community of dyers

This forum is for all sorts of hand-dyers to post links to pictures of their work and discuss dyeing with other dyers. Please jump right in and post. We'd like to see your work!

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Hi

I haven't been here for a while, since I hadn't done any tie dying due to frustration with Procion MX going bad (I threw out a ton of procion MX dyes due to the high humidity in Taiwan and heat, things were going bad rather quickly!). I do like procion MX though. The shirts I had dyed lasted for years and it will NOT fade no matter what, in fact the cloth is all torn from repeated washing/wearing and the shirt shows no sign of fade. I want to make more shirts since I need to replenish my wardrobe but I would rather not pay the high cost of shipping to order dyestuff online when something can be found in Taiwan.

OK, for a variety of reasons I'm looking to establish an online presence that is NOT Etsy. It just doesn't seem to be a good "fit" for me (not enough Martha-Stewart-type stuff or design-mag-quality photos in my shop for any exposure there, for one), and I'll leave it at that. :-\

Options I'm considering, given that I'm still a "hobbyist" and not a full-fledged biz, without any capital to speak of, really:
Artfire
Shophandmade
Bonanzle
ecrater
own web site (cursory investigation has so far come up with too high a monthly fee for the widgets I'd need to sell stuff, but I might not be looking in the right places)

Hi, I was wondering how to tie dye using resist. Thank you.

Hello to everyone!

Inexperienced with Procion MX as I am, I tried to mix the colour Sage according to Paula's list of recipes (Jaquard). The instruction is to mix equal parts of Rust Orange 016 and of Cerulean Blue 070. Usually I like surprises and am not very much into reproducabiltiy of results. But there is an exception to every rule ;) I'd like to create a colour that is often named as Sage. Some of the various Sage colours I found are too green to my liking. The herb sage has some kind of silvery/grey appearance. So in my understanding it would be something near greyish pale green. I was however unable to find out what the Jacquard type of Sage looks like

It's a fairly straightforward request: they want to buy some white jeans and have them dyed in different colors, like blue, green, tan, and so on. I'd do it for myself (I like the idea, actually!), but not sure if I can get a clear consistent result for another (and likely more particular! LOL) customer. Me, I'd be happy with whatever I'd get by squirting on dye to soda-ash-soaked pants and getting what I get, but it wouldn't be a vat-dyed look, and with my kids to work with here, I don't think I could give immersion-dyed items enough attention/agitation to get good results.

Also wouldn't really know how much to charge, but that's another ball of wax entirely.

Hi everyone, I'm so glad I found this forum.

I have tried hand dying with turquoise and fuschia. I have used the low water immersion method with Procion MX.

I am looking forward to doing more complex colors and techniques.

Be prepared, I will probably have lots of questions!!!

Hi all
Just wondering how much sodium metabisulfite to stop the bleaching process.
I have a bag of it from the local home brewer shop so it has no instructions for tie dying , funny that lol, so any help would be most appreciated

Hi, I'm using procion MX dyes and doing some "double dyed" or over-dyeing, not sure what the term should be. Anyway I'm doing a crackle type base color(s), then tying pattern and dying second time over that. My ? is, do I need to completely rinse and wash first step before embarking on the second? the first ones I did like this I only rinsed, too impatient to ask, lol, and they seem to have come out great. I tied, soaked new tied area w/ color, then squirted soda ash solution directly onto new tied area. Is there any real reason this could be wrong, on down the line?

wanna see?

The red on the left is a two step, blue on right not.

A long long time ago some people on this blog were wondering whether the content of superclear might be conducive to growth of bacteria or mold.

Well... I just opened the superclear I haven't had out since last summer, and it's got mold growing in it.

So there ya go!!

If I have to dye a single piece of silk a solid color I usually use a three gallon bucket. I dissolve my salt in water, add Calsolene oil, then add dissolved dye. I add my fabric and stir every four minutes. Then I add soda ash solution slowly, not right on the fabric, and stir another 45 minutes.

Usually I've been pretty successful with this. Early on I saw air bubble effects (round discolored spots). I also have seen freckling from undissolved dye. But this weekend I saw something new (and very frustrating): light splotches. It almost looks like something was splattered on the silk that prevented the dye from being taken up. And these were pre-washed!

For the past year I’ve been experimenting with dyeing silk scarves, in particular the 8mm China silk. I’ve been using Procion MX dyes because I also dye cotton and didn’t want to invest in another set of dyes. My current method is to fold the scarf into a shape that will fit into a glass microwave container. I soak it in a mixture of half white vinegar and half water, and I apply the dyes by dipping the scarf or painting on the dyes with a foam brush.

