Archives for July, 2012

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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Is it possible to remove the color from a soft porous foam material?

I have been looking over "The Dye Forum" and thought I would

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Neopaque is an opaque fabric paint, so white and light colors can cover a dark or colored background. Recommended for both natural and synthetic fibers.

email you a question that has been burning within me for a while. I've been looking to dye some black porous foam like material to a light grey. Unfortunately this means I am going from a darker to brighter color. This would involve a bleaching process (I imagine) followed by dyeing afterward. I had previously attempted using bleach on a similar material, shoe shining foam. The material degraded and stayed black. I have since asked numerous people (not experts) and they either said it was impossible or they didn't know. I am hoping you can give me a definitive answer about the possibility of a bleaching/lightening process. If so how would I go about doing it?

You are correct that the way to go from a dark color to a light one is to first remove the original color, and then add color as needed. I don't know whether removing the original color will be possible or not—I suspect it may not be—but I can tell you the best thing to try.

There are several different color remover chemicals that work on a different principle than the chlorine-based bleach you've tried already. See the "Reductive Discharges" section of my page, "What chemicals can be used to remove or discharge dye?". Which of these other chemicals you use doesn't matter very much, because they are all based on the same chemical, sulfur dioxide. The sulfur-based color discharge chemicals are much kinder to synthetic materials than are the chlorine-based discharge chemicals. They all require some heat; more heat works better, so start with merely hot tap water and then, if that doesn't work, try heating on a stovetop to a simmer (if the foam can handle that much heat). Each produces similar results to the others, so there is no need to go trying first one and then another.

If you're in the US, probably the easiest of the color remover chemicals to find is Rit Color Remover. Although I am not at all a fan of Rit All-Purpose Dye, I do very much like Rit Color Remover, which is a very good product. Some pharmacies or grocery stores carry Rit Color Remover. You should also be able to find it at a fabric store. if you can't find it locally, you can order it online.

Unfortunately, chances are good that it will be impossible to remove the color from your foam, even with the very best product. If the foam was colored by adding pigment to it while it was still in liquid form, then nothing will be able to remove the color. Even if the foam was dyed after manufacture, there are some dyes that are completely resistant to any means of color removal. It's worth a try, though.

Try Rit Color Remover on a piece of test foam, as you did with chlorine-based bleach, so you don't risk the piece you need. In addition, you should redouble your efforts to find a lighter-colored source of a similar foam. If you buy a large block of soft polyurethane foam, can you carve it to fit your application? Try searching at an upholstery store.

If you succeed in removing the dark color, or in buying another foam that is a lighter color than you need, then we can discuss what sort of dye you should use.

Another possible option to test would be to apply an opaque form of paint to your foam. It must be opaque in order to cover the original color; most fabric paint is transparent, so look for the word "opaque" on the label. Use only fabric paint, specifically labeled for use on fabrics, in order to avoid the usual stiff, scratchy hard acrylic paint; fabric paints are much softer and stretchier. Obviously, this will work better for some purposes than others, and it may not be at all suitable. You can buy fabric paints at some fabric stores and at crafts store. I recommend the Jacquard Neopaque brand for combining softness and opacity, though I am not sure that it will meet your needs. It is supposed to stick to both synthetic and natural fiber materials, including polyester and nylon, but I don't know how well it will stick to or how soft it will feel on your material.

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Sunday, July 29, 2012

Can I dye a dry-clean-only silk jersey dress that lost its color?

Name: Joy

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Jacquard Acid Dyes

Jacquard Acid Dyes are concentrated, powdered, hot water dyes that produce the most vibrant possible results on protein fibers including silk, wool, cashmere, alpaca, feathers, and most nylons. Superior to all-purpose dyes.

Country or region: NY

Message: Can I dye a silk jersey fabric that lost its color? My favorite black dry clean only dress was washed by my ever-so-helpful mother and is no longer a true black. Would you please recommend a brand, and a method? Thank you!

You can't dye anything that you can't wash. See the following page that I wrote about this:

"FAQ: Can I dye a dry-clean-only dress?"

If washing doesn't damage the dress, other than by fading inferior non-washfast dyes, then you can dye it. The easiest way to dye washable silk a solid color would be in the washing machine, using either acid dye (such as Jacquard Acid Dye) or Procion fiber reactive dye, closely following all the details in a good recipe for the type of dye you choose. You can find good recipes among the links on the page "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?".

Note that you will need a lot more dye powder for dyeing black than for dyeing another color. Most Procion blacks produce off shades on silk, since they're balanced for use on cotton, but the "Silk Black" color of Procion dye sold by PRO Chemical & Dye will produce a decent black, if you use enough of it. Black acid dyes do produce black on silk, though again only if you use enough dye; unlike Procion MX dyes, acid dyes require very hot water to do their best at dyeing.

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Saturday, July 28, 2012

How can I remove colour of polyester by chemical?

Name: Chetna

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Country or region: India

Message: How can I remove colour of polyester by chemical? and by which chemical I can do it, with water and heat?

Avoid using chlorine-based bleaches, such as sodium hypochlorite (which is the active ingredient in most household bleach). They cause permanent damage to polyester in the form of a dull yellowish stain that cannot be removed.

Any of the sulfur-based color removers would be suitable for removing color from dyed polyester. See the "Reductive Discharges" section of my page, "What chemicals can be used to remove dye?". The most popular include sodium hydrosulfite, also known as sodium dithionite, which is in Rit Color Remover; thiourea dioxide, also known as formamidine sulfinic acid, found in Jacquard Color Remover. There are links on my page to instruction sheets for dye removal using some of the individual chemicals listed. I also posted instructions for using sodium hydrosulfite as a color remover in the Dye Forum in May of 2006, titled "How to use sodium hydrosulfite to discharge dye".

