Archives for June, 2014

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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Name: Milan

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Country or region: Australia

Message: My wife is a cleaner and wears black tee shirts. From time to time she gets bleach on them which leaves a red mark. I tried dyeing the tee shirts with shop-bought dye but it doesn't work. Is there a sure-fire dye you recommend?

First, cover up the spot with a fabric marker, then use the fiber content of the shirt to choose the right kind of dye.

Since dye is transparent, after you dye the shirts, both the background and the spots will get darker at the same time, so the red spots will still be lighter in color than the rest of the shirt. The best solution for this problem, generally, is to buy a good fabric marker, specifically sold for decorating fabrics, to color over the spot. A permanent marker that is not labeled as being for fabric, such as a Sharpie pen, will work for a while, but will wash out more quickly; if you use such a marker, be sure to keep it on hand to recolor the spots when you need to. If the results are not good enough by themselves, you can combine using a marker to fill in the spot with overdyeing the entire short a darker black.

Are the shirts 100% cotton, or are they a cotton/polyester blend, or something else? If they are a polyester blend, then using a dye intended for cotton (including all-purpose dye) will not work.

Even a low-quality dye will work for a while to overdye a 100% cotton shirt a darker black, but only if you use a large amount of dye, as otherwise you will get a lighter color than black. All-purpose dye tends to produce a color other than black, such as dark green or dark purple, but if you use two or three times as much dye, the results will be blacker. One pound of t-shirts (weigh while dry) requires two boxes of all-purpose dye to get a good rich dark color. All-purpose dye tends to wash out quickly, though, so it is important to make it more permanent by treating it afterwards with Retayne or another cationic dye fixative.

For better results, when dyeing cotton, use a fiber reactive dye, such as Procion dye. This dye lasts many times longer than all-purpose dye, and is safer for other clothes in the laundry, as well. In Australia you should be able to find a product called Tintex Cold Water Dye, which contains Procion dyes and is far longer-lasting than all-purpose dye. (Tintex Hot Water Dye is an all-purpose dye, as are all of the Tintex brand dyes sold in North America.)

If the t-shirts are a cotton/polyester blend, you have an entirely different problem. Polyester cannot be dyed with any dye that works on cotton, so you will have to use two different dyes, a disperse dye for the polyester part of the blend, and another dye for the cotton part. All purpose dye, in spite of its name, does not contain any dye for polyester, so it will not work for this purpose. However, if you can find a supplier of Jacquard Products, you can combine their iDye Poly and their iDye for Natural Fibers together, to dye both fibers at once.

If you can't find the dyes you want locally, there are several sources from which you can order your dyes online. See my page, "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World", scrolling down to the section including Australia. Kraftkolour, for example, sells Procion MX dyes which are an excellent choice for 100% natural fibers, such as cotton, as well as iDye Poly, which is ideal for polyester blends when used with iDye for Natural fibers to dye the cotton portion of the blend.

Also see, in the Frequently Asked Questions section of my website, my page "How can I fix the bleach spots on my favorite clothing?". Be sure to check the last section, in particular, "Damaged fiber", explaining what to do about the fact that the bleach that created the red spots also weakened the fabric in that spot, and may continue to do so, though at a slower rate, unless the bleach is neutralized.

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Monday, June 23, 2014

How can I dye a white- or clear-bristle fingernail brush so that the bristles are easier to spot when they fall out?

Name: HAL

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Fingernail Brush

Country or region: CALIFORNIA USA

Message: I have a black bristle fingernail brush. The bristles are beginning to come out. They are easy to spot in the sink or shower and pick up so they don't go down the drain. How can I dye a white or clear bristle brush to be able to spot them so they don't go down the drain? I will appreciate any suggestions you may have to solve this.

Your white or clear fingernail brush probably has bristles made of nylon. Dyeing nylon is not difficult. Nylon is best dyed by heating it in water with acid dyes. As the name of the dye class suggests, this is to be done in combination with a mild acid, such as white vinegar. (D0n't use an aluminum pot when heating vinegar or any other acid.)

Some acid dyes will last longer in the nylon than others. The acid dye in a Rit All-Purpose dye mixture will work on nylon (the cotton dye also contained in Rit dye will do nothing to nylon), though it will tend to wash out more quickly than other types of acid dye. It's worth trying, because it will probably last well enough for your purpose, and then, if it washes out too quickly, you could look for a longer-lasting dye to try again. Rit all-purpose dye can usually be found in a local grocery store or craft or sewing store. As always with Rit all-purpose dye, the color you get may be rather different from the color predicted on the outside of the box, perhaps a dark green or purple, when you expect to get black.

If the Rit all-purpose dye works but you want a longer-lasting dye, and if you would prefer black, I would recommend you order a dye called Washfast Jet Black WF672, which is Colour Index Acid Black 172, from PRO Chemical & Dye, as it is a particularly wash-resistant acid dye. This dye produces a reliable dark black, assuming you use enough dye powder. Then again, if you are going to go to the trouble of ordering online, you could probably find and order a black-bristled fingernail brush, instead.