As soon as the dye has covered the silk to my satisfaction, I cure it immediately in the covered microwave container (which also contains a small plastic jar of water) for 3 minutes. Then I let it come to room temperature before rinsing in cold water. Finally I wash it with a small amount of Synthrapol in 140 degrees hot water. A fair amount of dye usually comes out during that process.

I recently dyed a quantity of fabric with blue (5 step gradation) then overdyed with yellow, 5 step gradation also. Can I tone down the color with a 3rd overdye of grey? And if so, how much dye stock approx?Dye stock for above gradation ranged from 5ml to 400ml per dyepot.

I want to do an elaborate color wheel project: 18-steps around (6 steps between primaries) with two tints and one shade for a total of 72 pieces of fabric (to be put into an awesome quilt).

It is basically, a 3-step gradation and a blend with black.

Let's start with the shade, I'm thinking of adding black to one of the tints (essentially adding gray to the original color). What strength black should I add? 10%? (I'll be using Dharma's 'better black'.)

For the tints, how strong should the lighter and lightest solutions be? I want pretty strong contrast between the true color and the lightest and the lighter solution somewhere in the middle.

Well, the instructions for wool say to heat slowly. I think I'm heating TOO slowly. It's after 8 pm, and my dye bath still hasn't come up to 185 - 200 F. I've adjusted the gas burner two or three times now... It's a "simmer" burner on the stove.

So, how slow do they really mean? Can I turn the heat up a bit? I'd like this to be done heating before it's bedtime, lol!

I decided that even tho this was just a pound of yarn total, the volume was too much for my 4 gallon stainless pot. So... doing the yarn in two batches, and I was very careful measuring out the liquid dye, water, vinegar, so that I can duplicate it in another batch. Should work fine, but I'm still keeping fingers crossed!

I am immersion dyeing silks using Pro Chem's Wash Fast. My method is to calculate 40:1 water to WOF, 1-2% depth of shade dye, 4% citric acid crystals + a little synthrapol. I mix the bath all together and stir to combine. Then I add the damp fabric (scoured by letting sit in warm H20 and synthrapol in washing machine for at least an hour, then spinning out.) I bring the bath to 185-200 degrees, stirring constantly for the first ten minutes. The bath is usually to temp in 20-25 minutes. I keep the bath at temp for an hour, stirring every 10-15 minutes. At this time the H20 is somewhat colored.

I made up some citric acid solution (1 cup per gal of water). For fun I threw an old pH test strip in it and also in some 5% distilled white vinegar. Here's what I got, vinegar on the left:

The citric acid solution came about 2 on the scale and the vinegar was 4. (Old strips though, no idea about accuracy.)

(Also... 1 c soda ash in 1 gal water? pH of 14 on my scale.)

I'm about to embark on a project with a very large nylon banner. It's one of the "good luck" banners from Dharma, so I'm hoping it's PFD. I've bought Dyna Flo paints for it, and am planning to use a Jacquard water-based resist. I have a few questions:

* I've heard lots of complaints of dyes on nylon spreading and collecting at resist lines and leaving a halo where the brush met the fabric. I do not want this effect, but instead would like bright, intense colors. Should I use a thickener with the Dyna Flo?

* I believe the Dyna Flo needs heat to set, but nylon, I think, is very heat sensitive. Can I use an iron on a low setting and still set the dye properly? Or should I steam set the banner? This would have to be done with a professional steam machine, because I don't have a canning pot setup (and would rather not go to all that trouble if I can avoid it.)

Hi all,

I've been batiking on and off for 20-some years, but have yet to successfully remove all the wax from a heavily-waxed project. I've tried boiling it out, weighing down the fabric, and leaving it to cool so I can skim the wax off. I get lots of wax off, but much remains in the fabric. Often it soaks into the seams and collects as little balls of wax in between the layers of the fabric (like at the bottom of a t-shirt).

I've tried ironing it out, with blank newsprint, with cloth, with paper towels. I've had the best luck by cutting brown paper grocery bags and putting them on my ironing board, then layering paper towels both under and over the fabric, and changing the paper towels often. But even then, there are still spots that look like grease stains left on my garments. I've even tried boiling first and then ironing. Still get those pesky spots.

Hi,

I'm new here, and I don't do any dyeing myself, but a friend pointed me to this site.

I recently bought a belly dance costume from a local vendor. (note: this item is not a typical "retail" purchase)

It was made for the vendor by someone in India. The vendor said it is all cotton material, and the pattern is tie dyed, not stamped. It is green with burgundy panels, and both colors have a white dotted pattern on it. Some parts of the top and the skirt have burgundy panels lining behind the green.

Silly me washed it like I do all of my cotton belly dance costume pieces - in cold water, hand wash cycle, with a bit of Woolite, and allowed it to air dry. Unfortunately, it appears that the burgundy seems to have "stained" the lighter green and white areas, making them look "dingy".