dying with beets- can anyone help?

[clovergirl]

i'm boiling some beets right now and the water is turning this awesome shade of dark pink. i was thinking that i would like to use the water to dye one of my DD's shirts, but i don't have a clue about what i would need to do. would just soaking it in the water do the trick? do i need to use vinegar or salt to set it?

[ma2maya]

Not quite sure what mordant would work for a veggie dye. Salt(the kind you would have in your kitchen) is not a mordant or "fix" for any type of dye, though I does foster the fibers receiving the color when vat dyeing(low dye to water ratio). Metal salts are mordants though. As for vinegar, not sure if it would do much. Don't think so though.

The best suggestion I have is using alum, which is a common mordant.
Here s an informative link...
http://www.earthguild.com/products/riff/rmordant.htm

Kathy

[umefey]

Yep, you absolutley want to use a mordant.
If it's a cotton tshirt use Aluminum Acetate, You can get it from Earthues.
Be careful and wear a dust mask because it has a texture like powdered sugar.
You should also scour the shirt first. Use dr bronners and soda ash. Mix the bronners and soda ash into a pot of water. Add your shirt and heat it up to just before boiling, stirring pretty often. Hold that temperature for about 30 min and then toss the whole deal (water and shirt) into your washing machine.
Let it run though the rinse cycle. Now you are ready to mordant.

I haven't tried beets before, good luck!!

[kamesennin]

You definitely need a mordant. I tried soaking a tshirt in vinegar and then soaking the shirt in beet dye and salt but it didn't work. The dye just washed off and my shirt turned yellow. Hope you figure it out! That was the end of my dyeing experiments!

[liawbh]

I'm pretty sure beet dye is considered "fugitive." I don't hink you can get it to be wash- or light-fast, even with the heavy-duty chemical mordants.