Note that not all dye colors can be removed. Some dyes are easy to remove, but others cannot be removed, no matter what you do. Unless you know exactly what dye was used on your material, the only way to find out whether it can be removed is to try it.

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Thursday, July 26, 2012

Can I dye silk obijime kumihimo cords black?

Name: John

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Linda Knutson's book
Synthetic Dyes
for Natural Fibers

provides a thorough introduction to hand-dyeing

Color in Spinning
by Deb Menz

mixing your own colors
with Lanaset dyes

Country or region: United States

Message: I want to buy some solid color, dead stock japanese silk obijime kumihimo (that seems like a mouthfull!) and dye them black. If you are not familiar with them, they are small braided cords used as part of a traditional kimono ensemble. I am repurposing them as a strap. They are typically either round and about 8mm to 10mm (0.32") in diameter or flat and about 10mm to 15mm wide. A picture of a typical flat one can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/ckjont2 I would be removing the tassels at the ends.

What are the odds that I could successfully dye something like the obijime in that photo to solid black? I would want something that is colorfast and not irritating to the skin, since it would be in contact on occasion. It would be used outdoors and could possibly be exposed to small amounts of rain and I wouldn't want it to bleed onto a person or clothes.

If this seems it might be doable, would you recommend a method that is suitable for someone without experience in dyeing?

Thanks for your time and assistance.

This will probably not be at all difficult. Silk is an easy fiber to dye. The situation would be different if the cords were made of polyester or acrylic. Removing the tassels makes dyeing easier, because tassels tend to tangle badly if dyed while unwrapped, but leaving them wrapped as shown in the picture would prevent dye from reaching them fully.

There are many good dyes for silk that would be good enough for your purposes. Acid dyes are the best choice, but reactive dyes and direct dyes also work well on silk. Because it makes a very good black, and because it is exceptionally wash-resistant, I would recommend that you order some Lanaset dye. The Lanaset Jet Black is extremely satisfactory on silk, and easy to use. Unlike other acid dyes, Lanaset dye persists without fading even after multiple washings in hot water, and unlike dyes manufactured for use on cotton, the Lanaset dye reliably produces a rich dark black on silk, rather than a dark green or dark purple.

Sources from which you can order small quantities of Lanaset dye in the US include PRO Chemical & Dye in Massachusetts, Earth Guild in North Carolina, and Paradise Fibers in Washington state. You can find contact information for these and other dye suppliers on my page of Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World. Enough Lanaset Jet Black to dye a pound of silk cord costs $2.40 at Earth Guild, plus shipping and handling.

There's more than one way to apply the Lanaset dye. The easiest way, which would not require you to buy a special dyeing pot, would be to soak the cords in a vinegar/water mixture, then place them on a piece of plastic wrap and paint them with a dye paint made by mixing four teaspoons of Lanaset Jet Black dye powder per eight-ounce cup of water. Wear waterproof gloves when working with dye. Securely wrap the cords, still quite wet with the Lanaset dye, in multiple layers of plastic wrap, then set the dye by steaming for thirty minutes in just the same way as you might steam vegetables. (If you think you'd like to use your regular kitchen steamer, you must wrap the bundle securely enough that not even a single drop of dye can possibly escape; placing the bundle inside a ziplock freezer bag, with the air squeezed out before sealing, would provide an added layer of protection.) Allow the cords to cool to room temperature before unwrapping them and washing out the excess dye. ProChem supplies a detailed recipe for this method of dyeing; see "Rainbow Dyeing using Lanaset/Sabraset Dyes" [PDF]. In my experience the silk color that results is a reasonably solid black, in spite of not using any of the techniques required for a perfectly smooth even color.

For more perfection in the evenness of color, immerse the cords in a much larger volume of water with the dye, and stir throughout the dyeing process, heating the silk on the stovetop to a maximum temperature of 185°F. You will need to buy a suitable pot for dyeing in, large enough to hold two or three gallons of water. (That's the size needed if you'll be dyeing one pound of cord at a time: if you're dyeing only four ounces of cord, a pot that will hold one gallon of water will be sufficient, while two ounces of cord will require only a two-quart pot.) Your dyeing pot should not be made of aluminum, which reacts with acidic chemicals such as vinegar; stainless steel is the best choice. Don't plan to reuse this pot for food. In addition to ordering the Lanaset dye, also order the auxiliary chemicals recommended by the manufacturer: Albegal SET and sodium acetate. If you prefer, you can also order citric acid to use instead of vinegar. If the cords are fine enough to get tangled, you will need to loosely tie them in bundles to prevent this from happening. A good recipe to follow to dye silk in a pot with Lanaset dyes is ProChem's "Immersion Dyeing using Lanaset/Sabraset Dyes".

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Monday, July 23, 2012

Can an herbal mordant substitute for alum in using natural dyes for baby products?

Name: Kelly

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A Handbook of Indigo Dyeing

by Vivien Prideaux

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

by J.N. Liles

An excellent source of many well-tested, difficult-to-find recipes for natural dyes

Country or region: USA

Message: There is an herbal mordant available from one company that is a combination of two plants: Terminalia Chebula, more commonly known as Myrobalan, and Punica Granatum which is Pomegranate. Can you speak on using an herbal mordant? My friend and I were hoping to create a baby product for the Farmers' Market and were so disappointed to read that the all mordants are virtually toxic. Thanks much.

Both of those plants, myrobalan and pomegranate, are rich in tannins. Myrobalan contains terflavin B and chebulinic acid, while pomegranate contains punicalagins.

