate and the lining is 100% acetate and is also dry clean only. And I read on your site under polyester blends to use disperse dye, and for fabric like cotten most people use reactive dyes. I was just wondering how I would go about dying this dress. Would I use both dyes and if so how would I do that?

You can't dye this dress, because, as you point out, it is not washable. There is no way to properly dye anything without washing it a great many times. "Dry clean only" means "don't try to dye this".

There may be water-soluble finishes on the fabric that will be spoiled on the first washing. Undoubtedly, when you wash the dress, the cotton in the outside will shrink, while the acetate in the lining will not. The lining will stick out under the outer part of the dress, and the shape of the dress will be ruined.

If this were a washable dress, you'd probably want to dye it with a mixture of iDye Poly, for acetate, and plain iDye, for cotton; these two dyes can actually be mixed together in one pot and applied at the same time, heating the dress in the dye to 160°C-180°F and keeping it at that temperature for an hour, stirring constantly; the cooking pot you use for this should not be reused for food, ever again. Alternatively, the dress could be dyed in two steps, once with superior fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX, for the cotton, and again with disperse dye, for the acetate. Or, if a paler color will work for you, you could stick to only the much easier-to-use reactive dye for the cotton, and leave the acetate undyed.

However, there is no point in trying to dye a dress that will be ruined by dyeing or washing. You must prewash the dress to remove any invisible stains or finishes that would interfere with dyeing, and you must wash the dress several times after dyeing to remove excess unattached dye; in addition, the dyeing process itself will be at least as damaging as the washing step, since it requires a great deal of water. Procion fiber reactive dye, for only the cotton fibers in the dress,can be applied in room-temperature water, but dyeing acetate requires cooking the dress in the dye.

For more information see my page, "Can I dye clothing that is labeled 'dry clean only'?".

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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Dylon fabric dye didn't work on nylon. Can you help?

Name: Megan

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Lanaset Dyes are among the very best dyes for hand-dyeing wool, silk, angora, mohair, and most nylons. You will also need: citric acid, sodium acetate, Glauber salt, Albegal SET, and Synthrapol.

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Washfast Acid dyes
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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: USA

Message: My daughter and I are making costumes for her young choreographer' s dance entry. When we went to the web site to order the bootie shorts, they didn't have enough of the colors she wanted... So we got the bright idea that we could handle this dye job....Wrong! $400.00 dollars later we have two dozen nylon bootie shorts that of course were dye resistant. Following the directions to a tee- we used Dylon fabric dye and recommended salt on low heat for a total of 60 minutes. When the blue washed away in the cold rinse, I put them back in the, now room temp, dye bath and left them over night. We are dying chocolate brown and tulip red as well. At this point all shorts have been simply pulled from their dye to dry without rinsing. I need advice on what to do without further compromising the spandex nature of the shorts and get some color. Can you help?

What kind of Dylon dye were you using? Dylon makes different kinds of dyes.

If you were using Dylon Permanent, then it's no wonder it didn't do anything. Dylon Permanent contains fiber reactive dye plus trisodium phosphate, a high-pH chemical that, like all high-pH chemicals, happens to prevent nylon from dyeing. Nylon is best dyed with acid dyes, in the presence of a mild acid such as vinegar. Other dyes, which don't contain high-pH chemicals, can often be made to work as acid dyes if you use vinegar, but the high-pH chemicals in Dylon Permanent will neutralize any acid you add, so you will end up with no acid at all, and no nylon dyeing.

On the other hand, Dylon Multi-Purpose dye is like Rit All-Purpose dye; both contain a mixture of dye types, including acid dyes, so both can work on nylon if used with vinegar. They're not the best acid dyes, but good enough for costumes, as long as they manage to produce the right color (sometimes the color is different in hue from what the package predicts). I don't think I've seen Dylon Multi Purpose dyes for sale in the US any time recently, though, so you probably have Dylon Permanent. It's sometimes possible to find Dylon Cold Dyes, which contain Procion MX dyes that can work on nylon if used with vinegar or another acid, leaving out the soda ash dye activator called for by the recipes for dyeing cotton. You need a different recipe for that, though.

