community of dyers

I did some test dyeing last week, trying to match the US flag red. It came out remarkably close:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35778310@N05/4008860065/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35778310@N05/4008872143/

It's even more intensely saturated in person, although I'm sure over time and enough washings it'll fade, although it's held onto almost all of its dye in the rinsings (the last two were just to ease my obsessive mind).

Recipe for this red:
8 oz. warm urea water (fabric soda ash water soaked & dried)
bright scarlet - 2 teaspoons
magenta - 1 teaspoon
carmine red - 1 teaspoon
warm red - 1 teaspoon

Immersion dyed (squeeze bottle over bin, left to soak in it, uncovered, 12 hours.

Hand-rinsed in cold water, machine-washed with Synthrapol 5 times (2 rinses per cycle).

Good luck!

I have been getting the Procion dyes from Dharma Trading and there is no carmine or warm red. Where do you get the dyes?

Lorri

http://www.lasfibers.com
http://www.lasfibers.blogspot.com

Sorry for the confusion.

It's Jacquard Procion Mx (MX-BA) - Carmine Red 032 [http://www.jacquardproducts.com/products/dyes/procionmx/colors.php].

I thought I got it at Dharma, but I may have gotten it through an amazon.com vendor: http://www.amazon.com/Jacquard-Procion-MX-Dye-Carmine/dp/B0006IJZDE

The Warm Red (MX-GBA) is from Earthguild:
http://www.earthguild.com/products/riff/rprocion.htm

Like Paula, I think the key is using enough dye.

Hope that helps.

There's an interesting question. I don't know where Esme's been buying her dyes (those red pieces really are great! I think the secret is using enough dye powder to get a bright red). There is no "Warm Red" among the Procion MX dye mixtures at Dharma Trading Company, Jacquard Products, or PRO Chemical & Dye. One source of "Warm Red" Procion MX dye is Earth Guild, which applies that name to the manufacturer's mixture Red MX-GBA, which is also sold by Dharma as "Chinese Red" and by ProChem as "Strongest Red". See my charts of Which Procion MX colors are pure, and which mixtures?.

Red MX-GBA is a slightly pinkish red. For a true red, I would mix it with a little bit of orange MX-2R. Actually, I'd be more inclined to use red MX-5B ("Light Red", "Mixing Red", "Magenta", or "Clear Red"), instead of red MX-GBA, along with the orange MX-2R, because it gives less haloing than red MX-8B (Fuchsia), and is more predictable and might give a purer color than a premixed dye used as a mixing primary.

"Carmine Red" is the name of a premixed red MX dye sold by Jacquard Products, but there is no MX dye by that name sold by PRO Chemical & Dye, Earth Guild, or Dharma Trading. (It's also the name of the [completely unrelated!] crushed cactus bugs added to yogurt and lipstick to make them pink or red; the fabric dye derived from these bugs is called cochineal, but for some reason the food coloring derived from them is referred to as carmine, instead.)

To make a duller red, I'd add some brown MX-GRN, which is a pure dye that is a dull terracotta in color, and if necessary then add a touch of a navy blue such as blue MX-2G.

(If any readers are unfamiliar with the scheme of the MX codes used for Procion MX dyes, please see my page What do the letters and numbers in the code name for a Procion MX type dye mean?.)

Paula

Releaf

My daughter and I have been doing tie-dye for three years now (going on four) and our "go to" red has always been Dharma's Scarlet. It's one of those colors with an asterisk on Dharma's list, which means you have to use twice as much in the dye recipe, but when you do that, you get a nice, bright, warm red on cottons.