If Rit all-purpose dye does not color a fingernail brush's bristles, even temporarily, that would be a sign that the bristles are made of an undyeable polymer. A few fingernail brushes are made with polypropylene bristles, which cannot be dyed at all; colored polypropylene has pigment added in the manufacturing process, while the polymer is still liquid.

Assuming that your bristles are made of nylon, my one concern is how the bristles are held in the brush. I don't know how this is done. If they are held in with a heat-sensitive adhesive--that is, hot glue--then bristles will fall out when you heat the brush, in your mixture of water, dye, and vinegar. If they are held in another way, then there will be no problem. The nylon itself should tolerate temperatures up to a 205°F simmer, just under boiling temperature. Do not bring the dyebath to a full boil, for fear of damaging the nylon.

Some fingernail brushes are made with natural bristles, rather than nylon bristles. These are stiff hairs from hogs. Natural hair bristles will take exactly the same dyes that nylon will, using the same procedure.

Here's a link to a PDF page with instructions for dyeing with acid dyes: "Immersion Dyeing on Nylon using WashFast Acid Dyes"

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Sunday, June 22, 2014

Name: C

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Country or region: USA

Message: I absolutely loved the "old" Tulip dyes and did the water color type painting/dyeing on tshirts but dont know what to use anymore since the product has changed. No heat set was required, you could use it straight out of the bottle. There was no specific amount of time you had to use it in and it was just beautiful. I don't have a good place for doing crafts or mixing ingredients. Any ideas? Thank you in advance!

Tulip has made a lot of different products, over the years. You could be talking about one of their fabric paints, or you could be talking about the fiber reactive dyes.

For watercolor-style painting on fabric with fabric paint, I recommend you try either Dye-Na-Flow paint, or diluted Setacolor paint. They can be applied to dampened fabric, for wet-on-wet effects, or applied to dry fabric for a completely different look. Both of these fabric paints do need to be heat set with either an iron or a commercial clothes dryer, after the paint has thoroughly dried in the fabric, but they are superior in quality to other brands of fabric paints that don't happen to need to be heat-set. Since they are paint, they do change the feel of the fabric very slightly, but far less than most fabric paints. There is nothing to mix; you can just dampen your shirt for watercolor effects, spread it out on a plastic-covered table (a cheap plastic tablecloth works well), and paint on the thin dye-like paint. After the shirt is completely dry, heat-set the paint either by pressing all over the shirt with a hot iron, or take it to a laundromat and use the commercial clothes dryer. Commercial clothes dryers get much hotter than home clothes dryers, so they are better for heat-setting fabric paint. Alternatively, many fabric paints will become permanent even at room temperature if left unwashed for at least a month before wearing.

Tulip has packaged several different formulas of fiber reactive dye, some containing Procion MX dyes, others containing Drimarene K dyes, which are similar but which require more warmth for the dye fixing step. For fabric painting with dye, I am very enthusiastic about Procion MX dyes and other kinds of fiber reactive dyes. In the presence of a high-pH dye-setting chemical such as soda ash, the molecules of fiber reactive dyes form a permanent chemical bond to natural-fiber fabrics. After the excess unattached dye has been washed out, there is absolutely no feel remaining on the fabric from the dye, and, since the dye penetrates inside the individual fibers of the fabric, the color remains even after that fabric has been subject to wear. The Procion MX dyes have the advantage of reacting very well with the cotton at room temperature (anywhere over 70 degrees F), so there is no need for heat-setting.

A drawback of some of the Tulip dye formulas has been that they contain the soda ash or other high-pH chemical mixed right in the the dye powder. This can work fine, but it means that, for intense dye colors, you must complete your dyeing within an hour of adding water to the dye mixture, as the dye begins to react with the water and soda ash immediately upon being dissolved in water. It is more convenient to buy dye powders in which the soda ash is to be mixed with water separately and used as a presoak for the fabric, so that you don't have to hurry so much to use up your dye. I recommend that you get a good tie-dye kit with Procion dyes, such as the excellent Jacquard Products tie-dye kits that are often sold in crafts or fabric stores, or order a tie-dye kit from Dharma Trading Company or PRO Chemical & Dye. The same materials can be used for dye painting as are used for tie-dyeing.

For a more in-depth overview of painting fabric with dyes, see my June 20, 2014 entry in my All About Hand Dyeing Q&A blog, "How can I print my own fabric with dye, so that it leaves no texture on the fabric at all?".

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Saturday, June 21, 2014

Why am I getting green edges on my burgundy Procion dye, in highwater immmersion dyeing?

Name: Wojtek

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Jacquard Procion MX Fiber Reactive Cold Water Dye, Starter Set

This kit includes 3 small jars of dye, plus soda ash, which is used to permanently fix the Procion dye to the natural fiber

Large 8-ounce jars of Procion dye are more economical; don't forget to purchase soda ash and urea, as well!