Salt is not much use for dyeing nylon, by the way. What you need for nylon is vinegar.

The simplest solution would probably be to get some Rit dye, since it does contain acid dye, and some vinegar. Rit dye is expensive compared to many other dyes, since each packet of powder is sufficient for only one pound of dry fabric, but, if you're in a hurry, driving around to find enough boxes of the color of Rit dye you want may be faster than ordering online, which is what you usually have to do to get better acid dyes. There are better acid dyes, but in your case faster is undoubtedly more important than better.

Weigh a number of the pairs of shorts to find out how many it takes to make up a pound. (Weigh them while they are dry, not wet!) Buy at least one packet of Rit or Tintex all-purpose dye for each pound of dry fabric, or one bottle of the liquid dye for two pounds of fabric. For paler colors, use less dye per pound of fabric; for darker or more intense colors, including brown or red, use twice as much dye.

Since you don't want to damage the spandex, don't heat the dyebath to the ideal temperature for dyeing nylon (normally around 185°F); see if hot water will do the job, or even try first with merely warm water, depending on how concerned you are about the spandex. Use one cup of distilled white vinegar in three gallons of water. To encourage level dyeing, in which you get a solid color rather than a mottled one, wait until after the clothing has been in the dyebath for five minutes before adding the vinegar, include a tablespoon of laundry detergent in the dyebath, and stir frequently.

You must rinse clothing thoroughly before wearing it. Unrinsed dye will rub off even when the clothing is wet, ruining other clothing or furniture, and exposing people's skin to unwise quantities of dye powder.

I have to warn you that some nylons have a coating on them that you cannot feel, but which blocks dye. We don't yet know if this is a problem for your nylon shorts, because even perfectly dyeable nylon cannot be dyed with Dylon Permanent dye. We can hope that your shorts will dye well with acid dye. Dylon Permanent dye is very good for cotton, by the way, much better than Rit; it's not a bad dye, just not suitable for nylon.

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Monday, February 13, 2012

I have a light blue polyester dress with some stains on it. I want to salvage the dress but know conventional dyeing won't work on polyester.

Name: Shelby

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Country or region: USA

Message: Hi~ I have a light blue polyester dress with some stains on it. I want to salvage the dress but know conventional dyeing won't work on polyester. Is there a paint you would recommend that I use as a last ditch effort to save the dress?

Polyester can be dyed by boiling it with a special kind of dye designed only for synthetic fibers, called disperse dye, but dyeing your dress a solid color would not cover up the stains anyway, unless you choose a very dark color with a huge amount of dye. Stains usually end up showing right through any dye, since they become darker at the same time that the rest of the garment does.

If you apply a "busier" sort of design, though, that might work well. The random splotches and crystal shapes of low water immersion (LWI) dyeing are pretty good at distracting the eye from a stain that shows too well on a light solid color.

There are a number of fabric paints that you could use, combined with stamping, stenciling, sponging, or other decorative techniques that do not yield a solid color. All of the fabric paints made by Jacquard Products, for example, including Dye-Na-Flow, Textile Colors, and Lumiere, are supposed to work on polyester.

There is an even better answer, though. A unique property of the special polyester dyes called disperse dyes (which are the only type of dye that works on polyester) is that they can be applied to paper and then transferred by heat, using a hot dry iron or a t-shirt press. This is easier than immersion-dyeing the dress a solid color, because the heat transfer method does not require the smelly dye transfer chemicals that solid-color dyeing does.

If you would like a childlike crayon design—these can be surprisingly effective—then I recommend that you buy some Crayola Fabric Crayons, or Dritz Fabric Crayons (these are the same thing sold under two different brand names). You can usually find them at a fabric store or a crafts store. Look at my example here: "Iron-on Fabric Crayons for Synthetic Fibers". The crayons look dull on paper, but turn beautifully bright once ironed on to polyester. You can use the transfers you've made more than once, but the image will get a little lighter with each successive printing. For more repeats of a motif, or to ensure consistent color intensity, you can recolor the paper repeatedly after you've used it to iron on the design to your dress. It's easy to do this since some color remains on the paper to act as your guide.

