Blending Colors with Procion Dyes

[TSomm]

Hello everyone!

So I was recently inspired to tie dye some baby clothes because of the lack of gender neutral options out there. I ordered a beginners kit of Procion dyes from Dharma Trading and now I'm wondering how to blend for my own colors.

I realize the basics of yellow and red make orange, etc. but I'm not used to yellow, fuchsia, and turquoise. If I want red, can I make that or do I have to order it? I've done some internet searching on blending procion dyes, but I can't seem to find any real "guides". Everyone says just to experiment.

Any advice on how to make new colors with the three mentioned above?

Thanks in advance!

[vbactivist]

I'm pretty certain you have to buy red.

[Noelle C.]

Red, yellow, and blue are primary colors. You can't get them by mixing other colors. (Sometimes you'll see green listed as primary, but it's not - it's a blend of blue and yellow.) So these three you have to buy.

[ma2maya]

Here is a link to a very helpful site(Paula Burch) about dyeing. If you scroll down on the page linked she gives basic mixes to get colors from the 3 primaries you have.

http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/howtotiedye.shtml

This is the pertinent text-

"You can make all the colors you need by mixing lemon yellow, fuchsia, and turquoise. You should probably get black, too (I prefer Dharma's New Black), as it intensifies the other colors wonderfully by contrast, and it's hard to mix yourself.

Simple rules:

* a lot of fuchsia and a little yellow make red
* red and yellow make orange
* yellow and turquoise* make green
* a lot of turquoise* plus a little fuchsia makes blue
* turquoise* plus fuchsia makes purple

*(remember to double the amounts of turquoise as compared to other colors) "

[SleeplessMommy]

Go with the Paula Birch site .. she knows what she is talking about!

There is also the book Color by Accident, which has some nice ideas.

[kindmomma]

Those 3 colors are Dharma's idea of primary. If you blend fuschia and yellow you will get a pink orange. The Fuschia and turq makes a very pretty purple. Just make sure you put the light color on first. I get better results doing things this way