community of dyers

I have recently tried them I have used light processing dyes many years ago namely blueprinting and one or two other equally toxic ones.
My attempts are here
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rainbows-End-Studios/213070082041996?ref=hl
And yes the bottles are too small and run out too fast especially if you are having them shipped to Australia :P
I have an order coming to me from Denmark, thanks to the information Paula supplies on this site. Of Indanthren dyes in the three primaries I hope to make my own. Not having yellow in the inkodyes is limiting.
I also found I had to tweak the negatives in photoshop to get them just right for printing It caused me to go through more inkodye than I liked

Will you be using the Inanththren vat dyes in the usual immersion-dyeing method for vat dyes? I can't help but wonder if you might be hoping to make your own light-sensitive dyes, similar to Inkodyes, because that's something I would like to be able to do! I don't like being limited to a single supplier (Lumi is the only company that makes Inkodyes).

Inkodyes appear to be the soluble leuko form of vat dyes. I don't know whether there is anything unique about them, or whether it is possible for many vat dyes to be turned to the soluble leuko form and then used as light-sensitive dyes.

The leuko form of vat dye is what you get when you reduce it, using a reducing chemical such as thiox or hydrosulfite. For example, the leuko form of indigo is yellow in color; it is traditionally called "indigo white". The dictionary definition of a solubilized vat dye is "a vat dye in the form of a soluble sodium salt of a sulfuric acid monoester of its leuco compound."

Some years ago, the now-retired former owner of Batik Oetoro, Michel Kostovic, told me that his company used to sell some of the Indigosol vat dyes, Blue O4B, Pink IR Extra, and Violet I4R, for developing with sunlight. He said that they were relatively expensive dyes and never caught on in Australia (his location). I wonder if they were as expensive as the Inkodyes are now. Their Colour Index names are C.I. Solubilised Vat Blue 5, Vat Red 1, and Vat Violet 1.

Here's a link to a patent that discusses using leuco-esters of vat dyes for photographic imaging. They specify Indigosol Golden Yellow ICK (C.I. Solubilized Vat 4), Indigosol Blue OCB, and Indigsosol Pink IR Extra, which were then all made by Hoechst.

I don't think that the Indigosol dyes are the same as the Indanthren dyes. I don't know where one can buy Indigosol dyes. Michel Kostovic said that they are popular in the Pekalongan region of Indonesia.

-Paula

I have Indigosol dyes ordered from India but unfortunately I may have been scammed here I am still waiting to find out. Batik Oretoro still have some but not the primaries only choices like brown or Olive green Yukk But I am still going to try them if my dyes from Denmark dont work I used to many years ago successfully thicken Indigo to print with and it stayed in its leuko form well enough to complete a four metre length. So I am just going to experiment and see. I have a larger order from Inkodyes due today I have been using them in a combination of techniques such as sun printing and screen printing to lessen the need to do a whole length. The vat dyes we used at art school many years ago were mixed the same as indigo then hung out in the light to develop

My dyes have arrived from India today and I know my indanthren from Denmark are in the country :) From the conversation I had with the Indian company I think Indigosol and Indanthren are basically the same I have an old dye manual I gained in art school eons ago So I have basic recipes for printing and immersion. I'll let you know how my light exposure experiments go :)