community of dyers

What is the best Procion MX recipe for pale gray on cotton. Blueish tones are ok no green or violet.

Need suggestions for round 2.

Ok long story short I was impatient so I decided to use some multi purpose Pearl Gray Tintex on a white cotton flat sheet that will soon be curtains. The colour turned out very mauve. Not good against stormy blue gray wall.

1. What are the chances of getting good discharge with dylon or rit colour remover?

2. What is the best recipe for a very pale Procion MX grey blue. I was thinking to try 50/50 Navy and Black.

Please help!

Briefly, here is my question:

We are traveling to Nicaragua to work on art projects with young kids. The suggested craft is tye-dying - we will be doing 100 shirts. I'm considering using procion mx dyes. Rinsing water is in short supply, there is no septic or sewer system, and we don't want to contaminate ground water.

When artist have done tye-dying in this community in the past, the shirts have been "rinsed" in the ocean.
My questions are these - is it harmful to wash out the dye into the ocean, and is there a way to do this more safely, ie: by neutralizing the soda ash by first rinsing the shirts in a vinigar bath. And, are there other toxic agents in the procion dyes or tye-dying process that need to be considered when washing out the dye that may be harmful to the ocean environment?

I am new to dye processes, and I was wondering what Dharma black colors discharge best and what colors they may leave. I did find helpful info on the instructions page for some colors. Thanks so much!
Penny

After reading your FAQ on discharging, it sounds like the best option for discharging indigo would be Dylon Easy Bleach or its Rit equivalent. Unfortunately, they don't seem easy to find any more. On the other hand, Wikipedia tells me that sodium dichloroisocyanurate is used for e.g. water purification. Can anyone give me some pointers on adapting, for example, these tablets (which according to a reviewer do contain sodium dichloroisocyanurate) to use for indigo discharge?

http://www.amazon.com/Quake-Kare-2GQK-Purification-Tablets/dp/B0007VSLK8

Hi!

I made this print (see attached) using fiber reactive dyes & silk screen method (I used the cold batch method as advised by dharma - made a chemical bath) but the bleed came out to be so horrible and the colors are quite dull. The blue one came out better but there's still a little bleed on the white area.

Any thoughts on how we can prevent this? What you're seeing has also been washed twice.

Any help would truly be appreciated!

Tanya

Dharma is discontinuing their #250 Jet Black, because one of the dyes in the blend has become too expensive. You can order some now, but when they run out of their current stock, that will be the end of it.

#250 Jet Black was never my favorite; in tie-dyeing, it required an extra effort to provide hot enough temperatures, because it's not a Procion MX dye. It contains a fiber reactive dye from another dye class (perhaps in addition to some Procion MX dye) which requires hotter temperatures. This means that doing regular tie-dye outdoors, without making a special effort to warm up the dye reaction after applying the dye, could result in a dull dark brown, instead of a true black. That's not what it was for, though. It was intended more for high-water-ratio immersion dyeing, not for tie-dyeing. Plenty of people liked Jet Black a lot. The key was making sure to get it a bit warmer than most Procions need. It worked well with other Procion MX dyes.

Hi,

I've read that Tri-Sodium Phosphate (TSP) is a powerful detergent and also a water softening agent,and color fixer for dyeing. Does anyone know if this is true or has anyone tried it with fiber reactive dyes?

Thanks!

Tanya

I'm working on coming up with a dye combination based on this photo using Jacquard acid dyes:
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/258/e/a/inside_the_tardis_by_wolfwomanenvsci-d5etk4o.png

I'm leaning towards aztec gold and/or gold ochre for the main color of the yarn, but I'm having difficulty with the blue. I'm thinking a very light teal would give me the desired effect, but I'm not sure what color would be best used to lighten the teal without overly skewing its base tone. Thanks!

Hi there, I am trying to figure out how the dye effect on the following shirts was done, if someone could maybe offer some opinion that would be great! I really like the dirty/oilslick look of them and was hoping to achieve something similar.

I was thinking that perhaps they had been left dry, and dark grey or black dye sprayed or sponged onto folded or scrunched up parts. But I am unsure, and can't afford too much trial and error with dyes so was hoping someone might be able to offer some advice.