Tannins are commonly used for mordanting cellulose-containing fibers such as cotton and linen. They work best as mordants when combined with a metal ion mordant. A very popular method is to mordant cotton first by boiling it with alum, then by boiling it with tannin, and finally by mordanting again with alum, before dyeing with natural dyestuffs. This results in richer and longer-lasting colors than mordanting with tannin alone.

It is possible to use tannins alone to mordant your plant-based fabric before or after dyeing, but the results will not be as colorful and will wash out more quickly than if you use tannins plus alum. They are best used for items that will not be washed too often. Unfortunately, baby products usually require frequent washing.

Both myrobalan and pomegranate can also be used as dyes themselves, rather than solely for mordanting. Without metal-ion mordants, the colors yielded tend to be dull yellowish browns. I am not sure how popular these colors would prove to be among purchasers of baby items.

For those determined to use only natural dyes, a better choice for baby products is to use indigo, which can be made from both plant-derived and synthetic sources. Indigo requires no mordants at all; instead of being bound to a metal ion which is itself bound to the fiber, indigo is changed to a soluble form and allowed to penetrate within the textile fibers before being allowed to return to the non-soluble blue form. While the application of indigo to fabric requires caustic chemicals, these chemicals are completely removed from the fabric before the dyeing process is done. Indigo itself is safe enough for a synthetic derivative, indigotine, to be certified as a food color, FD&C blue #2. Indigo dyeing is more challenging than other forms of dyeing because of the need to chemically reduce the dye, but it is the best of all natural dyes for those who don't want to use mordants.

For dyeing cotton baby products, synthetic fiber reactive dyes have a huge advantage over other dyes: they form a permanent chemical bond with the fiber, a far stronger bond than the attachment between mordanted natural dye and the fiber, so they do not leach out when a baby or pet chews on fabric that has been dyed with them, assuming that all loose unattached dye is first removed by washing in very hot water. As a result, properly applied fiber reactive dyes are among the safest of all dyes for cotton baby products, and their long lifespan is valuable when it comes to baby items that must be washed frequently. Their use allows a far wider range of color choice, from bright to subtle. Many of Dystar's Procion and Remazol fiber reactive dyes have been listed in the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certification system as safe for use in baby products.

Whether mordanting with alum is a bad idea for baby products is open to debate. Alum is certainly the safest of all metal-ion mordants, safer by far than chrome or tin, and safer than copper or even iron. However, the fatal dose is surprisingly small, thirty grams for an adult; for a fifteen-pound baby, you would expect the fatal dose to be about one tenth of this, or three grams. Of course for any poison a dose well below the fatal one may still cause illness, such as an upset stomach or nausea. How small a dose of alum is safe for a baby to ingest by chewing on alum-mordanted fabric? The amount ingested in this way should be small enough to be harmless, but using the right synthetic dyes that do not leech out of fabric is safer still. (See "Substitutes for alum as a mordant for baby clothes".)

It's worth noting that before the introduction of synthetic dyes all baby products, at least in Europe and the US, were commonly only one color, white. There is no long tradition of using natural dyes to dye baby products.

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Sunday, July 22, 2012

Making your own iron mordant, and assessing toxicity of dyes

Name: Fariz

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Wild Color, Revised and Updated Edition: The Complete Guide to Making and Using Natural Dyes

by Jenny Dean

Includes recipes for making your own iron and copper mordants. Excellent resource for natural dyeing of wool.

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

by J.N. Liles

An excellent source of many well-tested, difficult-to-find recipes

Country or region: Malaysia

[continuing yesterday's discussion]

Yes, it is for a fashion competition. We have to create an outfit that is sustainable and eco-friendly by using recyclable materials. I had decided to use old clothes but the colours do not match with my concept. I want to use black and the only way is by dying the clothes. My friends suggest to use natural dye like coffee or charcoal and as what you wrote, it won't work well especially without mordant. It is not easily to find mordant especially in my country. The only way that may work is by using Dylon Dye (the only dye I can get).

As you know, the judges may ask me "why I prefer to use Dylon Dye instead of natural dye", "how do you know it safe", "is there any ingredient that would harm us as human and also to environment" and many other question they can ask me.

It is possible to make your own iron mordant, though I've never tried it myself. Jenny Dean, in her book "Wild Color," explains (on page 42 of her older 1999 edition) as follows:

"To make iron liquor, place rusty nails or pieces of scrap iron into a glass jar with a lid. Fill up the jar with two parts water to one part clear vinegar, or 5% dilute acetic acid. Leave the iron to steep in the solution for one or two weeks, or until the solution turns a rusty orange color.

"To use iron liquor as a mordant, strain the solution into a stainless steel pot, adding water as necessary. Then add the well-wetted fibers and simmer gently for 10 minutes, or until the fibers appear pale orange in color. Let the fibers cool in the solution, then rinse them thoroughly."

Iron mordant is safe to work with only as long as no one drinks it; since it can be fatal when swallowed, it must be kept out of the reach of children and pets. If you use too much iron as a mordant, it can be damaging to the fibers, so you will want to experiment to see how much works best for you.

Is there anyplace local where you can get real natural dyes, such as logwood, indigo, or cutch? The outer hulls of walnuts or pecans make a good dark brown dye, which can be darkened with iron. There are undoubtedly native plants in every region, such as pomegranate and oak trees, which are good sources of tannins; tannins mordanted with iron are the oldest known true black dyes. Other foodstuffs are never going to be nearly as satisfactory at dyeing anything black. There has been international trade in good dyestuffs for hundreds or even thousands of years, because the quality of dye materials makes such a big difference.

Black is the hardest of all colors to obtain, because it is by far the darkest. If you can't get proper dye, whether synthetic or natural, I would advise you to aim for an easier color to reach, or better yet, get the best color you can and then tell the judges you meant to do that. If you use coffee as a dye, you should be satisfied with getting a brown color, as black is unlikely to be happen.

