community of dyers

Is the soda ash the fixer? I would have to use that I assume in order to try out tie dying. I have a cold water dylon dye and it says to use fixer and salt. Or can I just try out the dye and then add the fixer and salt when I do the work with the children? Look forward to hearing from you.

Yes, soda ash is the fixer, necessary for any form of dyeing with that type of dye. For tie-dyeing, most people like to keep the soda ash separate and use it to pre-soak their tied garments before applying the dye to them.

You do not need any salt if you are tie-dyeing. Salt is necessary when vat-dyeing to get a single solid color, either in a large bucket or the washing machine, because of the large amount of water being used then. The small amount of water the dye is dissolved in makes salt unnecessary for direct dye application.

Most of us mix urea in with the dye for tie-dyeing, but it is not necessary as long as you keep the tie-dyed garments moist for long enough that the dye has time to react with the fabric, at or above about 80°F (27°C) for Dylon Cold Water dye. If you live in a very dry climate, you can wrap up your garments in plastic to keep them damp long enough. If your climate is humid, no need to worry about it.

If you do mix salt in with your dye, don't add it until after you've dissolved your dye, because salt makes it more difficult to dissolve the dye.

All you really need is the fiber reactive dye, soda ash, water, and warm enough temperatures. ("Cold" in the textile industry means any temperature below scalding hot; it does not mean a temperature that feels cold.) Oh, and 100% natural fabric: cotton, rayon, linen, hemp, or silk. (Viscose rayon counts as a natural fiber when dyeing, because it contains cellulose, like cotton.) Don't try to dye polyester.

Dylon Cold Water dye works very much like Procion MX dye, so you can use all the same recipes, as long as you make sure to keep your dyed stuff warm enough while the dye is reacting with the fiber. Drimarene K dyes require slightly warmer reaction temperatures than Procion MX dye, that's the only real difference. Normally Procion MX dye will work nicely anywhere above 70°F (21°C), but Drimarene K dyes like it to be warmer than that. The ideal reaction temperature for Procion MX dye is about 86°F (30°C), while the ideal reaction temperature for Drimarene K dyes is about 104°F (40°C).

"Dyloin Cold Water" is the name of Dylon's fiber reactive dye that works well for tie-dyeing, but Dylon makes many types of dye. Avoid "Dylon Multi Purpose" dye, which is an all-purpose dye. All purpose dyes are hot water dyes, and do not work nearly as well on cotton.

Thank you for your help - I'll have a go tomorrow soaking the bits of cloth in the fixer and then I'll dip them in the dye - if it works I'll be all set for Monday!

Just be sure not to dip the soda-soaked shirts in the dye you want to use again later on. Once anything with soda ash in it touches that dye, its clock starts ticking and it'll go bad pretty quickly.

You can dip the shirts in the soda ash and line-dry them. No difference to the caution about not putting them in the dye you want to save, but it's another good way to get the dye fixer into your garments.

Consider going to the drug store to find a dispenser bottle or spray bottle for each dye color, to use to apply the dye, instead of dipping into the dye. Mustard dispenser bottles work, too. To apply the dye directly like this, make the dye solutions quite strong, two to four teaspoons of dye per cup (10 to 20 ml per 250 ml). (Use spray bottles only outside, and don't breathe the dye mist they make.)

You can follow the instructions on my How to Tie Dye page, substituting Dylon Cold Water dye for Procion MX dye, or you can follow this link to Dylon's instructions for tie dyeing (PDF file). They have instructions for both their Cold Water dye there and their Hand Dye. The latter appears to have the soda ash already mixed in, or something. Stick to the Cold Water Dye. Note that Procion MX dye will be much cheaper, when you feel ready to mail-order dye in advance. There are many good sources available around the world for mail-ordering Procion MX dye; see my list of Sources for Dyeing Supplies.