For a more artistic effect, you can buy disperse dyes in powdered form and use them to make disperse dye paint, which you can paint onto paper and then transfer with an iron, exactly as you would with the fabric transfer crayons. Good sources for disperse dye powders in the US include PRO Chemical & Dye in Massachusetts and Aljo Mfg in New York; both sell their dyes online. Here is a link to ProChem's instructions for "Transfer Printing on Polyester using PROsperse Disperse Dyes" [PDF] .

You could make transfers in random blob shapes using colors that you like, or write words (be sure to write them backwards, since they will be reversed after ironing them on!). Try making motifs inspired by the shapes of leaves, birds, butterflies, flowers....anything you can think of. If you don't like your own drawings, you can trace shapes that you find in pictures. Be careful to test computer printouts to see whether the ink in them will transfer, also, if you are printing them out in order to color over them, as a guide; some older inkjet printers use disperse dyes in their ink formulas.

Before you try transferring any of your designs to your dress, it's very important to try doing so on scraps of fabric, of the same fiber content and texture as your dress. You need to get an idea of exactly how the colors will look after transfer. If you don't have a suitable rag to use from worn-out clothing, go to a fabric store and buy some inexpensive fabric that is similar to the dress. Note that disperse dye transfers work only on light backgrounds; they will not show up well on fabric that is already a dark color. The light blue of your dress should work quite well for this.

A very nice things about all of these disperse dye transfers is that, since disperse dye is a true dye, it does not leave any stiff or scratchy feeling on the fabric. Even the best fabric paints do alter the hand of the fabric at least a little. If you close your eyes, you will not be able to tell where you've added disperse dye color and where you have not. Check the manufacturer's instructions for care, afterwards; you can wash it normally, but I believe that clothing colored with the Crayola Fabric Crayons should not be placed in a dryer, as the heat might cause the color to stain other parts of the fabric.

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Sunday, February 12, 2012

Can a polyurethane-treated cotton jacket be dyed?

Name: Sebastian

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NikWax twin pack tech wash and tx direct wash-in

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DWR finishes are incompatible with dyeing. DWR finishes should be applied only after dyeing is completed.

Country or region: Canada

Message: Hello, I have a winter coat that has faded unevenly, and would like to dye it back to a solid dark olive green. It's has a 100% cotton shell, with a polyurethane treatment on the fabric, which explains why it totally rejected the fibre-reactive dye I attempted to use on it. This coating does help block out the wind, but doesn't seem to be water-repellant (rain soaks in quite easily rather than beading up) - can it be dyed? I've seen some advice on your site stating that Lycra (elastic polyurethane) cannot be dyed, but in some other places I've seen those 2:1 pre-metallized acid dyes recommended for PU foam. Thank you for your time!

I think your coat almost certainly has a DWR (durable water resistant) coating on it, in addition to the polyurethane, but which is not currently working due to normal dirt accumulation from wear. The DWR coating, like all fabric finishes, is never referenced in the fiber contents label. I believe that DWR finishes are typically made of either silicone or fluorocarbons (the latter being related to Teflon).

You will never be able to remove the DWR finish enough to allow dyeing. The best course is to restore the DWR finish so that it functions well again, even though this will do nothing to solve the fading.

The way to restore the function of a DWR finish is to wash the coat thoroughly, preferably using a product such as Nikwax Tech Wash, then machine dry it for at least fifteen minutes at medium heat. Remove the coat from the dryer immediately after the cycle ends, to prevent creasing. Both the cleaning and the heat of the dryer are needed to restore a DWR finish. If the DWR finish is not sufficiently restored for function by washing and drying, you can apply another layer. Suitable products include Nikwax TX Direct Wash In Water Repellent and Nikwax TX Direct Spray On. (There are probably other brand names that are as good, but this is the brand name I've used myself. Try calling an REI store, or another store that specializes in camping and climbing gear, for advice on other brands.)