Note that almost all dyes, including most synthetic dyes and all natural dyes, work best on natural fibers. Avoid synthetic-fiber clothing such as polyester, acetate, or acrylic, which won't dye well. In addition, most natural dyes work much better on wool or silk than they do on cotton, rayon, and other plant fibers. Choosing your garments to dye carefully can make a big difference in the success of your project.

If you end up using Dylon dyes, you can be prepared for questions about safety. There are different lines of Dylon dye, so, to find the correct safety information, it's important to specify which line you are using; for example Dylon Cold Dye is different from Dylon Permanent Dye, and Dylon Multi Purpose Dye something quite different again, but Dylon Hand Dye and Dylon Machine Dye are similar to Dylon Permanent Dye. Which Dylon dye can you find in stores? The fine print on the package will clarify which dye you have.

For example, you can find MSDS (Materials Safety Data Sheets) for Dylon Permanent Dyes at Blick Art Materials [click on the little page icon next to each color]. The "hazardous ingredients" listed include the dye itself because it can cause a respiratory allergy if you are careless enough to breathe some of the dye powder, plus the high-pH ingredients used to fix the dye, either trisodium phosphate or sodium carbonate, the latter being a common household chemical found in washing soda and in laundry detergent powder.

MSDS pages are typically rather alarming; almost every chemical can cause eye and skin irritation upon exposure, and should be used only with waterproof gloves and safety glasses. Look for warnings about carcinogenicity or reproductive harm: neither of these should be found in any Dylon product, as Dylon has avoided seriously toxic dyes when making up their formulas. Although some synthetic dyes are quite dangerous, other synthetic dyes are not dangerous at all, especially when used with normal care. For comparison's sake, you can look at the MSDS for truly hazardous dyes such as Direct Black 38 or for Sudan IV [PDF].

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Saturday, July 21, 2012

How can I dye old clothes with black? Thinking of using natural dye (coffee, charcoal)

Name: Fariz

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Country or region: Malaysia

Message: How can I dye old clothes with black? I think of using natural dye (coffee, charcoal) but I estimate it won't be success. So, maybe I can use Dylon dye. But I just so scare if the judges would questioning me about the Dylon dye. It is safe for us or environment? What is the pros and cons? Please answer me. Thanks!

Tell me more about these judges. What are the rules? Is this for a contest?

Charcoal is not a dye. It is a pigment and must be mixed with some sort of glue to get it to stick to fabric. Otherwise it will just wash out.

Coffee by itself is not a good choice for dyeing fabric black, since it will leave only a light brown stain. It might be better if used with iron as a mordant. Iron makes any dye it is used with darker in color. It is very important to be extremely careful with iron mordant, ferrous sulfate, to make sure than children cannot access it; it has caused many deaths when people (usually children) have accidentally swallowed overdoses of it.

There are good natural dyes that work for dyeing black, such as logwood, when used with iron as a mordant. Logwood, significantly more expensive than a synthetic dye, is native to Mexico and Central America, so it's no more indigenous to Malaysia than synthetic dyes; I don't know much about the dyes that have been used in past centuries in Malaysia. From everything I've gathered, synthetic dyes are very commonly used in every country, but there may be different rules for a specific program.

Other natural black dyes include any rich source of tannins, such as pomegranate, when used with iron, but the large amounts of iron required for a dark black may shorten the life of the cloth, causing damage to it. You can get a very good black by dyeing first with indigo, and then, in a separate process, dyeing the same fabric with the natural dye cutch, mordanted with iron, but dyeing with indigo requires a different process and will be more challenging for a beginner to learn.

Dylon Permanent dye is not dangerous to use (though you should wear waterproof gloves with any dye, including logwood). The quantities of dye required are far smaller when you use synthetic dyes; a few grams of synthetic dye will produce a color as deep as would require a kilo of natural dyestuff. The soda ash or trisodium phosphate Dylon Permanent dye contains for an auxiliary chemical is less of a concern for disposal than the metal-ion mordants you would need to use with natural dyes. A very big advantage of a fiber reactive dye like Dylon Permanent dye is that it lasts far longer on clothing without fading in color.

If you are dyeing only your own old clothes, then the small amounts you will be disposing of will not be a problem; you can safely put your wastewater down the drain. If you are starting a business, however, dyeing clothes every day for other people, you will need to consider water treatment requirements for your waste water, whether you use synthetic dyes or mordanted natural dyes.

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Friday, July 20, 2012

Dyeing safety for the environment: which dye would you recommend for a septic system?

Name: Jenny

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Owner's Manual

Environmental Aspects
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The Artist's Complete Health and Safety Guide

by Monona Rossol

Country or region: Minnesota

Message: Wow, just found your site and have been reading all afternoon! I live in a rural area and don't have access to a city sewage treatment system. What I discharge into my septic tank should be non-toxic and OK to get into ground water. It seems that everyone talks about dyeing safety for the dyer but not for the environment. Other than vegetable dyes with safe mordants, what would you recommend to color/dye cellulose fibers? The MSDS sheets I've checked all state something like "Dispose in a safe manner." Not very helpful. If you are able to comment on this topic please address both dyes and mordants. THANKS SO MUCH!

MSDS pages can be surprisingly variable. Some contain much more information than others, although they concern the same chemical. It's good to look at MSDS pages from different sources to see if they contain more information. Our dye suppliers have some information on the topic of safe disposal in septic tanks, too: see PRO Chemical & Dye's Studio Safety Guidelines, and Dharma Trading Company's Fiber Reactive Dye General Information page.

