community of dyers

I recently completed my first full day of dyeing. All my colors came out vibrant and beautiful except for my blue colors - I used Procion MX Turquoise. The color appeared vibrant until I washed it in Synthropol and now it looks like faded old bluejeans.

Any thoughts on what went wrong?

Hello everybody

after about 35 years I suddenly felt the need to do some batik, bought cotton cloth, dye, I still had paraffin around and started out working. The effort was definitely worth it and I'm very happy with the results but I stumbled over several technical problems which I like to expose here.

1. The paraffin does not always penetrate well the cloth, is that due to temperature ore to lake of washing the close before applying the wax? Might it be also because of the thickness of the close? Is heat a issue?

3. If heat is a issue, how do I determine the ideal point to apply the wax?

1) i know i do not need an ein number for my company for it is just me but the thought of using my social security number for expenses scares me. any thoughts?

2) i am reading a book on small business start ups and it seems like filing to be a sole proprietor has some major downfalls in that i can be held accountable for unlimited liability when it comes to business debt.

should this be a huge concern or not? am i over thinking?

roby

Any suggestions on dying sweatshirts. It seems since they are so thick it is hard to work the dye through. I have a customer who wants swirls (but I don't marble) so I was thinking I could thicken the dye (procion) and use cardboard in between and then have more control of "swirling" the colors. How's that sound?

hey all-

clueless about what will work best, i am in need of any advice.

i am getting ready to place an order for shirts and i am going to be doing heart, guitar and other designs. what are the best shirt weights for this? in the 4s, 5s or 6oz. i take it the heavier 6 oz. is a thicker yet harder to manipulate shirt? are 4.2 very thin?

robyn

I think that the Clorox bleach pen is a wonderful tool for both art and cleaning. It supplies pre-thickened hypochlorite bleach in an extremely handy applicator. Since I am sensitive to bleach fumes (they make me feel kind of sick), I can't clean with large amounts of bleach, but the bleach pen's ideal for even tasks like whitening grout without overwhelming myself with fumes.

Bad news about the bleach pen, though. Today I got my old bleach pen out and tried to use it on some fabric. It's maybe a year old. It did not discharge the dye at all! Then I tried a swab with a tiny bit of bleach from the bottle, and saw the fabric lighten in color instantly. My old bleach pen had gone bad. I didn't know bleach could go bad, but I'll bet it had something to do with the fact that it's a special thickened form of bleach.

I guess I'll be buying only one at a time (the easy way, by adding it to the grocery list), and buy a new one every six months or so.

Here's a link to a new page I've just finished writing today about Levelling Acid Dyes, which are the type commonly known as Kiton dyes:

http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/FAQ/KitonAcidDye.shtml

Levelling Acid dyes are valuable for dyeing wool or other animal fibers a single solid color, rather than darker or lighter shades within the same piece, but their washfastness is inferior to that of other types of acid dyes. Items dyed with Levelling Acid dyes should be dry cleaned, or hand washed in cool water. These dyes are not suitable for hand-painting or rainbow dyeing, because their greatest strength is their ability to diffuse smoothly throughout the fiber being dyed.

The new page includes a huge amount of information from different sources, including the chemical names and molecular structures of the Kiton dyes sold by ProChem, and names of other dyes in the same class. I was surprised to find that a number of dyes that are classified elsewhere as Acid Levelling dyes are sold as Jacquard Acid Dyes or as ProChem's Washfast Acid dyes.

Has anyone tried to dye Window Quilt brand insulting shades? If dyeing is not an option I am wondering about painting them?

What a great resource this site is!

I have a cashmere sweater that I found in a thrift store (hence I am willing to take the risk of ruining it - I can always make felt items out of it...)

It's bright scarlet, not my colour. I'd love to add some yellow to the colour so it's a more orangey red. I seem to be able to find Jacquard Acid dyes easily here in the UK, and wondered whether to try a bright yellow, an orange or their "Fire Red".

Any thoughts / experience please as to what shade to choose?

I'm leaning towards the most yellow yellow for a high dye concentration, but would be most likely to use the rest of the dye for another project if it was "Fire Red".

I think I want to start airbrushing T shirts that has either been tie dyed or just plain white shirt. Thing is what kind of paint should I be using, is artist acrylic good enough if I set it with an iron? I know about the PSI setting needed to spray T shirts since they require thicker paints, so I am thinking of buying a 1.5 hp compressor with a 6-8 liter tank and I think they can do about 90-100 liters per minute (or roughly 3-4 CFM) free air. I would think an airbrush uses very little air so it wouldn't matter as long as its not a 1/7 hp compressor?

I have a linen sofa slipcover that I would like to dye a chocolate brown. It is currently a cream color. I would sure like to know how I can do this in the least toxic yet most effective way. Thanks very much.

I have an inquiry as to whether I can dye someone's gym shoes. While I am not keen on taking someone's personal items and then dyeing them (what happens if it gets ruined, etc), I was curious to know if anyone has tried dyeing shoes like this? I would think canvas shoes are likely to be cotton or cotton blend, but perhaps also treated with stain repellent that may interfere. Anyone have experience with this?

Jen

The fabric I'm puzzling over dyeing is a 82% tencel/18% nylon blend. The weight of it is very fine and silk-like.

My dye of choice is Procion MX with an acid aided by heat. I know this will dye the nylon just fine, but I'm wondering about the tencel. Is there any way to use these dyes where it will dye both contents adequately?

I'm told that going to soda ash as a fixer will dye the tencel, but will leave the nylon fiber intact, showing through as a white shimmer.

I would love any comments or experiences anyone might have had with this fabric.

Thanks for letting me think out loud.

Whew! This is the biggest single order I have had, 20 shirts, each in matching or coordinating groups by family. I particularly liked the way the Rainbow Earths turned out, I did one family's "Night" and one "Day" as they are on opposite sides of the globe.

Jen

Hey,

The other day i received a (100% cotton) t-shirt that i ordered. But they sent me the wrong colour. I wanted blue but they sent me a bright pink one. Its more hassle than its worth to send it back so i want to dye it. Ive never dyed anything before so i have a few questions...

1. how would/ can i dye it blue? do i need to bleech it first? if not is there any colour that i can dye it, say red?

2. The t-shirt has a print (screen print?)and parts of it are white. will the dye stain the print? Is there any way to get around it?

Help would be much appreciated as im sure you can tell, i havent got a clue...

I am going nuts to figure out what is going on with these black silk scarves I ordered from Dharma Trading Co. I have used discharge paste, RIT color remover and, in a desperate measure, have used straight-up Clorox bleach without any results. I have never seen anything that cannot be bleached. I intended to make these scarves into some Christmas presents and would like to discharge them rather than just used textile paints on them. Any suggestions? By the way, I live in a semi-rural area and wouldn't be able to buy this directly from a store.
Thanks!

Hello All:

I have a few pairs of black Levis jeans that are in good condition except that they are too faded. Would it be cost-effective to re-dye? Is it easy or difficult to re-dye 4-5 pairs? Do I need a boiling cauldron of water? Are there better dyes than RIT to use for this job? Thanks in advance for your responses!

Hi All,
I'm new to this site and forum. I need advice! All the help and information anyone can provide will be greatly appreciated.
I am making a pageant shell(un decorated bodice and cupcake skirt)and would like to dye the Spandex super stretch, crystal organza and Venice lace trim all the same color.
I have no clue as to how to go about this. I have dyed fabric before using Rit dye, hot water and a washing machine. However, This fabric and lace are way to expensive to experiment on.
I'm sure there are proper dyes and techniques for this.

Thanks, Connie