It's true that Lycra and other brands of spandex can be dyed (see my page, "How to Dye Spandex"), but it's generally impractical to do so. When spandex is blended with other fibers, it's almost always best, for home dyeing, to dye only the other fiber. The spandex portion of blends does not even show except when the fabric is stretched, and the conditions required to dye the spandex itself are better used before the spandex is incorporated into a garment, since the heat required (40°F or 60°C) may cause the spandex in the garment to lose its shape.

If your coat did not have a DWR finish, and if the polyurethane were actually on the outside of the fabric, then it might make sense to try dyeing it with 1:2 metal-complex acid dyes, probably in the same color as the entirely different dyes required to dye the cotton itself, but I think chances are very small that there's no DWR finish. I think that actually the polyurethane may not be a treatment on the fabric at all, but instead a membrane that is hidden inside the fabric of the outer shell. A DWR finish is applied to polyurethane-laminate fabric to keep the fabric from absorbing water and becoming heavy; the polyurethane membrane prevents water from penetrating the fabric all the way through, but wet fabric is disagreeable to wear even when no water is coming through it.

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Saturday, February 11, 2012

Looking for a fluorescent yellow acid dye for golf balls

Name: Charlie

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Paradise Fibers sells fluorescent Flavine Yellow among their Washfast Acid Dyes.

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Message: Read your response on another forum on dyeing golf balls a bright fluorescent yellow and was impressed with your knowledge and interest. Dharma used to sell a fluorescent yellow dye (acid?) that worked well for me in regards to color. The dye depth was only a few microns deep, but worked well. Dharma has stopped selling this product and wouldn't/couldn't lead me to another source. I was wondering if you knew of another source or another type of fluorescent yellow dye that might work. You mentioned a dispersion dye in your response, but I couldn't find a supplier that would furnish a small sample for a trial. The golf balls have a urethane outer layer with, I believe, some type of clear coating -- probably for sheen. You seem to be very knowledgeable in dyes and I was hoping you could give me some help in locating some material or company. Thanks.

I wonder if you might be referring to the Dye Forum discussion, "Dying Golf Balls", from March of 2011. If not, you might like to check that out, though it's probably redundant with what you did read.

Dharma Trading Company used to sell a dye called "Fluorescent Yellow Dye", referred to on their MSDS as "D-834 Grand Yellow Dye", described as a mixture, which was recommended for immersion dyeing of silk, wool, yarn, hair, and nylon. Given that range of substrates, it must have been an acid dye, as you surmised. They described it as follows:

"In normal light it is very bright, or "neon" looking but under a blacklight it glows. Comes in an orange powder and turns yellow when dyed. It is the only true flourescent dye we carry and it works great. Write words, create signs, put them to the black light and they will shine. Going out for the night at the clubs, add some flourcent to your clothing and no matter how bad you dance, they will see you as the coolest dancer under the disco lights."

I don't know exactly what dye this was, but I can direct you to a couple of other fluorescent dyes that you can test to see whether they are suitable for your needs.

First, Jacquard's iDye line of direct dyes, which are a not-very-washfast line of dyes for natural fibers, includes "405 Fluorescent Yellow". It is recommended for cotton, silk, wool, linen, and rayon. Dharma does sell this dye. There are some dyes which can act both as acid dyes and as direct dyes (to work as an acid dye they require the presence of an acid, such as vinegar), so I don't know whether or not this is a different dye. Dharma's MSDS for this dye is at the moment unreachable, but you can see another copy of Jacquard's rather uninformative MSDS [PDF] which identifies it as a stilbene (a common dye class for fluorescent brighteners). I don't know its generic name.