If you have a sufficient water supply to do the necessary washing-out after dyeing, I recommend fiber reactive dyes for cellulose, because they do not require toxic mordants, only the same soda ash that is found in most laundry detergent powders. If you use tie-dyeing or other forms of direct dye application such as dye painting, you can also avoid the use of salt. Procion MX dyes are an excellent choice. Some other fiber reactive dyes, while more expensive for the hand dyer, do not require quite as much water for washing out, and thus may be more environmentally appropriate during a drought. In the US, Remazol fiber reactive dyes can be ordered from PRO Chemical & Dye as their Liquid Reactive Dyes, and from Dharma Trading Company and other Jacquard Products retailers as Vinyl Sulphon dyes. Drimarene K dyes are also supposed to require less water for wash-out, but they are harder to obtain at good prices in the US; Dylon Permanent Dye and (I think) Tulip Permanent Dye are mostly composed of Drimarene K dyes, but both are packaged to be considerably more expensive than Procion dyes, and the color choices provided by Dylon are not very suitable for mixing your own colors. I find natural dyes to be an aesthetically appealing idea, but there are reasons (detailed in some of the links at the end of this post) why their use is often not as environmentally friendly as you might imagine. I recommend against all-purpose dyes because they represent the worst of both worlds, wearing off so quickly that they encourage disposable clothing; they also require large quantities of salt. Sometimes fabric paints are recommended by their sellers as a substitute for dyes, because of their supposed environmentally friendly aspects, but in fact only the reduced requirement for washing-out water is significant; I suggest using them in place of dyes only when you are in an extreme water shortage situation, or for special effects.

The main issues in disposing of relatively non-toxic dyes, such as Procion or Remazol or Drimarene dyes, are the amount of salt you dispose of, and the amount of water you use. While some of these dyes contain small amounts of copper or other metals, the quantities involved are small enough not to be considered an issue. However, salt in excess is bad for the microbes in a septic system, and excessive water throughput may exceed the capacity built in to a particular septic system. You will need to calculate how many gallons a day you will be disposing of as the result of your dyeing, not only in dyebaths, but particularly from washing out excess dye, as well, and compare this to the capacity your septic system is rated for. Overwhelming your septic system with more water than it was built for can cause serious problems for it. Everything depends on how much dyeing you are doing.

Disposing of a large amount of high-pH (basic) or low-pH (acidic) dyebaths can also be bad for the microbes in a septic system, since microbes cannot live in a place where the pH is much above or below normal limits, but it's easy to neutralize the pH before disposal by adding acid to a basic dyebath (one containing lye or soda ash), or by adding a high-pH chemical to an acidic dyebath. Dilution with other household wastewater makes small quantities less of an issue.

Mordants are a more serious issue than most dyes. While safe tannic acid is used along with alum as a mordant for natural dyes on cellulose fibers, all other mordants are metal ions. (Vinegar, tartaric acid, soda ash, and other pH modifiers are not mordants at all, because they do not form a permanent part of the dye-fiber bond, though sometimes people who don't fully understand dyeing describe them as such.) Many natural-dye dyers feel that it is responsible to stick to only tannic acid, alum, and possibly iron mordants, avoiding the use of chrome, tin, and copper mordants altogether.

Alum is considered the safest of all the metal ion mordants. It is not a problem when washed down the drain; in fact, alum is an important substance for water purification. However, do not let this relax you into not worrying about its toxicity. There have been fatalities caused by ingestion of alum, involving 30 grams for an adult; much smaller quantities can be fatal to a child, and much smaller quantities still may cause illness, if alum is swallowed. Perhaps from an excess of caution, I do not use alum-mordanted fabric anywhere that a child or pet is likely to chew on it. It is safer to use Procion dyes for baby clothes, slings, or bedding than it is to use natural dyes that are mordanted with alum. Tannic acid is not good to eat, either, as it can cause stomach upset, but dangerous quantities taste horribly bitter, so I think it is unlikely to be a problem as long as your supplies are kept out of the reach of children.

Tin mordant (stannous chloride) and copper mordant (copper sulphate) can each be very toxic to a careless user or to children or pets who gain unsupervised access to them. Fisher Scientific provides an MSDS for stannous chloride that says, "Do not let this chemical enter the environment." The MSDS that Fisher Scientific supplies for copper sulfate specifies, "Avoid runoff into storm sewers and ditches which lead to waterways. US regulations require reporting spills and releases to soil, water, and air in excess of reportable quantities." Another MSDS for copper sulfate, from Phelps Dodge Corporation has such alarming warnings as "may result in irreversible eye damage" and mentions that the reportable quantity is 10 pounds or more. I suspect that if you use copper sulfate in hand dyeing, you would use far less than this amount, but the Clean Water Act calls for waterways to contain less than 0.0056 milligrams per liter, on average.

Although iron sulfate is highly toxic in overdose and can easily kill a child who swallows too many iron pills, it is considered much safer to work with and dispose of than tin or copper. The average fatal dose is 200 to 250 milligrams per kilogram of body weight; for a fifty-pound child, this works out to less than five grams.

It is most important to avoid ever using chrome (potassium dichromate) as a mordant, because it is not only a known human carcinogen, it is also damaging to the environment. If you look at an MSDS for potassium dischromate, you will see that it is much more alarming than any of the other substances I've mentioned. It must be disposed of as a hazardous waste. I recommend against any hand dyeing that involves chrome.

However, the small amounts of chromium in metal complex dyes (also known as premetallized acid dyes) are a different matter, because they are in the much safer trivalent form, rather than the highly dangerous hexavalent form of potassium dichromate. They are also present in far smaller amounts. You should never dispose of your chrome mordant baths into your septic system or a city sewer, but it is okay to dispose of small quantities of chromium-containing metal complex acid dyes such as Lanaset Jet Black down the drain, if they are well-diluted.

