community of dyers

What I usually do is have a bucket filled with cold water and a few drops of synthrapol. I plunge each garment in the water a few times to rinse off the soda ash, then squeeze the water out and put the garment directly into the washer which is set to the smallest load I can get away with. I already have hot water and synthrapol in the washer when I do the pre-rinse. I only use one rinse cycle in the washer for most items.
Judy

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"Life without tie-dye is waaaaaaaaaaaay dull!"

I've found that in a pinch I can take unrinsed garments and towels (I use them to "blot" under garments as I dye them, instead of a grate) and launder them directly in hot water with a double dose of Synthrapol. I give them an extra hot-water wash, then 2 rinses, but I'm pretty sure it still comes out to significantly less than I'd use rinsing individual garments and then hot-water wsahing.

For the first hot-water wash, I let the stuff agitate just enough to make sure everything has gotten some hot water thru it, maybe a minute or two, and then go right to the Spin cycle; once that's done, I re-set the washer manually to a new hot water wash cycle, adding a bit more Synthrapol if the water was really really full of dye (which is usually LOL). Then I let the washer cycle normally, and I do add an extra rinse at the end (also sometimes lower the water level since the wet clothes take up less washer space after they spin flat LOL) if the last rinse water was not very clear.

I probably use far more Synthrapol than needed, but that's my personal solution. Using the towels also means I have enough tie-dye to justify a load of laundry, as opposed to having so few dyed garments that my smallest load is 3 times as big as I need.

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