Procion MX Fiber Reactive Dye

Country or region: Poland

Message: Hi,

So, I dye my fabric using highwater immersion dyeing technique and I want to get nice burgundy color on my T-shirts, (JACQUARD-PROCION MX - BURGUNDY), but every time I can see green dye on the edges (a lot of green). I know burgundy is a mix of seven different dyes and it is hard to get nice even color. What can I do to get rid off this green places? First I paste up my dye (I use urea water), then mix it in a blender (always up to 3 teaspoons for 0,5 L) then I strain dye liquid through pantyhose and then I stir for many many times and it does not help (I add salt to dissolved solution in the end). Could you help me?

How are you getting any edges in high water immersion technique? You should not see any differently-colored edges at all, if your high water ratio immersion dyeing technique is good. The dye should be reaching every part of the garment equally. It sounds as though you are not using enough water, or not stirring enough, or adding the soda ash too early in the process. Less likely is the possibility that you are not successfully pre-washing your shirts, so that some residue of the manufacturing process is acting as a resist and slowing dye access.

Weigh your t-shirts while they are still dry. The amount you can dye at one time depends on the size of your dyebath container. For every pound (or about 500 grams) of dry fabric, you will need 3 gallons (12 liters) of water, in approximately a five-gallon (20 liter) bucket. The ratio of water to fabric, by weight, should be twenty or twenty-five times as much water as fabric. One pound of t-shirts is only two or three adult t-shirts, depending on size.

If you want to dye a larger quantity, use a top-loading washing machine, which typically will hold up to five pounds of fabric, or up to eight if it is one of the larger capacity home washing machines. The agitation of the machine saves you the bother of stirring for over an hour. Some front-loading washing machines work well enough for dyeing, while others do not, depending on whether the washing machine has dispensers that allow you to add the dye and the soda ash at the right times. Front-loading washing machines in Europe appear to be more likely to have the correct dispensers than front-loading washing machines in the US.

It also matters a great deal when you add your soda ash. In many dyeing techniques, when color separation is desired, the soda ash is added at the same time as the dye, or before the dye. For high water ratio immersion dyeing, you should add the soda to the fabric long after adding the dye. You want the dye to fully penetrate every bit of the fabric without soda ash, so that it is soaking through the fibers without reacting with them; only after the dye has fully penetrated every fiber do we then add the soda ash.

Here is an overview of the correct technique. First wet your fabric thoroughly in the plain water (treated with the water softener sodium hexametaphosphate, if your water is hard), then remove the fabric from the dyebath. Now add the salt and make sure it is thoroughly dissolved in the dyebath, and then add the dye, which you have prepared using the excellent technique that you are already using. Do not add the salt directly to your dye concentrate, before adding it to the rest of the large quantity of water! Adding salt directly to your dye concentrate will cause dye to fall out of solution, so that it is no longer dissolved in the water and will no longer be available to dye the fabric.

After the dye is fully mixed in, add the wet fabric back to the dyebath. Stir it for fifteen or twenty minutes to allow the dye to penetrate. After the dye has had this opportunity to completely soak into the fabric, only then you can add soda ash to the dyebath, avoiding pouring the soda ash directly onto the fabric. I prefer not to add the soda ash all at once, but instead no more than about one-third at a time, stirring for at least five minutes in between each addition. Finally, stir for about an hour to allow the dye to react with the fiber and the soda ash.

Many high ratio immersion dyers mix a drop of hand dishwashing liquid detergent or other surfactant into the dyebath, before adding the dye, to encourage the dye to penetrate very smoothly. Surfactants function to break the surface tension of the water. Dharma Trading Company recommends a product called Calsolene Oil, using 7.5 ml per 12-liter dyebath, as a surfactant. Usually, however, with enough stirring, it is possible to get good results without a surfactant.

If your water ratio is too low, or if you do not stir the fabric enough during the dyeing process, then, instead of a solid color, you will get variegated colors, as in the low water immersion (LWI) procedure. The colors can separate out in LWI just as they do in tie-dyeing.

The problem is that, when you are tie-dyeing, with soda ash added at the beginning, the faster-reacting dyes strike the fabric immediately, while the slower-reacting dyes crawl farther. If soda ash is not added until the end, then the reactivity of the dye is not a problem, but the relative sizes of the dye molecules is, with the smaller dyes traveling farther than the larger dye molecules.

It's just like the school chromatography experiment in which you dot marker ink on a piece of paper and place the bottom edge of the paper into water; as the water creeps up the paper, the different colored pigments in the marker ink separate out. The fact that your edges are green suggests that you are adding the soda ash early in the process, because of the fact that fuchsia is a faster striking dye; when soda ash is added late in the process, turquoise is among the slowest of the dye molecules to move, since then size is the only issue, so then halos will not be green.

The burgundy mix you are using happens to contain fuchsia (Procion Red MX-8B), which is the fastest-striking of the Procion dyes, combined with a blue dye and a yellow dye that react more slowly, so, in direct dye application methods like tie-dye and dye painting, you end up with greenish halos, as the blue and yellow separate out from the red. This same dye mix normally works perfectly in high-water-ratio immersion dyeing, when then there are no edges where the dye can separate out.