Thank you!!

https://www.wornstar.com/wp-content/gallery/gallery-custom-shirts/wscs60.jpg

hi could anybody offer any advice on mounting my batiks on stretcher bars with a view to sell them ,what i am worried about is if i stretch the fabric--a medium cotton--over the bars, do i need something stopping the fabric touching the front side of the wood,thought of using hardboard between frame and fabric,but for the size of batik it would make the frame quite heavy,spoke to a picture framer ,he said to use wood that is bevelled,but i am on a near Zero budget,so am using cheap wood batton ,and once stretched will the wood show through the batik,what i am looking for is, does the fabric need to float over the top of the wood or not,i can not think of anything else to put between wood and fabric to take the tension off of the batik ,or does it not matter, ,its so enjoyable the process of creating a batik ,but the frame part has been stressing me out for months now,i am getting the wood tomorrow mabye i just need to give it a go this weekend and see what happens,any help would be greatly appreciated. one last bit of advice i need,just bought a electric frying pan for a second wax pot but its very large,i was thinking of putting a container like a foil dish inside it to melt a smaller amount of wax mixtures,worried about the rest of the area getting hot without anything on it,anybody done this or ideas please,thanx anybody for any help offered I look forward to any replys.Blair -in- uk

Hi,

I've been studying how to print directly to yards of fabric using fiber reactive dyes via silkscreen method, and I read in Dharma that the cold batch method is the best for printing directly to fabric. Also that it doesn't require pre-washing the fabric? I just wanted to ask if this is indeed the way to go or if there's an easier method to achieve the best results.

I'd also like to ask if it's possible to mix the colors of fiber reactive dyes to achieve secondary colors?

Thank you so much!

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the site, I've been browsing through it and I've already learned so much!

My question is what is the best fiber reactive dye to use if I'm to print by the yard (ultimately resulting to rolls of fabric) via silkscreen method, like how they do it in india. I want to use cotton poly blend, because 100% cotton is just so expensive where I am from.

Any suggestions and tips would be greatly appreciated!! I'm looking for the easiest way possible that can give great results - vibrant colors, won't fade etc.

Thank you!!!

I am curious about Navy Blue. Since I have been offering dye services, I've noticed that everyone has a different definition for what the navy color is. Some lean towards indigo and others lean towards a dark bluish purple, like the midnight sky. I love Pro Chem's washfast and lanaset version of Navy so processing silks and wools is not an issue.

The difficulty I am experiencing is with cellulose fibers. I was wondering if anyone knew how navy is premixed? I would like to give it a try myself to see if I can come up with a recipe that I prefer for cotton. I would like the Navy blue to be very dark and intense but I do not like Pro Chemical's greenish Navy or Reddish Navy, although they are great colors in their own right.

Does any one have any hints as to how the dying is done is the enclosed photo.they are calling it the "distressed look". Looks to me like it was hung w/ the hem sitting in a small bucket of dye and left there until the dye migrated up the garment. Would you presoak the garment in activator, let it dry and then proceed?

Hi,
Mixing my graphics with tie dyes, adds a lot of dimension and depth. Really trippy :D !!!
http://iteetoo.blogspot.com/

Hi,
just started tie dye tees. Mixing it with my graphics. Using the Procion dyes, seems to work well. Easy to do but a lot of work!
Take a look at my site, http://iteetoo.blogspot.com/

thanks
RTL

Has anyone experimented with shades of grey? Dharma's charcoal grey blue-tinted which I don't want. I want kind of an antique grey. I tried jet black in very small quantities, but it was also blue-tinted. It just came out like light navy. Any ideas?

I am doing samples from Fabric Dyer's Dictionary (the clear blue-violet). I have done the math and decreased the quantities accordingly for smaller batches. I mixed up a cup of water and added 1 T soda ash to soak the thread samples prior to dying. Mixed the dye with urea water. The first time I dyed the samples, the dye did not take fully. I think I did not use enough soda ash or made the dye into a paste to fully dissolve. This time I made my dye paste prior to adding the urea for liquid dye. I put my samples in the dye water. When I took them out and cured fully, they were more of a red-violet than blue-violet.

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the correct forum so I'm also posting this in Color Mixing.

I dye dance veils. Dancers love the look of dry dye powder applied directly to the fabric. The trick is to use colors that are blended from other colors, the more the better.

In other words, a primary color dye with only one pigment produces somewhat uninteresting, one color results. With a complex color like Marine that's blended from other colors, the result is an intriguing rainbow that changes with movement, light and distance.

I've tried mixing up my own dry dye blends with unappealing results. So, when I'm shopping for colors for next summers batch of veils, is there a way to tell which colors are blended from lots of other colors?