Ok, I finally have Urea, Soda Ash and Alginate,

plus 3 Procion dyes: Emerald Green, Medium Blue, Raspberry

Basic Tie-Dye - simple instructions/recipe

• Tie-Dye - everything you need

1. Make Soda Ash solution (1 cup. per gallon of water)
2. Wet garments, then tie them
3. Soak garments 5-30 minutes
4. Add urea to warm water (using chart)
5. Mix Dyes (wear dusk mask), check labels for how much dye to use

Alginate: Sprinkle the thickener into the chemical water or liquid dye slowly, mixing continuously. (You can also use a blender - add the alginate very gradually through the top with the blender going). Let sit for an hour or so, as it will continue to thicken before use. Refrigerate to store. Don't over-thicken, thinner is better. For paint-like consistencies, use ~1 - 4 tsp / quart water, depending on how thick you need it. For tie-dye use ~1/8 -1/2 tsp per 8 oz bottle of dye to slow or stop bleeding. Experiment, because each situation can be unique.

Well, I have all this RIT dye that I better make use of it.  I also finally have UREA and an Alginate.

 Scarlet, Wine, Tangerine, Sunshine Orange, Golden Yellow, Dark Green, Teal, Navy Blue, Dark Brown, Taupe

Petal Pink, Tangerine, Sunshine Orange, Lemon Yellow, Kelly Green, Royal Blue, Purple, Black

Galaxy with Stars

I added stars with my bleach pen, 

to this galaxy swirl shirt

Challenge: Sweatshirt

White Sweatshirts from Dharma Trading

Inspiration

Uh Oh, the problem with RIT dye

Is rit fabric dye okay for tie dying?

"No. Rit dye is a hot-water dye, and washes right out if applied in cool water. The best way to apply Rit dye is to tie your fabric and drop it into boiling dye for half an hour, which means you can dye with only one color at a time. However, even if you use boiling water, Rit dye will fade quickly and bleeds forever in the laundry, ruining whatever you wash it with.

The best way to tie-dye is to use a cool water tie-dye kit. The dyes in a good kit are fixed with washing soda, instead of boiling water, so they are very easy to apply. You can put them into plastic squeeze bottles and squirt each color of dye wherever you want it. The dye will react with the fiber in the fabric to make a permanent bond, so it stays bright for years, instead of just weeks like Rit dye.

You can't buy good tie-dye dyes in the grocery store, but your local crafts store, such as Joann Fabrics, Michael's, or Hobby Lobby, should carry them. There are a lot of good brands. Look for a kit made by Jacquard, Dylon, Rainbow Rock, or Tulip. (Avoid the Rit tie-dye kit!) All of these kits contain Procion type dyes. You can also buy good tie-dye dyes by mail-order at prices that are much lower, per garment, than Rit dye. If you order your dyes from a good dye supplier like Dharma Trading Company, you will have a choice of over a hundred different permanent colors!

Be sure to use only 100% cotton sheets for dyeing, unless you want pale pastels. Polyester will not take the dye, so 50% polyester sheets will dye to paler colors than 100% cotton. Avoid surface finishes such as permanent-press or stain-resistance, because they repel the dye."

 

HOT So only use RIT for hot dip dye

COLD For cold dye in a squeeze bottle, use Dharma Trading, Jacquard, Dylon,  or Tulip Dharma Fiber Reactive Procion Dyes

Frustrations of a Tie Dye Newbie

Yesterday I did an experiment, making a Galaxy Swirl a few times, changing a few parts of the process.  None of them turned out the way I wanted them too.  ...sad face...

What bothers me the most is how muted they are, unless you're going for that... So I've ordered some dye thickeners and I'm going to read up about how to make the dyes more concentrated for squeeze bottles.  Plus I might do some dip dye today, which might be more satisfying.

First, I wanted to see if you can reuse dye a week later, so these first two shirts are from last week's dye:

Also both of these use a combination of Rit dyes and Tulip dyes (in the center).  Tulip dyes are made for cold temperature in a squeeze bottle, so that's why they work better!

 

These are from new dye and these also both used soda ash, which I just got for the first time:

The problem with this one is I ran out of blue... 

P.S. 

Uh Oh, the problem with RIT dye

Color Samples

So, as I made some dyes today, I took a few samples.

• I had to test how much black was necessary
• Tried to make Rit Blue 438 (1 TBS Royal Blue, 1 tsp Black, 1 c. water, 1/2 cup salt), but it was too dark
• Berry (2 1/2 tsp. Purple, 2 tsp. Fuschia), I think I went light on the purple
• Sunspot Orange - now I can't remember if this is straight orange or not, think it is
• lemon orange - this was supposed to be a sunspot yellow, but orange is too strong
• lemon yellow - straight
• Zen Green (3 tsp. lemon, 1/2 tsp. kelly green, 1 c. water, 1/2 cup salt) *I love this one

 the blue did not look like this, might try again

Uh Oh, the problem with RIT dye

only use Rit for hot dip dye