Next, a very common fluorescent acid dye is called Flavine Yellow; its generic name is Colour Index acid yellow 7, and its CAS number 2391-30-2. It is sold by many dye retailers. PRO Chemical & Dye sells it among their Washfast Acid Dyes as 107A Flavine Yellow, pricing the smallest size container at $12.00. Acid yellow 7 is not included among the Jacquard Acid Dyes or the Dharma Acid Dyes. Aljo Mfg, in Manhattan, does sell this and several other fluorescent acid dyes in the best color range I know, and might be willing to send you small samples for testing if you call them; please tell them that I sent you. Their last price list indicated that the smallest container cost $3.20, but I don't know if this price is current. Like just about all true fluorescent dyes, Flavine Yellow G is very poorly lightfast, with a lightfastness rating of only 1 or 2 on a scale of 1 to 8, and can be expected to fade relatively quickly in direct sunlight. Here's a structure for acid yellow 7, provided by ChemicalBook.com:

http://www.chemicalbook.com/ProductChemicalPropertiesCB2324207_EN.htm

Dharma appears to be temporarily sold out of their fluorescent yellow acid dye, part of their Dharma Acid Dyes line of dyes, 445 Fluorescent Lemon, generically known as Colour Index acid yellow 250, CAS 93859-32-6. Apparently the price for their smallest container is $4.78. I don't have any data on the lightfastness of acid yellow 250, but don't expect good lightfastness from any fluorescent dye. It's described on another manufacturer's site as a coumarin derivative, commonly used for dyeing fluorescent yellow tennis balls. Its full chemical name is Benzoxazolesulfonicacid, 5-(aminosulfonyl)-2-[7-(diethylamino)-2-oxo-2H-1-benzopyran-3-yl]-,monosodium salt (9CI). Here's a structure provided by GuideChem.com:

http://www.lookchem.com/cas-938/93859-32-6.html

It looks as though Dharma's old fluorescent yellow dye, D834 Grand Yellow, was made by the Day-Glo Color Corporation, which also made another fluorescent yellow, D818 Roanoke Yellow (this information from Flagger Central.) I don't know whether they still make these dyes. Find contact information for Day-Glo Color at dayglo.com. Please let me know if you are able to find these dyes.

Disperse dyes are the best class of dyes for those synthetic materials on which acid dyes do not work, though they tend to be less wash-resistant than acid dyes on those synthetic materials that will take acid dyes, such as nylon and polyurethane, but I don't know of a source for reasonably small quantities of them. Huntsman Textile Effects is marketing a range of fluorescent disperse dyes under the name Terasil FF, including three colors listed as Flavine 10GFF, Red GFF, and Red 3BFF, but this is of no more than idle interest if the smallest size package you can order is 5 kilograms, as is common for dye manufacturers, and the reason why dye retailers who repackage into smaller sizes are so important to hand dyers. I hope you'll be able to find dyes that meet your needs at Aljo, ProChem, or Dharma. Please let me know what ends up working for you.

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Tuesday, February 07, 2012

What dye do I use for an acetate/spandex blend? Can it be done?

Name: Dee

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Message: I soaked a 90% Acetate/10% Spandex black skirt in oxyclean and it turned a dark purple/brown color. I want to dye it back to its original black color. What dye do I use for this blend of fabric? Can it be done?

I don't have a good feeling about the idea of redyeing your skirt. What does its care instructions label say?

Usually, spandex-containing clothing is marked as being suitable for washing in cool water only, no warmer than 105°F. This is because the spandex is heat-sensitive, and may lose its shape, or worse, if subjected to higher temperatures.

Unfortunately, acetate requires very hot water for dyeing. The best dyes for acetate are the disperse dyes, which are used only for dyeing synthetic fibers. You can buy disperse dye in the form of Jacquard Products's "iDye Poly" (don't confuse this dye with plain "iDye", which is for natural fibers only), or by ordering from Aljo Mfg or PRO Chemical & Dye, in the US.

Although acetate will take some color when dyed with disperse dye in merely hot water, in my experience it does not get really dark in color unless you heat it to simmering, 180°F-190°F. It seems very likely that these temperatures would ruin the spandex in your skirt.