In low water immersion dyeing, dye painting, or tie-dyeing, there are two different approaches to solving this problem. One is to mix the color yourself, using Procion Red MX-5B instead of Red MX-8B. Red MX-5B is called "034 Magenta" by Jacquard Products, "Light Red" by Dharma Trading Company, and "Mixing Red" by PRO Chemical & Dye. [Edited to correct a typo in the code for the dye.] This red dye is very similar in color to Fuchsia (Red MX-8B), but it does not react as quickly. Since its properties are more similar to those of the other colors of Procion MX dyes, it blends in better in mixtures for tie-dyeing and printing. You would start by mixing red MX-5B and a little navy blue to produce a sufficiently dark reddish purple, then add yellow or orange to dull down the color toward burgundy.

Alternatively, a very popular approach, though only for dye painting or for tie dyeing, is to thicken your dye. This method is not suitable for immersion dyeing. Many tie-dyers always add thickener to their dye mixtures, as it enables crisper color contrasts on the fabric. To do this, you would mix up some sodium alginate with water, following instructions to reduce clumping; after it is smooth, you would mix up your dye mixture as usual, but then add some of the dissolved alginate, to make your dye thicker. The thickener will keep the dye from creeping along the fabric as far, reducing the amount of color separation. This is not a solution for the high water immersion dyeing situation, however, in which the true answer to the problem requires producing a single solid color.

I hope that this discussion will help you to track down the source of the problem that is causing your green edges.

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Friday, June 20, 2014

How can I print my own fabric with dye, so that it leaves no texture on the fabric at all?

Name: Rachel

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Procion Dyes are ideal for hand-painting fabric

Jacquard Procion MX Fiber Reactive Cold Water Dye, Starter Set

This kit includes 3 small jars of dye, plus soda ash, which is used to permanently fix the Procion dye to the natural fiber

Large 8-ounce jars of Procion dye are more economical; don't forget to purchase soda ash and urea, as well!

Procion MX Fiber Reactive Dye warm black 128 8 oz.

Country or region: USA

Message: Hi Paula,

I hope this question wasn't answered, but I did look through the site pretty thoroughly first. I have been wondering about printing my own fabric, but I really don't want to use fabric paints - I don't want to have any texture - what I want is more to paint with dye, or something like watercolors. I was even wondering if there's a way to make high quality artists' watercolors permanent. I use fabric paints on small areas, but I want to more make a repeating print of my own on a bolt of cloth to then cut and sew. Do you have any ideas? Thank you for all your helpful information here!

There's no way to make artists' watercolors permanent on fabric that will be washed, but the right materials will do everything else you want.

You can use good fiber reactive dyes to print or paint on cotton, silk, or rayon fabric. If you want them to be very thin, simply mix Procion dye with water, and, optionally, urea (to help keep the dye wet longer, which helps in making strong colors). If you want them to be thicker, use sodium alginate to thicken up the paint, either by a little or a lot. You will need to add soda ash to fix the dye, either by soaking the fabric in it first and then line-drying it, or by mixing the soda ash directly with the dye immediately before use, keeping in mind that the dye will start to go bad in less than an hour after it is combined with the soda ash.

Using dye is much better than using fabric paint, if you want no feel at all to be left in the fabric. You can mix any color you like. You can start by mixing just the basic three colors, lemon yellow, magenta, and cyan (turquoise), but for best results you will want to have a few other colors, including navy blue and orange, and probably a premixed black; see my page, "How can I mix Procion MX dyes to get specific colors?". You can also buy many different colors of dye powder premixed, from a good mail-order dye supplier. When mixing dye, you do not add white to make lighter colors; instead, you add water, or use less dye. For a pale pastel, you will need your dye paint to be diluted several times over, compared to a dark intense shade of the same basic color.

You can make up enough dye paint to last you for several weeks, especially if you store it in a refrigerator. (If you use your household refrigerator, seal the dye bottles up in a box so that there is no possibility of confusing dye with food, or of spillage.) After two or three weeks at room temperature, the dye will start to be a little weaker and paler, but refrigeration will extend the lifespan of reactive dye much longer, to a couple of months, at least, as long as the water used to mix the dyes is of neutral pH and no soda ash gets into the dye bottles.

When you do your painting, always pour out just enough dye from your dye bottles to use in one session. Even if you are painting on dry fabric, with the soda ash dried into it, each stroke of a paintbrush will carry a bit of soda ash back to the container in which you are dipping your brush. You probably won't want to use up all the dye you've mixed in one hour-long painting session.

You will need to buy Procion dyes in several colors, soda ash powder, urea, and a water softener called sodium hexametaphosphate (unless you choose to use distilled water for mixing your dyes). You may be able to find most of these at a local crafts or fabric store, but you will find much better selection and prices if you order from a good dye supplier, such as PRO Chemical & Dye or Dharma Trading Company.

There are other fiber reactive dyes that can be used in exactly this way, too, such as Procion H dyes (G&S Dyes in Toronto sells a huge variety of colors pre-mixed and ready to use) or Remazol dyes (also known as Vinyl Sulfone dyes). They have their own advantages and disadvantages, but the basic procedure is the same. It is usual to use heat to set the dye reaction on Procion H and Remazol dyes, but the more common type of Procion dyes, which are Procion MX dyes, will react at room temperature, thus removing the requirement to steam the painted fabric.

