Tie Dye Problem- HELP!

[Popster]

Hello!

I am looking for some help re: tie dye. I have been tie dyeing for a while but I have never used procion MX dyes before. As I have heard do much about the Procion MX dyes, I thought I'd give it a go and try them out. I have had success with just straight forward ties but if I try to do anything more complicated, I am having real trouble.

If I fold a t-shirt several times, the dye just isn't penetrating through all of the layers. If i have 2 layer of fabric, it's fine but if I try through 8 or 16 layers (16 for a mandala) the dye is vibrant on the top and bottom couple of layers, but the rest of the design is patchy and very pale.

I soaked the shirts in soda ash for HOURS because the fabric was multi-layered and I wanted to be sure the shirts were soaked, and them I sqeezed every extra drop of liquid out of the shirts before I applied the dye. I also ensured that I squeezed dye into the folds of the fabric (as they were tightly tied). I put enough dye on so that the dye pooled underneath the shirts and the dye was dripping off the tied fabric.

Has anyone got any advice for me as to how I can solve this one? It has me stumped : I really wanted to get on with these dyes but it is proving very laborious *sigh*

Thanks in advance,

Zoë

[ma2maya]

One thing I do with my soda soaked items is put them in the washer on the spin cycle to get out excess soda ash. As far as get the dye into the layers and having loads of dye pooling underneath I would suggest thickening the dye with sodium alginate. This will give you more control over the dye flow especially when getting into the folds. Are you getting the nozzle into the folds?
You also may be tyeing too tightly. With better control over dye flow with thickened dyes you won't need to tie so tightly to keep the dye where you want it.

As far as making the dye thickener, I premake a batch of thickened urea water with about 1/2 tsp. sodium alginate per 1 cup of urea water. I do this in one of my dedicated tie-dyeing blenders. I wet out the sodium alginate first with rubbing alcohol to the consistency of wet sand. Doing this keeps the alginate from clumping in the water and absorbing very quickly so I don't have to wait overnight for the thickened water to be ready to use. I do 4 cup batches at a time as this is the most my blender will hold without becoming a big mess.

Just a quick question. What type of dye were you using prior to the mx dyes?

Kathy

[Popster]

Thank you for your help Kathy.

Previously, I have just used a simple tie dye kit!

I have followed your advice and used the thickener. It has helped a bit but I am still having problems. Maybe my ties are too tight but they need to be pretty tight for some designs don't they?

Another quick query- do you use salt in your premixed dye solution? I know you definately need it for black, but do you add it to your dye solution? Also, do you let your soda ask soaked shirt/material completely dry our before you apply the dye? My fabric was a bit damp and I'm wondering if that gives too much resistance. I haven't let mine totally dry out before because I wanted to get the items out to people who wanted them. It must take a good few days for a tied shirt to dry with soda ash on it?

This is what my shirt came out like with the thickener used in the dye solution. Can you see how the areas get lighter towards the bottom right corner where it is much paler?
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...1/IMG_1002.jpg

This is how my shirts turned out with a bog-standard tie dye kit dye.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...1/IMG_0974.jpg

Can you see why I am getting frustrated with the 'professional' dyes? LOL I wanted to use the pro dyes so I could just make a shirt or playsilk at a time but this is getting silly

Thanks again,

Zoë

[ma2maya]

First, they dyes you were using in the tie dye kit are the same as what you are using now, just packaged for ease and convenience. So don't get frustrated. It really just comes down to technique and practice. I for one do not do the mandalas on t's b/c my first few attempts were so annoying that I stopped. I don't really do t's anyways so it wasn't worth my time. Though I should go back and perfect my technique just for the experience.

Anyways, my items are just barely damp when I dye them. Some people like them bone dry, it is just something I don't like. Personal preference. Though I would say that fairly wet items can cause dulling of color, a bigger mess, and cause one to use more dye to cover the same area. Maybe take it a bit slower getting the dye into the folds. squirt the dye in, let it get soaked up, repeat maybe with some gentle squeezes of the fold. Syringes can also be useful because the tips are narrower and hence easier to get into the folds.

As far as folds being tight It really depends on the fold but in general you want it just tight enough to hold the fold.

I do not use salt with any direct application dyeing(i.e tie dyeing). Salt is useful when the ratio of water to dye is very high. It helps get a better color saturation but is not necessary in tie dyeing though it wouldn't hurt anything.

[Popster]

Thanks again Kathy. I appreciate you replies

I have tried again and I have had slightly better results but not great I have managed to get better coverage by really squeezing the dyes in but I seem to have lost some of the defintition of the shapes *sigh* I really though using dyes 'properly' was going to be a help and not such a hinderance.

The only thing I can think of, maybe, is the temperature of the dyes I'm using. Previously, I would used really hot water in my dye bottles but since I have been using the procion dyes 'properly', my dyes have been cold. Do you think that by using cold dyes, they aren't 'sinking' into the fabric like they did before? Also- my colours have been somewhat duller than before (even using source mixes) and I think it must be that the higher temps used before led to more vibrant colours maybe?

I am running out of ideas here LOL!

Zoë