Dyes and Stuff

By Don Baker
July 2001

Several people have been asking me about my dye work recently, so I thought I would share a few things. This post is in no way meant to be an absolute source of methods, materials, or techniques, and is not even meant to be a guideline, just a sharing of information that I have gathered from several sources and much trial and error. For someone just starting to make flags and dye them, it can be quite intimidating at first, not to mention expensive. I want to lend a hand so that others won’t run out and spend a lot of money on dyes that may not give them the results they are looking for. This post will attempt to focus on getting those beautiful glow-under-black light results that are so sought after.
Tips

Keep in mind that dyeing too light is better than too dark, you can always darken it, but to lighten it you need color remover – RIT – totally removes most colors, or whitewash – RIT – hot stove bath is best method.

I always white wash first before I dye my fabric. Just one very hot 185 F stove top whitewash. This step is required for glow under black light effect. I find that a whitewash after dyeing removes much of the color, even in cold water. Never let dyed fabric sit in whitewash over night, unless you want to remove all of the color to rework a piece.

In my opinion, Dharma Trading Company in San Rafael is one of the best sources for materials I have ever seen: http://www.dharmatrading.com. They have a wide variety of supplies, at extremely low prices. Everything from permanent fabric pens to squirt bottles and artist mixing charts and SILK!!!!!! I hear they even have dyed samples of silk at the retail store where one could examine the different dyes already set on fabric under a portable black light, (black light not included of course).

I primarily use Jaquard Acid Wash Dyes. They are easy to use, clean up nice as long as you don’t let your little spills set in, and a little bottle is only $4.95. Sometimes a little will go a long way. In this category of dyes, I specifically use the following:

* Hot Fuscia – a light concentration yields a popping pink, a heavy concentration gives you a popping red. Do not do as I did and spend $50.00 trying to buy a popping red off the shelf, unless you want to of course, in which case, if you find one, please let me know.
* Brilliant Blue – The name says it all.
* Kelly Green – same as the blue.

That’s it for the Jaquard Acid Dyes.

I found a nice fluorescent yellow at Pro Chemical and Dye in MA. Takes a while to get here, but worth the wait. They also have a fluorescent pink called very hot pink. Very Hot! These are not acid dyes, they are called Pro-One-shot – just add water and heat. Actually, I find that adding vinegar (the acid – 5% acetic acid) to the yellow, changes the color a bit, but not really certain if there is a detrimental impact to the dye. I can tell you that I am really anxiously awaiting the Canary yellow listed below: http://www.prochemical.com/store/.

Another option for yellow is Sennelier Tinfix Design Canary #3 at Dharma. I don’t remember the color number, so you will have to look at the chart on the website. I have some of this on order and have not actually tried it. But a friend recommends it highly.

So there we have it. Red, Blue, Yellow. To get other colors you can mix the above dyes.

Other Colors – Keep in mind that just because red is red in natural light, it may not be red under black light, and actually, it is not, but Fuscia is. This phenomenon can occur when mixing any color of dye.

* Popping Orange = F-Yellow and Fuscia. Start with Yellow and go up slowly with the Fuscia solution (hmm). You must set the dye samples on fabric as you experiment and examine under black light. More on measuring dyes a little later on. My orange is 2 tablespoons of yellow one-shot to 2 cups H2O. To this add 30 ccs (scientific, not really, I just happen to have some syringes laying about) of Fuscia sol’n (1 teaspoon to 2 cups H2O) You could of course bring this down proportionately. Popping orange looks red in natural light.
* Purple = Fuscia and Blue.- many shades, experiment.
* Many others can be made, and many shades, for anyone willing to invest a little money and some of their time. One tip – write it down so you will have it the next time you need it.

Techniques

There are many, and I usually use more than one. One of the first things I do is make stock solutions with my dyes. With the acid dyes they keep for months, or would if you don’t use them, as long as you do not activate them with vinegar, they will work well over time. I keep my stock solutions in a dark closet. Don’t forget that colors can fade in prolonged exposure to light.

Most of my stock sol’n are 1 teaspoon of dye to 2 cups water. Mix it, and store it. Also, professionals dont measure dye powder, they weigh it. I don’t have a gram scale yet.