After you apply your dye paint, using soda ash in one way or the other, you will need to keep your damp fabric in a warm place (at least 70 degrees Fahrenheit), overnight or longer. The dye should be kept moist during this phase, while the dye reacts with the fiber in the fabric. If you include urea in your dye paint mixes, the dye will stay moist enough without covering; otherwise you will want to cover it with plastic, as the dye-fiber reaction quits happening once the fabric dries out completely.

Devote a little thought to your setup for doing the painting, too. For some effects, it is necessary to stretch the fabric out tightly while applying the dye. This allows a thin liquid dye to flow in a predictable manner along the fabric, as in watercolor painting on paper. For other effects, especially for printing, it is sufficient to lay the fabric out flat on a plastic-covered worktable. If you have painted a six-foot length of your bolt of fabric (assuming that's how long your table is), you can carefully cover the length with plastic so as to be able to roll it up, without wet dye transferring from one part of the design to another, so as to move on to the next six-foot stretch of fabric on the bolt, without having to wait for the dye to react and dry. If you want to stretch your fabric out tightly, look into the stretching systems that silk painters use.

You will need to wash the fabric before painting, unless it is specifically sold as being "PFD" (Prepared For Dyeing), and you will need to wash it after dyeing, because not all of the dye will react with the fabric. Some will react with the water, and this unattached loose dye must be removed. You will notice that your colors are lighter after washing out, since the unattached dye makes the design look darker; allow for this when mixing your colors, and do several small test pieces with the same sort of fabric, before you ever start working on a big piece.

This should be enough to get you started, but I also recommend that you seek out some books on the subject of dye painting. Ann Johnston's book, Color By Design, is extremely valuable for this purpose. Holly Brackmann's book, The Surface Designer's Handbook: Dyeing, Printing, Painting, and Creating Resists on Fabric, is another excellent choice. For reviews of other books on dyeing, see my page, "Reviews of Books and Videos on Hand Dyeing and Fabric Painting".

For more information, see the following pages on my site:

About Fiber Reactive Dyes

How to Dye with Fiber Reactive Dye

What is soda ash, and what's it for in dyeing?

What is urea for? Is it necessary?

Sodium alginate, Superclear, and other dye thickeners

Dyeing with hard water: water softeners, distilled water, and spring water

FAQs on Procion dyes

Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World

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Thursday, June 19, 2014

Name: Josalyn

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Unlike polyester dye, fabric paint can be applied without the high heat that damages spandex.

Country or region: USA

Message: I have some orange slipcovers that I would like to dye burnt orange the fabric is polyester/spandex jersey. What color dye should I use?

Choosing the color is easy. Choosing the right dye is the real problem.

Polyester cannot be dyed in warm water. It can be dyed only at high temperatures. This means that, for solid-color dyeing, you must boil it, in enormous pots on the stovetop. You can't dye polyester in the bathtub or the washing machine. If you buy a large enough cooking pot to hold your slipcovers so that they can move around freely as they boil in the special polyester dye, the pot alone might cost more than sewing yourself some new slipcovers.

Unfortunately, spandex is a very heat-sensitive fiber. It should not be exposed to temperatures over 140°F. It will stretch out and lose its shape, or fall apart, if boiled. This means that you cannot dye polyester/spandex blends.

Polyester also cannot be dyed with ordinary dyes. If you try to use any dye that works on cotton, the dye will just wash out of your polyester, or rub off onto the clothing of whoever sits on the slipcovers. The only type of dye that works on polyester is disperse dye, which is sold specifically for dyeing polyester.

Given these insurmountable problems, it's not much use for me to point out that you can turn orange to burnt orange by dyeing it with a small amount of brown dye, less than you would use to dye a white item brown, or with an even smaller amount of blue.

What I recommend is that you buy some fabric and make new slipcovers. You can buy the fabric in the color you want; if you can't find the right color, you can buy dyeable fabric, preferably composed of natural fibers such as cotton or wool, then dye it yourself and make the slipcovers from that. If you don't want to sew, there are reupholstery professionals who can do this for you, although their work is usually expensive.

It is possible, instead of dyeing, to paint the fabric with a good fabric paint that is labeled for use on polyester, but, when you use it on furniture, the paint will wear off long before the fabric wears out, and good fabric paint is not cheap. I don't recommend painting fabric furniture. If you want to do it anyway, look into a brand of furniture spray paint called Simply Spray.

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Wednesday, June 18, 2014

The stitches making the garment are synthetic so they are still white. Which dyes should I use to get best results?

Name: Noni

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Jacquard iDye Poly allows even beginners to dye polyester at home on the stovetop

iDye Poly Fabric Dye

Country or region: Canada

Message: Hi, I've been searching high and low and not sure how to do this. I want to dye some tiny plastic miniatures with disperse dye...in tiny batches...I've tried it following Pro Chemical instructions and they dye extremely fast....and in a crockpot...so that's not a problem....but it is such a waste to have a big pot of dye to do a few tiny things.

