community of dyers

I think it's interesting to see how drastically the directions on the different brands of cationic dye fixatives affect the cost. (These are fixatives that are applied to poorly washfast dyes, such as Rit, so the dyes don't bleed in the wash, and don't fade so quickly. They are not needed for fiber reactive dyes such as Procion dyes.) It turns out that the cost of the amount of dye fixative needed to treat one pound of fabric varies between ten cents and two dollars!

Rit Dye Fixative comes in an eight-ounce (240 ml) bottle for about $4. The instructions say to use 4 tablespoons (two ounces) for half a pound of fabric. Fixing the dye in one pound of fabric requires half a cup, or half of the bottle, for an approximate cost of $2.

I am looking for long sleeve muslin or handkerchief cotton shirts to dye, but have had no luck finding them anywhere. I tie dye several types of cotton T-shirts, but have had several requests for soft, woven cotton, loose fitting shirts (India style). Has anyone found a supplier for them? Thanks Kathy

Dharma can't get Superclear anymore, and it was my thickener of choice for my arashi shibori work. Dissolving sodium alginate is such a headache! Anybody know a Superclear equivalent that works well?

Thanks.

What is the best way to tie dye a paw print(as in dog paw print)? Our mascot is a bulldog & I've been asked to "create" a red & black paw print tiedye for field day. Thanks in advance for any suggestions or ideas. :)

Hello everyone! :)
I hav equestion about colour equivalent. I am trying to dye cotton, but once I have solid colours effect, another time - not. I would like to understood from what its depends.
I pin photo, where you can see in right corner bright colours (that part was external), and other part is pallid. Once I had dyed quite big piece of cotton, and colour tone was same in whole matterial (you can see it in second photo). So, maybe anyone know, from what it's depends?

Thanks a lot in advance! :)

My name is Margie and I’ve decided to give up making tie dyes. Items for sale are listed below and can be found at the URL below and in the attached Excel and Adobe documents.

http://www.wickedlywise.com/forsale.htm

The item name, size and quantity available and asking price are listed.
Asking price is at least 30% off the current price or what I paid for
the item.

If you spend more than $75 I will split the shipping costs with you 50% as long as it is USPS Parcel Post. Shipping estimates can be obtained from the post office website. Items would be coming from zip code 30084.

For any of you who have wanted to get a copy of Michael Fowler's DVD, it is available on Amazon.com! Here's the link:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Tie-Dye-Michael-Fowler/dp/B0007QQW2W/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1333348288&sr=1-1

I have had some experience tie-dyeing at a workshop where the dye solution was already provided. I have now just received my very own Drimarene K dye powder so I am ready to make up my first dye solution for Tie Dyeing.

I have read numerous articles on tie-dyeing and watched the Tie Dye 101 series of DVDs and am still a little confused. I see that most tie-dyers use the Procion MX dyes. However, I have chosen the Drimarene K for its lasting ability once made up.

My first question is - Do I need to be using Urea and Powdered Kelp to add to the dye pre-mix solution? We are using rainwater so I don't believe that we need to use a commercial water softener as our water is already soft.

Hi Paula,

The purple swatch below the winners, shows the stock solution results. On the bottom right section shows the deepest shade that was too soft looking. The above purple swatch was from scratch using WOS x 5% DOS.

Hey all, I know that a bunch of you have taught tie dye to newbies. I could use any advice you'd like to give me.

I've been invited to a "Woodstock" style summer picnic in June to teach tie dye to small groups of people. I'll have one assistant. My plan is the classic: bring them the shirts & rubber bands, explain a bit about the chemicals, give them a choice of two or three folds, soak the shirts while explaining about dye, hand out a few colors of premixed dye, apply, bag, and explain the washout they must do at home. I'll have a handout they can take away.

A couple of specific questions:

hi everyone!