Here are links to some other web pages and dyeblog posts in which I have further explored environmental considerations for dyes and mordants:

"What does it mean when a dye is premetalized with chromium or some other heavy metal? What are the risks of exposure from using a dye that is premetalized with chromium?"

"Am I to understand the dye that has been mixed with vinegar becomes exhausted and then has little impact on the environment when I dump it out?"

"Aren't natural dyes safer than synthetic dyes?"

"Greener Shades vs Acid dyes"

"Another environment question"

"What are low-impact dyes, and why are they considered low-impact on the environment?"

"Are Reactive Dyes eco-friendly?"

"Procion, Drimarine-K and the environment"

"Are natural fabric dyes best for the environment?"

"Are Procion dyes are considered "green", i.e. environmentally harmless?"

"Ways to reduce the amount water needed to wash out the unfixed dyes at the end of the dye process"

"What is the dye used for clothing typically made from?"

"Have you ever used or heard from anyone who has used the Generation Green Colourants?"

"Ecological safety of Procion dyes"

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Thursday, July 19, 2012

How can I use indigo from my garden for dyeing?

Name: MaryEllen

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A Handbook of Indigo Dyeing

by Vivien Prideaux

A Dyer's Garden

by Rita Buchanan

Includes recipe for using fresh indigo leaves for dyeing

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

by J.N. Liles

An excellent source of many well-tested, difficult-to-find recipes, including 14 different recipes for indigo

Hi Paula, I was inspired by the latest issue of Piecework magazine to try indigo dyeing, since I have a fairly “native” garden which includes an indigo plant. With no directions at all, I proceeded to strip off a gallon of leaves and steep them in hot water. Then I read somewhere on the internet that I had to increase the alkalinity with soda ash, so I added one packet of Tulip soda ash. A week later I still had no fermentation at all, so I’ve fished out most of the leaves and am trying that. I know this takes time, but I wanted to see if I’ve ruined the pot with the soda ash while I still have an abundance of leaves on the bush so I can start over if necessary.

I’d really rather not go the urine route, but I can try running water through charcoal ash for lye if necessary. Can you give me the basic steps for truly natural, not too toxic indigo production? Everyone seems to have a different opinion. Thanks for whatever help you can offer.

I may have to order a copy of that Piecework magazine. It looks very interesting.

I think you will be able to make your current dye vat work by buying and adding a different chemical. Unfortunately, dyeing with indigo is too complicated a subject for me to teach it to you by email, so I think you really ought to try to find a good book before proceeding further. It's important to learn how to use indigo the right way. Improper application of indigo will result in loose dye that rubs off onto everything it touches, ruining furniture and other clothing.

It's not sufficient to sprinkle in a little soda ash; you'll have to do more than that in order to chemically reduce your indigo, using a process which is the opposite of oxidation. Chemical reduction is required to turn the indigo into its soluble yellow form. Only in the soluble yellow form can indigo permanently penetrate inside textile fibers; it will turn blue again upon exposure to oxygen. If you don't chemically reduce your indigo, it will not be able to permanently dye fabric or yarn, because the blue oxidized form of indigo is not soluble enough to be suitable for dyeing.

You can chemically reduce your indigo with a natural fermentation vat or by using purchased chemicals such as Rit Color Remover, Thiox, or Spectralite. You will have to find a good recipe and follow it closely. Creating a working fermentation vat with urine is far more difficult to do successfully than using the purified reducing chemicals, so I recommend that beginning dyers master indigo dyeing with purchased chemicals first (these are the same chemicals used as color removers), before trying the urine vats or other fermentation vats, which can take weeks, and which sometimes completely fail to work. (Avoid the zinc/lime recipes, because the powdered zinc that they require is more dangerous to the user than the other methods. I recommend against ever using powdered zinc metal dust for dyeing. The color remover chemicals are much safer.)

In order to learn to dye with indigo, I think everyone needs to get at least one good book. (Check your local public library first.) A good book will tell you many important details that you need to know. My favorite book on the subject is Vivien Prideaux's A Handbook of Indigo Dyeing, which has just come into print again. For a wider range of methods for old-fashioned fermentation vats, and a very helpful overview of all the methods and their histories, see J.N. Liles' book, The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing: Traditional Recipes for Modern Use, which has many more different recipes, though it is not as easy to follow as Vivien Prideaux's book. For a recipe that starts with indigo leaves instead of purified indigo, get a book by Rita Buchanan, as described below.

J.N. Liles' book has detailed instructions for several methods which use purified chemicals as well as several types of natural fermentation bath. He says that the urine bath is the easiest of the natural fermentation baths to set up. He also has recipes for a modified urine vat, which can be used fewer days after initial set-up, a less smelly artificial urine vat set up with ammonia or urea, a Saxon vat in which dirty woolen fleece is itself the source of fermentation, an Appalachian vat which uses wood ash instead of urine or ammonia, and a woad vat.

All of Liles' recipes call for purified indigo; the fermentation bath recipes all call for natural indigo, but in cake form, rather than in leaf form. For the crushed fresh plant indigo, Liles recommends other recipes, including one published by Rita Buchanan in her book, "A Weaver's Garden" published in 1987. I don't have this book myself, but I do have her more recent book, A Dyer's Garden, published in 1995. Buchanan's recipe in "A Dyer's Garden" calls for extracting the precursors for indigo from from whole indigo-plant leaves by heating the leaves in water for some time at 160°F, then adding first a small amount of baking soda or ammonia, then using Spectralite to reduce the indigo in the dyeing vat. This looks to me like the right recipe for you. Buchanan includes a list of troubleshooting tips for correcting problems which can occur when dyeing with fresh leaves.