Ideally I have a small 2 cup crockpot that I would like to use, but I don't know how to adjust the recipe which is now

10 cups water
1 cup boiling water to dissolve 1 teaspoon dye
1 cup water to dilute dye carrier

Simple math tells me how to get it to 2 cups, but not sure how I would deal with the dye and dye carrier. Any ideas how to adjust this recipe or a technique that would make it easier. Thank you so much for your time

Do your plastic miniatures require the dye carrier? The dye carrier chemical mixture is by far the most objectionable part of the disperse dyeing process, and it is normally needed only for polyester, not for dyeing other synthetic materials. What are your plastic miniatures made from? I don't think that they are made of polyester. I recommend that you do a test run of dyeing your miniatures without the dye carrier. If your results are as good without the carrier, than this will save you a great deal of bother (and smell!). The carrier requires much more attention to ventilation and to using a proper respirator, not merely a dust mask; if you skip the dye carrier, you need wear only gloves, and perhaps an apron, throughout your project, plus a dust mask only until you have gotten the dye dissolved, in order to avoid breathing any dye powder.

The dye recipe calls for sodium hexametaphosphate, which ProChem calls Metaphos. Without either Metaphos or the use of distilled water, the mineral ions in most water supplies can sometimes affect your dye results, especially if your water is very hard. Instead of adding a difficult-to-measure small quantity of this to your tiny dyebath recipe, either use distilled water for dissolving your dye and for making the dyebath, or pretreat a jug of water by mixing it with Metaphos. You can use a quarter teaspoon of Metaphos per gallon of water. Use this treated water instead of tap water for making your dyebath and for mixing your dyes.

The best way to deal with the disperse dye, assuming that it stays good for some time in water, as I believe it should, would be to make a stock solution by dissolving a certain amount in water, and then measure out the fraction that you need.

Scientific labware makes precise measurement of small quantities easy. It is also more reliable than kitchen measures. It's also much easier to do the arithmetic when using the metric system, instead of cups and teaspoons.

Since you mention ProChem, I'll use them as suppliers in my examples below. However, most of the products can be also found at any laboratory supply company, of which there are several in Canada, the main problem being when the minimum order is a case. Plastic lab equipment is significantly cheaper than laboratory glassware, but works fine for our needs. Maiwa, in Vancouver, sells syringes and good respirators, but I don't think they sell graduated cylinders.

For medium volumes, use graduated cylinders. ProChem sells these in 250 milliliter, 100 milliliter, and 50 milliliter sizes. The 250 ml size holds one cup. While you can measure 50 milliliters by filling the 250 ml size one-fifth full, you can be more precise by using a size that is closer to the amount you are measuring.

For small volumes, a syringe, without a needle attached, works very well and does not cost much. ProChem sells 5, 10, and 20 ml syringes. You will want several syringes.

For larger volumes, I use a graduated cylinder of a size larger than ProChem sells. They do, however, sell graduated plastic beakers. These are typically not quite as accurate in their measurement as graduated cylinders, but they are certainly as good as anything you've been using before now.

If you want to be able to reproduce exactly the same color in future years, you will need a fine scale to weigh your dye, since dye is standardized in color strength by weight, not by volume, but otherwise using measuring spoons will work fine. ProChem sells a nice though rather expensive set of very small measuring spoons, in sizes 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64 & 1/128 teaspoon. If you use the stock solution method, you will not need tiny spoons. You can find much less expensive measuring spoons of small sizes on Amazon, but their volumes are not nearly as reliable in their precision.

You can store your dye stock solution in plastic bottles or jars from ProChem, or in ordinary glass canning jars.

Converting to the metric system makes it easier to do calculations without errors. Even with such simple arithmetic as you need here, it is surprisingly easy to make mistakes when not doing it the simplest way.

First, make your dye stock solution just as in the original recipe. It is inconvenient to measure boiling water, so I would prefer to measure the water into my glass mixing container, then heat it for the appropriate number of seconds in a microwave oven, watching closely. In my microwave oven, this would be about 45 seconds for half a cup of water. (Avoid superheating the water from cooking it for an excessive period of time, which can result in what appears to be an explosion when the water suddenly bursts into boiling.)

For the same dye concentration as using one teaspoon in one cup, you can dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of dye in 125 ml boiling water, or 1/4 teaspoon of dye in 63 ml boiling water, let it cool, then strain it through a nylon knee-high stocking or similar material to remove any tiny clumps of undissolved dye. You should be able to store this solution for some time, as long as the color remains true and you do not see mold growing in it.

If you decide that you must use the dye carrier, you will need to make a stock solution of it, as well, so that you can use only a small portion of it per recipe. I do not know how well the diluted dye carrier chemical will keep, so I am not sure that you will be able to reuse this solution. Avoid the dye carrier altogether if you can do so without impairing your results, which should be possible with most plastics. ProChem's recipe calls for 30 milliliters of dye carrier per 250 ml of boiling water. You could make this stock solution in just the same way, using only part of the stock solution in your recipe, or you could cut it down in volume, since you won't be using it all. If you can use a syringe to measure out the dye carrier, you could measure 5 ml of dye carrier into a small glass jar with 42 ml of boiling water. Save this syringe to use only with dye carrier chemical. Do not reuse it to measure dyes or other chemicals.