I am just about to order 8 bazillion shirts for a camp I run the Tie-Dye program for. This year they want to have their name and logo on the front of the shirt so when the kids wear their amazing shirts, they are advertising the camp as well.

Anyway - I am wondering which way is the best way to screen print their logo so that it will be seen. Should it be done in white? black? should it be a kind of print that has a feel to it and is "above" the shirt so that it wont take any of the dye?

any ideas?

thanks!

~Elisheva
www.groovesters.com/index.php

I need to dye some silk for a sewing project, and since I want a heavier weight with some texture, my eye fell on silk noil (raw silk). It's slubby and pretty cool looking. But I'm wondering how well it will take dyes since the little speckly bits appear in it and it might have extra "gumminess."

Anybody here dyed silk noil? Any roadblocks you can share with me? Thanks.

I need to dye several yards of cotton fabric for a weaving project a nice "butter yellow" color. Both the Procion clear yellow and golden yellow seem close but not quite. I'm concerned the clear yellow will be more of a sun yellow and the golden yellow will be too dark. Would adding some ivory color to the mix help tone down either of those colors or???
I have not tried any experimenting on my own yet in hopes that someone on the forum might have some advice or experience.
Any help or suggestions would be welcome.
Thanks!

Aljo Acid Dyes are making me crazy!

I normally use Greener Shades, which is great, but the artist I'm working for didn't like the color range, and we're (as always) on a tight deadline that won't allow me to mix all the colors she wants.

She wants me to ombre dye pieces of knit fabric. We're using Aljo Acid Dyes. Aljo recommended to use 1g to 250cc of water for a stock solution. It was too light. Right now we're using 14g to 700cc water.

I'm over-dyeing a test swatch of Brown Sheep Yarns White Frost bulky knit, 75.5g weight. The color is Aubergine @ 5%. I'm using 4% acetic acid @56%. It's slow to strike and the deepest shade is still too light. Aljo's instructions aren't precise enough for me (I have to dye 16 knit pieces in various shades).

My mom sent me some shirts to dye for her. Her only request was that they have something on the front of them, something other than a fish.

The first one I did using soy wax to draw the shapes of several different leaves. I started with a golden yellow, waxed, then LWI-dyed with fuchsia and a mixture from Dharma called oxblood, both Procion MX dyes.

Front:

Back:

hello to everybody,my first post,----i am wanting to bleach areas of a batik but do not want to have to rince it or wash it out to nutrelise bleach, as i would prefer to leave wax intact.Spoke to the person i buy procien mx from,he said it may be possible to paint areas with bleach then paint over with Sodium Metabisulphite without rinsing the hole batik,but then i want to make a new design with wax in part of bleached area and dye again.Some batiks i work on i like to wax and dye,wax over and dye,and wax and dye again and do not wash the dye out, using very fine wax lines as a resist, then if

Do you soak the tee shirt in the soda ash solution before you tie the shirt or do you tie the shirt first and then soak in the fixer solution.

If you do your rinse in the washing machine with synthropol and cold water - do you leave the rubber bands on and only take them off when you do the final wash on the teeshirt?

Thanks.

Karen

I was just wondering if it’s possible to do this as a way of being precise with designs and to create a watercolour effect. Thanks.
Beth.

At what stage do I stop rinsing something I’ve dyed? When I LWI dyed a few pieces of muslin I kept rinsing them in cold water until it was almost clear then let them dry naturally, but when I ironed them (after first damping to help get the creases out) dye came out all over the towel I’d put over the ironing board. The colours are still vibrant but now I’m concerned that every time they are washed they will lose colour. How do I know that anything I dye will be colourfast?

I also space dyed some scrim and was very pleased with the results, but am too wary of making them into nuno felted clothes until I know the colours won't bleed :-/

I use Colorado dyes (which is also a color reactive dye) and have a forest green dye and a brown dye. Would like to know what you suggest to make olive drab. I thought mostly forest green slowly adding brown. What do you think. Thanks