In addition, dyeing anything in hot water for the first time requires a significant investment, because you would need a very large cooking pot, 12 quarts or larger, either stainless steel or enameled. You should not reuse this pot for food after you use it for dyeing clothing. A dyeing pot is a good investment if you will be dyeing more things in the future, but it's too expensive for a single use.

Given all of this, I recommend against trying to restore your acetate/spandex skirt by dyeing it. I think it's not worth the effort and expense.

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Friday, February 03, 2012

Name: Marjory

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Message: I have been painting with thickened acid (usually Aljo) dyes for years. I use Meypro gum as the thickening agent. In the summer one large batch of Meypro gum went moldy and had to be thrown out. Some, but not all, of the thickened dyes we've made up recently are becoming thin within a week and sometimes the colours are separating. The Meypro gum I'm using is all from the same source but ordered at intervals over the past ten months. The recipe used and mixing process hasn't changed. Any ideas about why this is happening? I appreciate your help.

Meypro gum is a brand of guar gum, made from guar beans. Like all of the different dye thickeners, guar gum is a polysaccharide, a long chain of sugars, in this case including galactose and mannose. It's used not only for thickening acid dyes, but also for thickening the caustic paste used to burn out devoré patterns on mixed fiber fabrics. It's not used for reactive dyes because it reacts with those dyes.

You're still buying your Meypro from the same source as always before, but the people you buy it from may have had to switch suppliers, or their suppliers may be having problems. It's obvious that there's something very different about the product you're getting now.

I haven't heard of guar gum supply problems until now, but it sounds surprisingly like the problems people have been having lately with alginate, a seaweed-based thickener used more often for reactive dyes, although the two types of thickeners are completely different both in the plants they originate from and the identity of the chemicals responsible for their thickener properties.

The dye supply retailer Dharma Trading Company wrote, "we have just gotten over a world wide shortage of Alginate Kelp. But the brand we used to carry is no longer available anywhere. The product we now have to carry is different from the old kind, particularly the HV, slightly finer, lighter in color, and you may have to use a little more, depending on your use. We will be doing some experiments, and will post on this page if we find any radical difference. But this is it, the only one that anyone can get any more."

Meanwhile, they're also having problems, more serious ones, with the main competitor for thickening reactive dyes, a product with the brand name Superclear, a poly(acrylic acid)-based thickener: "Attention - we can no longer get this product. We bought the last of it and the manufacturer can no longer get the ingredients. They have sent us samples of several alternatives, but they have been completely unacceptable. the last one wasn't even safe to use. We are trying to get you a substitute, but we are only going to accept one if it works and is relatively safe. For now, Sodium Alginate powdered thickener is your best bet for now."

It seems very odd that three completely different dye thickeners should have supply problems at almost the same time.

The first thing you should do is call your current supplier for Meypro gum, and ask whether they can tell you anything about the quality problems you've been experiencing. It's unlikely that you're the only one to have experienced this. Perhaps they can supply a higher grade that acts more like the old product. It might be easier to get them to supply you with a higher-quality product, if one is even available, than to find other sources and test each of them for suitability for your needs.

To fight the more rapid breakdown of the guar gum, perhaps you could try refrigeration, if you haven't been doing that already. Be sure to return your gum mixture completely to room temperature before you attempt to use it, and check to make sure that cold temperatures don't have a hard-to-reverse effect on the thickener; it's extremely important to test this, since, for example, liquids thickened with starch are never the same after refrigeration as they were before. If you want to try using a preservative to stop the growth of mold, I've seen a recipe (in J. N. Liles book, "The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing") that calls for adding 0.1% sodium benzoate, or about one teaspoon per gallon.

Now that the shortage of alginate is over, it's another alternative for you to use in thickening your acid dyes. Canadian suppliers for sodium alginate that is suitable for dyeing including G&S Dye in Toronto, Harmony Hand Dyes in Tisdale, Saskatchewan, and Maiwa Handprints in Vancouver. Maiwa also sells guar gum; if they are not your current supplier, perhaps they would be a good alternative source. Maiwa is a reputable supplier; in your situation, I might try their guar gum first.

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