To adapt ProChem's recipe for a disperse dyebath, which is as follows (omitting the dye carrier and the Metaphos):

2 1⁄2 gallons (10 liters) of 120°F (49°C) water

1⁄2 tsp (2.5 ml) Synthrapol
11 tsp (55 ml) white distilled vinegar

dissolved and strained PROsperse Disperse Dye

to only 500 milliliters (two cups) of distilled or Metaphos-treated water, you will need 12.5 ml of your dye stock solution, since that is one-twentieth of the amount called for in the original recipe. This amount is best measured with a 20-ml syringe.

[If you have already successfully been using 10 cups of water, instead of ten liters, then that would mean you've been using a higher ratio of dye to water than in ProChem's recipe, and will want to use enough stock solution to get one-fifth of a teaspoon of dye powder, total, rather than one-twentieth as described here.]

If you do use the dye carrier, you'll need to use 12.5 ml of your dye carrier stock solution. (This will be the same amount as you use of your dye stock solution.) While working with the dye carrier, you (and everyone else in the room) will also need to wear a good respirator, and, unless you are working outside with a portable burner, you will need to set fans in open windows to arrange for good cross-ventilation.

The exact concentration of Synthrapol is not critical, so you can use an eyedropper with the approximation that there are about twenty drops per milliliter. The ten-liter full-size recipe calls for 2.5 ml of Synthrapol, or about 50 drops; your half-liter small batch dyebath would therefore call for about two or three drops of Synthrapol. Synthrapol is a detergent and helps to keep the dye dispersed evenly. Some people substitute a drop of Dawn dishwashing liquid for Synthrapol. If you've been doing fine without it, don't worry about using it now.

The white distilled vinegar, which helps to protect the color of the dye by keeping the pH from getting too high, would be reduced from 55 ml to 2.75 ml. Use a 5-ml syringe to measure out a little less than 3 ml into your tiny dyebath.

Please let me know how this works for you. I would love to see a picture of some of your dyed miniatures.

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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

My daughter is highly allergic to red dye #46. Is there a way to determine whether or not this dye is in clothing?

Name: Stephanie

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Country or region: North America, USA

Message: Good Morning,

My daughter is highly allergic to red dye #46. Is there a way to determine whether or not this dye is in clothing? She avoids clothing that is red, purple, orange, or dark brown, but does prefer black (just has to be careful). For her to come in contact with this dye would be like you and I coming in direct contact with poison ivy. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Samantha has not been rash free in over 9 years. I took us 8 years to discover the cause of her rash. Unfortunately, clothing is not required to state what colors are used in the dying process. Again help or resources would be greatly appreciated!

You must be referring to Colour Index Basic Red 46, which happens to be one of the most allergenic of textile dyes. (In addition to the color, red, and the number, 46, you must specify the class of dyes, in this case basic, or cationic, in order to name the dye.) Not only is basic red 46 allergenic in itself, but, because it is one of the basic (or cationic) dyes, it does not form tight bonds to the fiber, so some of the dye will transfer from the garment to the wearer's skin. Because of their positive molecular charge, basic dyes are then more easily absorbed into the body than negatively charged dyes such as reactive dyes or acid dyes.

Basic dyes are most commonly used to dye acrylic yarn. This means that synthetic-fiber socks and sweaters are the greatest threat to your daughter. Avoid all clothing that contains any acrylic fiber. Other names for acrylic include names such as Orlon, Courtelle, Dralon, Leacryl, and Nitron.

Basic dyes are less commonly used in polyester or nylon, but it is possible that some modified polyesters and nylons might be dyed with basic dyes. It would be safest for your daughter to avoid synthetic-fiber clothing in general, although most polyesters and nylons will be okay.

Natural fiber clothing will almost always be safe for your daughter. While it is possible to use basic dyes to dye natural-fiber fabrics, by using mordants, which are not needed with better dyes, or by first dyeing with direct dyes and then with basic dyes, I'm inclined to think that manufacturers no longer do so. Manufacturers of well-dyed clothing would not. Basic dyes can produce very bright colors even on natural fibers, but they function badly on them as dyes, being much more suited for dyeing certain synthetic fibers. Since they do not bond directly to the cotton fiber, they fade quickly, and can be washed out of cotton by repeated washings in hot water. A dye supplier in the UK, Mistral Chemicals, lists the uses of this dye as being for acrylon (an acrylic-based fabric), wool, silk and textile printing, and, oddly, as being used as a permanent dye for prawns and other fishing bait, although they add "PLEASE NOTE: This product is not for human or animal consumption."