Spectralite is a brand name for thiourea dioxide, the same chemical that is in Jacquard Color Remover, which you'll probably have to buy by ordering online; you can also order it from Dharma Trading Company under the name Dharma's Dyehouse Color Remover, or from PRO Chemical & Dye under the name Thiox.

Novice natural dyers often have no idea of the huge quantities of plant stuffs required for natural dyeing. For dyeing a tiny two to four ounce ball of yarn, you will need half a pound of Japanese indigo leaves, or two pounds of woad leaves. There are many different species of plants throughout the world which naturally produce indigo dye; if you're using a different species, it may take some trial and error to determine how much plant material you need to dye a given amount of fiber.

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Saturday, July 07, 2012

After dyeing my wool fibres have lost their silky feel. How do I regain their silky softness?

Name: Jacki

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Acid Dyes

Message: After dyeing my wool fibres have lost the silky feel of the original product, but are not felted. How do I obtain the silky softness of the commercial product?

Sometimes the loss of softness in dyed wool is permanent, due to fiber damage caused by a high pH or too much friction or agitation. I hope yours will turn out to be temporary and fixable.

There are two things you can try now: restore the natural pH of the wool, and use a really good fabric softener.

To correct the pH of the wool, rinse it in water to which you have added vinegar. Use four tablespoons (one-quarter cup) of vinegar per gallon of water, or 60 milliliters per four liters of water. It's best to use ordinary distilled white vinegar, labeled 5% acidity, but any vinegar will work. Always be sure to neutralize your wool or silk after exposing it to soap or other high-pH chemicals.

For a really good fabric softener, don't bother with the fabric softeners sold in grocery stores. Order an unscented concentrated fabric softener from a good dye supplier. PRO Chemical & Dye calls their fabric softener PROsoft K, while Dharma Trading Company sells Milsoft for the same purpose. Jacquard Products simply labels their version as Fabric Softener. All three brands are greatly superior to grocery-store fabric softeners. Experiment to see whether one of them works for you.

If your water supply is very hard, you should also add the water softener sodium hexametaphosphate at every stage of dyeing, or use distilled water. Order this water softener from your dye supplier, which may label it as Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Metaphos, Water Softener, or Calgon, not to be confused with Calgon brand products that have different active ingredients. Don't use grocery-store Calgon products, because they contain polycarboxylates, which can interfere with dyeing. A water softener will not soften your wool, but it will prevent added harshness caused by the mineral deposits from hard water.

If your wool is still harsh after taking every possible corrective step, then you will need to make changes in your dyeing technique in the future. Damage to wool can be the result of sudden temperatures changes or too much handling or stirring. It can also result from chemical factors, such as a high pH caused by using soda ash or other chemicals used in vat dyeing, or from using too much mordanting chemical, such as alum, in natural dyeing. Soap can be damaging, too; many wool dyers recommend the use of a pure sodium lauryl sulfate cleaner sold in the US as Orvus Paste.

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Friday, July 06, 2012

Name: Cheryl

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Includes detailed information about hazardous dyes and other hazardous art materials

The Artist's Complete Health and Safety Guide

by Monona Rossol

q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B0019VSS9Y&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=dyeblog-20&ServiceVersion=20070822

MicroThin Surgical Gloves

Try to find true surgical gloves, which come in more sizes (including half sizes such as 7 or 7.5) and allow more sensitivity than cheaper exam gloves.

Books that explain how to use Lanaset dyes

Shibori: Creating Color and Texture On Silk

by Karren Brito

Color in Spinning
by Deb Menz

mixing your own colors with Lanaset dyes

Country or region: Canada

Message: Paula - firstly - love your website. I hope that I am not bothering you with a question already answered, but I couldn't find anything on the site. I work with acid dyes on silk for nuno-felting. When I dye my silks (usually using the microwave) and then rinse them it appears that I have rinse off any excessive dye. However, once I start the felting process it creates some dye runoff. My question is twofold - firstly, since I use olive oil soap for felting, I am wondering if this causes the dye runoff, and secondly, since I am using my bare hands for felting (it's important to be able to "feel" the work as it progresses), am I creating a health hazard for myself in this work. Thank you in advance if you're able to answer this question!

The dye runoff may be caused by the change in pH due to the soap, by a higher temperature of water, by any changes in hardness of the water (use either distilled water or the water softener sodium hexametaphosphate when dyeing and rinsing out after dyeing), or, probably to a lesser extent, by the soaping action of your olive oil soap.

You are exposing yourself to the acid dyes when the dyes come off into the water your hands are in, during felting. How much of a problem this is depends on the individual dye. It's unfortunate that gloves interfere with your felting procedure. I always tell people to wear gloves when working with dyes, because there's usually so little sacrifice in doing so that it would be crazy not to, even for very small possibilities of risk. It's a harder call when gloves are a major problem for you.

There are three directions you can take in confronting this problem:

1. Find more comfortable gloves that can be used without impairing your ability to felt correctly—would the more expensive gloves actually used by surgeons be better than the cheap loose exam gloves that we usually use for dyeing?

2. Use a more washfast dye. Switch from your current acid dyes to Lanaset dyes, which are far more washfast. Lanaset dyes can be washed at 140°F (60°C) without loss of color, unlike most acid dyes, which we are warned to never wash above 104°F (40°C). You will probably see much less dye coming out into your soapy water. (Lanaset dyes are sold in Canada by Maiwa Handprints under the brand name "Telana". See my page, "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World", for contact information for this and other dye suppliers mentioned here.)

3. Be very careful to avoid carcinogenic or toxic dyes.

The safest acid dyes are the certified food colorings, which in some cases provide good results when used as acid dyes. See my page, "Using Food Coloring as a Textile Dye for Protein Fibers". You can feel quite safe in using these thoroughly-tested dyes with your bare hands.

