The tie dye reference thread

First: why should I listen to this hippy harpy?
--Because I have been involved in the creation of 38,500 garments, More than 200 home-sized tapestries and 15 stage sets.
String Cheese Incident, Steve Kimock, Yonder Mountain, Jacob Fred, Mountain of Venus and others toured with our work.
--Because I have made most of the big mistakes.

Can I use RIT?
sure. But it's crap.
for natural fibers except for woolens, you want analine dye. RIT is acid dye.
Look to Procion MX (made by ICI) for cotton, hemp, linene, some silks and rayon.
my rant form an earlier thread:
There is only ONE dye to use in North America on cotton and hemp, and that is Procion MX, an aniline dye used with cold water.

Three main outlets for it are:
Dharma trading: Pros: helpful staff, carries a wide selection of whites/blanks, catalog and site have good tutorials
cons: stoner staff gets stuff wrong, color is too variable in dye lots
Ruppert Gibbon and Spyder (also called Jacquard)
Pros: great info/ products for silk, professional staff, know their stuff well
Cons: expensive, color chart for PMX is small

Pro Chemical and Dye (Prochem)
Pros: best selection, quickest service
Cons: Mint is now only available in a 55 gal drum. Mint lasts forever in a 4 oz jar.

Jacquard's kit looks like this: http://www.dickblick.com/zz013/01/
Rainbow Rock is an aniline kit, too.

My RIT Rant:
RIT, a hot water dye, is a waste of your water, garment and time. It's ONLY redeeming feature is it dyes polyester. It is neither light nor colorfast in the wash, so it is best on items that will be washed very little and live in the shade.
Friends don't let friends use RIT.

Deka and other aniline dyes are adequate.
Jacquard sells a decent, useful tie-dye kit

other discussions on dye:
http://hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123512

http://hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108225

http://hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112900

http://hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108783
http://hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112585

What's the best way to get started cheaply?
Kits:
Colorado Wholesale Dye offers kits, as does dharma trading company.
the Jacquard kit that is the box with lots of T-shirts printed on it is available through most art supply stores, including Jerrysartarama.com and Dick Blick.
Jo Anns carries it in parts of teh country as well.
You can build your own from www.dharmatrading.com by ordering small amounts of at least three and preferably seven colors.
you will need to make sure that your kit has soda ash, or you hit the laundry aisle for it.

What do I dye on?
Natural fibers. this includes rayon.

Why does tie dye work?
Tie dye, like batik, is based on keeping dyes from penetrating all of the fabric. Both are resist dye methods (as you want the cloth to resist being dyed). Batik uses wax or paste. Tie dye (and it's evil cousin shibori) uses pressure.
Pressure comes from rubber bands, sinew, clips, tying the fabric, and stitching in patterns.
For the record, this is pre Common Era art. Tie dye was NOT born in the 1960s, and it's US zenith really went into the 1970s.
Controlling where the dyes penetrate creates the designs and patterns.

QUICK EXPLANATION
OF THE CHEMICAL PROCESSES INVOLVED IN TIE-DYEING
Fiber reactive dyes attach permanently to cellulose fibers using a covalent (electron-sharing) bond. These molecules carry a "chromophore" which absorb varying spectrums of the light, allowing only certain spectrums to reflect.
Covalent bonding is the one of the most basic and strongest types of chemical reactions. This reaction happens gradually over time depending on temperature and/or the pH level of the surrounding environment.
The Soda Ash pre-soak raises the pH level of the garment or fabric to approximately 10.5. Raising the pH level of the solution that the fabric or garment is soaked in raises the level of negative hydrogen ions in the dyeing environment. The chemical bonding process uses these ions in the reaction. Pre-soaking in Soda Ash fixer solution is what allows the fiber reactive dyes to work at room temperature.
The reaction can also be aided with heat. Some tie-dyers have had success with using baking soda and microwaving their dyed articles. Since baking soda is a weaker alkali than Soda Ash, it must be accompanied by heat. Some people who are "chemically sensitive" choose to use this method.
The dye is allowed to react in a desirable host environment for up to 24 hours. After this time, the bonding sites on the cellulose should be saturated with dye molecules. Excess dye molecules that have not bonded permanently are washed away using warm water rinse and a dye-carrying detergent like Synthrapol.--from Dharma Trading Company


How do I finish a dye? Will it bleed? Do I have to wash a new dye in vinegar/ salt/ cold water? Do I have to hand wash or can I use a machine?

When you buy a dye, ask if the item was washed in Synthropol. If it wasn't, ask if it was rinsed until the water ran clear.
If you don't know, hand wash in cold (even a rinse of a sleeve can tell you a lot.) Some detergents designed for babies contain Synthropol (Ivory Show and some formulations of Dreft).
Synthropol isolates the dye flecks so they cannot resettle on paler parts of an item.
When making your own dyes, Synthropol is great for that pro finish, and saving your lovely white kurta.

Washing is up to you. I have dyes that are 12 years old that are paper thin, andthey go in a gentle cycle.
I think hand wash (and more importantly, air drying) will let dyes live longer, but if all you have are dyes, do what you need.
If you go with the machine, don't have heavy fabrics in the same load, and use cool to warm water.
one capful to a washer of water (or half in a 5 gal bucket) is sufficient.

 

well, reading a sticky is a nice thought....

 

Things I’ve learned since:

ice dyes, a version of snow dyeing, has risen as the main form you’ll see.

Prepping the fabric is usually the same.*

Using ice, dye can be under or over the ice. (DUI, DOI) Or some of both. It can be in a rack to keep it out of the run off, muck, or left in it UNDISTURBED.

choices depend on the look you seek.

*The exception to pretreating is pariah method, where a much stronger ratio of soda ash to water is applied with a squeeze bottle after the dye is laid down.