Socks and sweaters are going to be the biggest challenges for your daughter, since acrylic fiber is so frequently used in these garments. Synthetic yarn used for hand knitting is almost always acrylic; good wool yarn, which will be safe, is available for a higher price. She will probably be okay with 100% wool socks, and also cotton socks that contain spandex, a synthetic stretch fiber. Spandex is often left undyed, with the threads spun in such a way that the cotton fiber covers the spandex fibers so that they do not need to be dyed; when it is dyed, spandex is normally dyed with metal complex acid dyes, which are an entirely different category of dyes from the one your daughter is allergic to.

If you want to be certain of clothing that is dyed with non-allergenic dyes, buy undyed clothing that is made of cotton or rayon (including bamboo fiber, which is a type of rayon), or 100% real silk, and dye it yourself using fiber reactive dyes, such as the Procion dyes that are very popular for use in tie-dyeing. Procion dyes are hypoallergenic to the wearer, because fiber reactive dyes form a permanent chemical bond to the cotton, rayon, or silk fiber, and will never wash out, once you have washed them a few times in hot water to get out all loose unattached dye. The same is true of the Dylon Permanent Dyes (look for the word "permanent" in the name), which are available in many crafts or sewing stores. Because the chemical bond between dye and fiber is so strong, the dye does not leach out onto the wearer's skin the way basic dyes do, so new allergies will not form to fiber reactive dyes, as the result of wearing clothing that has been dyed with them. The only allergy problem with fiber reactive dyes occurs when workers breathe the dye powder, or if the clothing is not washed at all after dyeing, but you can easily take precautions so that you are not exposed to the dye powder while you are using it for dyeing.

Take a look at the wide variety of undyed clothing blanks sold by Dharma Trading Company, from dresses to t-shirts. Dharma Trading Company is also an excellent source for Procion dyes. I particularly like their bamboo socks, for kids and adults. You can dye them different solid colors in buckets, or experiment with multi-color methods such as tie-dye or LWI. Your daughter might like to have an entire washing machine load of different cotton and rayon clothing, all dyed solid black at once with Procion dye. This dye will not harm your washing machine, but it is easier to use in a top-loading washing machine than in a front-loader. Check the instructions for washing machine dyeing to determine how much dye to order.

Hair dye is another issue to beware of. The 2009 book A Consumer's Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients, 7th Edition: Complete Information About the Harmful and Desirable Ingredients Found in Cosmetics and Cosmeceuticals, by Ruth Winter, lists Basic Red 46 as an ingredient in hair dye. If your daughter ever dyes her hair, she must take care to do the recommended skin patch test a few days beforehand, to be sure that the dye she has chosen does not contain the dye she is allergic to. If she has her hair dyed in a salon, this will require an extra trip to the salon for the test application. Since it can take several days after exposure for symptoms to appear, this will require some planning ahead.

AllergEaze, a company that creates the samples used by allergists for testing patients, provides information sheets about specific allergens on their website. Their page on Basic Red 46 includes some information at the end about disperse dyes, which, as these are an entirely different class of dyes, is not applicable to Basic Red 46, but their information about basic red 46 itself is useful. In their PDF, they say:

"Basic red 46 is a dark red powder dye used in wool, silk, acrylic/cellulosic

(cotton or linen) fiber blends, polyester and acrylic textile printing (sweaters,

shirts, socks etc.) Allergic patients should avoid contact with these materials,

wash new clothing or bed linens multiple times before use, and wear fabric

made of natural fibers such as silk, wool, and cotton. Wear loose fitting clothes

if possible and avoid nylon stockings especially dark colors. Wash new clothing

or bed linens twice before use. Wash all new clothes and bed linens three

times before using. Try to wear natural-based fabrics, silk, cotton, and wool.

Long sleeve white silk underwear can be worn if certain outer wear fabrics

cannot be avoided. Levi Strauss 501 blue jeans usually do not cause dermatitis

in dye-sensitive individuals."

Below is a picture of the chemical structure of Colour Index Basic Red 46, from the dye manufacturer World Dye Variety.

Its CAS Registry Number is 68893-91-4. Another name for it is cationic red X-GRL. Its chemical name can be expressed in several different ways, including 1,2(4)-Dimethyl-3(5)-((4-(methyl(phenylmethyl)amino)phenyl)azo)-1,2,4-triazolium bromide, or, in another naming method, N-benzyl-4-[(1,4-dimethyl-1,5-dihydro-1,2,4-triazol-1-ium-5-yl)diazenyl]-N-methylaniline bromide. Well-known brands of basic dyes that include this dye are Orcozine Red GRL, from Organic Dyestuffs; Permacryl Red FBL-A and Permacryl Fast Red GRL, from Standard Dyes; Maxilon Red GRL, formerly manufactured by Ciba Specialty Chemicals Inc; and Astrazon Red FBL, part of the Astrazon line of basic dyes available from the artist's dye retailer Batik Oetoro in Australia. An MSDS provided by Mistral Chemicals, for those working with this dye, lists for the standard hazard symbols of Xn/Xi (Harmful); R22 (Harmful in contact with skin and if swallowed); R36/38 N (Irritating to eyes and skin); and R51/53 (Toxic to aquatic organisms, may cause long-term adverse effects in the aquatic environment).

I hope your daughter will be able to be rash-free by avoiding this dye.

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