Some acid dyes are known to be carcinogenic. Other acid dyes are not carcinogenic, but we like to act as though they all are, in case there might be any future discoveries of dangers not yet known. Over the years we have found that many acid dyes and direct dyes that were formerly (until around 1980) considered safe enough to be packaged for home use by highly inexpert dyers are actually quite dangerous when used carelessly. Since home users' exposure was much lower than that of dye factory employees, we can hope that the home users' rate of developing cancer in most cases was much less than among the industrial employees, who were observed to have a very significantly increased risk of bladder cancer. The risk of working with a carcinogenic dye is directly related to the amount of exposure.

The dyes of particular concern, most of which have been phased out from home-use dyes, are those based on the chemicals benzidine, o-tolidine, and o-dianisidine. I've written about the safety hazards of those dyes in the past; for more information see my other pages:

"Dye Safety and Bladder Cancer"

"Benzene and benzidine in Fiber Reactive Dyes"

and

"'I am interested in asking other people who use Dupont Dye if they have had any trouble with bladder cancer'" for more details.

Acid dyes based upon the aromatic amines benzidine, o-tolidine, and o-dianisidine include Colour Index acid orange 45, acid orange 63, acid red 85, acid red 89, acid red 97 Scarlet G, acid yellow 42, acid yellow 44, acid red 114, and acid red 167,

While dyes based upon these aromatic amines are known to be hazardous, there are also some other dyes that are not in this category and yet which may be equally harmful. You will need to gather information about each individual dye color you use without gloves.

Some brands of acid dyes are well-identified as to which specific dyes are used in them. These include the WashFast Acid Dyes (you can buy these in Canada from Maiwa Handprints), Jacquard Acid Dyes, and Dharma Trading Company's new line of Dharma Acid Dyes. While the exact contents of any of the pre-mixed colors are never revealed, you can ask whether their contents are made up only of the pure unmixed single-hue dyes in the same dye line, which are identified properly by the suppliers by their generic Colour Index names. The generic names allow you to find additional information, in case you do not fully trust a particular MSDS (some MSDS pages are less detailed and alarming than others for the very same chemical). Other acid dyes are not identified at all, so you cannot know whether or not they contain potential carcinogens; you will never know what dyes you're working with if you use Rit dyes or Cushing dyes, for example.

Always ask for an MSDS page for every single dye color you buy, and do not buy dyes from suppliers that fail to supply this information on request. Unfortunately, many MSDS pages have nothing more useful than "not available" entered into very important sections of information, even in some cases when negative information is available. MSDS pages can be confusing. It's important to know the Colour Index names of all of the dyes you are using, in order to be able to obtain further safety information. You can ask your supplier to list which pre-mixed dye colors are free of any of a list of dye names you are trying to avoid, without compromising their trade secrets.

For example, one MSDS for Rhodamine B, a highly popular hot pink fluorescent dye included in many lines of dye (it's sold as Jacquard's 620 Hot Fuchsia acid dye, and as WashFast Acid Rhodamine Red 370)

, gives it a health rating of "3 - Severe (Cancer Causing)" (on a scale of 0 for good and 4 for bad) (see JTBaker), while another one (from ScienceLab) says only "CARCINOGENIC EFFECTS: Not available", and an MSDS [PDF] for the same dye from the WashFast Acid Dye line says "NO KNOWN HAZARDOUS INGREDIENTS PRESENT." An MSDS from the chemical supplier Sigma Aldritch gives this same dye a health hazard rating of 2 (on the scale of 0 to 4) and says, "Harmful if swallowed; causes severe eye damage; harmful to aquatic life; wear protective gloves/eye protections/face protection." It's not at all clear from these conflicting MSDS pages just how hazardous Rhodamine B may be; I would use it while wearing reliable gloves and following other safety precautions, but I would never use it without gloves.

If you can, find higher-quality gloves that allow you to wear them while felting, or switch to safe food coloring or to more washfast Lanaset/Telana dyes; if that is impossible, please be careful to avoid the more hazardous dyes. I'd be happy to help you try to track down more information on individual dyes.

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Thursday, July 05, 2012

How can I tie-dye an asymmetrical zig-zag design? from a message I received on Facebook....

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name: Matt

message: Hello! I have a large favor. I have been trying to achieve this look, but I have no clue how to tie this style. I know it's an accordion fold but I'm not sure how the angles are so sharp. Any help would be great! Thank you

Bri-guys calls this their "EKG" style. Looks like they sell some very nice tie-dyes. Since we're using their image as an example, it's only fair to give them some web traffic here and encourage people to take a look at their work and consider buying, at Bri-guys.com.

To make an asymmetrical zigzag design like this one, first take a pencil and draw the main zig-zag line. Then, starting at one edge of the shirt, carefully bunch up the shirt along that line, into narrow pleats. As the pencil line turns, turn your folding. You may need someone to help you hold the bunch-up shirt together to tie it. Be careful to keep the whole shirt flat, maybe an inch or two thick; don't let it buckle over, but instead keep it in a sort of a flat dish shape. Tie very tightly over the line. I like to use artificial sinew, which is a slightly sticky waxed polyester thread sold in crafts stores for leatherwork. Scrunch up the fabric on either side of the line in crumples.

To apply dye, in this case you would apply blue fiber reactive dye right next to the tied line, on either side. Looks like the blue next to the line on that shirt is a mixture of turquoise and a little fuchsia. Put red next to that, then orange, then a wide band of yellow (other colors creep onto the yellow some). Then apply blue dye to the remainder of the shirt on one side, and dark navy blue dye on the same areas on the other side.

It does take experience to get your turns sharp like the ones in this shirt. Having the pencil line as a guide is a big help, though.

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