To Prepare Stock Solutions:

1. Measure dye powder into jar. Use l/2 oz. for a quart jar or 1/4 OZ. for a pint. More for strong colors, less for pastels Caution: do not inhale dye powders.
2. Add warm tap water to powder a little at a time, stir carefully to make a smooth paste.
3. Generally add enough warm water to make up a quart of solution (or pint).
4. Additional Information: Most stock solutions keep for months, be sure to label bottle and lids with color name and date, show type of dye. I usually label them with the quantities of powder I added as well.

To Dye:

I bought a big lobster pot, and use a tall rack from my microwave to keep the fabric up out of the water when steaming it. There are a multitude of other methods, and many great books on the topic for anyone interested in doing the research.

1. Build up a “head of steam” in the pot.
1. Fill bottom of pot with 2 inches of water.
2. Add 1 cup of vinegar or 5 tsp. of Acetic Acid (56%) or 3 tsp’s. of Glacial 98% Acetic Acid.
3. Put rack in pot, cover pot with tightly fitting lid. Add weight on top of lid if necessary to hold lid down tightly (such as a brick).
4. Heat pot. Caution: Avoid burns by removing lid with care and wearing oven glove.
2. Mix “pouring colors” in plastic cups. Use 1-3 cups of “pouring colors” per batch.
1. Basic Recipe
1. Fill cup half full of water.
2. Add 1 to 8 Tblsp’s of dye stock solutions (1 Tblsp for pastels, 8 Tblsp’s for dark colors). I find that pastels are excellent under black light, the light gets through the silk and electrifies the flags.
3. Add either 3 Tblsp’s vinegar or 1 tsp acetic acid to each cup – very important. this activates the dye and makes it bright
2. Single color method: Add different amounts of the same color dye stock to each cup. For example: 1 Tblsp to 1st cup, 4 Tblsp’s to 2nd cup, 8 Tblsp’s to 3rd cup
3. Multi-color method: Add different color to each cup. Try using colors equidistant from each other on the color wheel (triads). For example: add scarlet or magenta to 1st cup, yellow to second cup, turquoise or blue to 3rd cup.
4. Additional information: Stock colors may be mixed to make other pouring colors. Use an eye dropper to add small amounts of black or other colors, to shade, for example: shades of one color by putting the same color in each plastic cup, but add no black to the 1st, 6 drops black to 2nd, 20 drops black to 3rd, and 50 drops black to fourth. This helps keep your finished colors more subtle and less garish/tie-dye looking.
3. Lay fiber on rack in steaming pot. Drizzle 1 or 2 cups of various pouring colors on top of fiber. Put on lid and let steam. More colors may be added in 5-10 mins. Use different drizzle “patterns”: figure-8, Z’s, S’s, H’s.
4. Cover pot and steam for 10-15 mins. Weigh down yarn with dinner plate if pot is not full of yarn or fiber. If pot is tightly filled let steam extra 5-10 mins. Carefully (wear oven mitt) remove lid and check color. Turn fiber over and drizzle on more colors. Steam another 5-10 mins. or more. If you had yarn twisted for “ikat effect” use dowels to untwist for last few minutes of steaming.
5. Let fiber cool to hand temperature, then rinse well to remove unfixed colors. Wash in warm soapy water with liquid, dishwashing detergent then rinse if you used deep tone colors. Yarns will look their most fluffy if excess water is removed quickly by spinning in washing machine or squeezing in several bath towels.

These directions were originally written for use with Kiton Wool Dyes, but any Wool Acid leveling type dye will work similarly.

Often, I apply my sol’n to the fabric in different patterns using squirt bottles. I lay the fabric out on the floor or on a screen rack over my bathtub. Bleach is good for getting out any stains, but these dyes don’t cling to porcelain.

Tie dye is great too. there are many methods available from web searches. Get creative, have fun, and don’t set any boundaries for yourself or for others. For quite some time I was trying to get the results that I saw on other flags. When I stopped trying to imitate, and began to create, I started to get very good results.

There was another post a few weeks back from Candida about fluorescent dyes. This is an excellent reference.

All my love,
Don

Ultimately, all real communication is about truth. And ultimately, the only real truth is love. That is why, when love is present, so is communication. And when communication is difficult, it is a sign that love is not fully present.
– unknown