Tie Dyeing question
Fish Eye no Miko
Years ago, I tie dyed a t-shirt. I did a good job (if I do say so
myself), but I hardly ever wear the shirt since the color bleeds when
I wash it, so I always wash it by hand, which is a pain. I've heard
there's a way to "set" the colors, and was wondering if anyone know
what it is. I would really appreciate your help!
TIA!
Catherine Johnson.
--
dis "able" to reply
"When Catherine thinks you're too gay, you're too gay."
-Rob Fontenot, aka The Midnight Rambler, RATMM.
shellebelle
"Fish Eye no Miko" <cath...@feablenm.net> wrote in message
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Jungle Goddess
water and vinegar works.
Jungle Goddess, hope this helps ^_^
MSTie #54796
email: ratmms_jun...@yahoo.com
"shellebelle" <mlea...@berkshire.rr.com> wrote in message
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George Johnson
news:yEaL8.1293$TV4.1...@news1.west.cox.net...
Your best bet would be to make a fresh new tie-dyed shirt with colorfast
dyes.
Wax or polymer dyes are the best choice, but the main choice of dye
colors (Kool-Aid in boiling water which is then cooled in ice water to set
the color) leaves the shirt to fading. Another option is to give the shirt
a good spray of STAIN GUARD or SCOTCH GUARD and that could keep the colors
from running. Another choice would be to iron in the color with wax paper
on both sides (the thin wax coats and soaks the fibers rendering them
semi-waterproof to most temperatures below boiling). I would either look in
the housewares, camping, or auto supplies section of your local department
store and look for "Carpet Protection" or "fabric waterproofing" products.
The only thing I am not certain of it whether these products are safe to
have in constant contact with human skin for prolonged periods of time and
how well they stand up to the average wash cycle over time. I mean, it is
all the same stuff pretty much, just repackaged for different consumer
markets and sold in different containers and volumes.
I do think the cheapest thing to do would be to just create some new
shirts and if they fade, buy some Kool-Aid for 10 cents a package and dye up
some fresh shirts. Was that not the real reason you did it in the first
place? It was cheap, a simple yet interesting craft project, and every
result was unique. In a way it's like preserving the past when the present
is even more interesting. Let the colors fade to a fine pastel on the old
shirt (or give it a diluted bleach wash to speed things up and create a
fresh shirt with our fine vibrant acrylic colors which resist bleeding and
enjoy it and many new creations for years to come.
http://www.chem.ed.ac.uk/chemcon/matwor/matwor01.html
Living in a Material World
When we talk about materials we generally mean types of cloth and fabric
such as cotton, linen and canvas. In chemistry we have a much broader
definition, materials can be any physical thing including cloth but also
metal, plastic, stone, paint, food etc etc.
To start off our tour through materials however we can begin by looking at
cloth and the ways that chemistry can affect its properties. An obvious way
is in giving cloth different colours - v i v i d colours - by applying
different kinds of dyes. These dyes must be colour fast ie they won't fade
in bright sunshine and wash proof so the dye doesn't come out in the wash!)
We will first if all look at a natural dye called Indigo and then a
chemically manufactured group called Azo dyes.
Indigo Dyes
Indigo is a common plant dye extracted from Woad (think blue celts!) and
more recently it has been produced synthetically (originally in Germany).
One of the most common uses of indigo is in dyeing denim and jeansware.
When it is first prepared, indigo is yellow and water soluble so fabric can
be immersed in a solution of indigo to pick up the dyeing chemicals. When it
is exposed to air (left to dry outside) it oxidises to a deep dark blue and
becomes totally insoluble.
When denim fades it is mainly because the dyeing particles are mechanically
worked out of the cloth eg on knees and elbows.
Azo Dyes
Azo dyes are a family of synthetic chemicals whose ability to dye fabric
depends largely on the binding properties of the molecules at a molecular
level.
Colour Fading in Old Fabrics
A noticeable chemical effect on old fabrics is the fading of the colour
green. Since there was not a green dye available, dyers substituted a
mixture of blue and yellow for green which at the time gave acceptable
results. Over time however the bonds that hold together the yellow dye
molecules are broken by sunlight and therefore fade to leave blue.
A similar effect can be seen in posters left in shop windows where the last
colour to fade is the cyan ink (blue).
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~tc-ext/homedyeing.html
http://www.paperpeople.co.uk/fabriccolours.html
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=home+dyeing
GOOGLE search [ "Home dyeing" ] (don't forget the "e" or you're going to get
the wrong results)
The Rev Dr Sherwood Forrester
> Hey, all!
>
> Years ago, I tie dyed a t-shirt. I did a good job (if I do say so
> myself), but I hardly ever wear the shirt since the color bleeds when
> I wash it, so I always wash it by hand, which is a pain. I've heard
> there's a way to "set" the colors, and was wondering if anyone know
> what it is. I would really appreciate your help!
> TIA!
What kind of dyes did you used? Most 'true' tie-dyes are acid dyes
(appropriately enough for a Grateful Dead icon, I suppose <g>), which bonds
the dye in place so the shirt can be laundered normally. I have concert-
bought tie-dyes 15 years old that haven't faded in the slightest. If you
used Rit or some other commercial dye, I don't know how you'd set those.
The Rev Dr Sherwood Forrester, unreformed hippie.
Fish Eye no Miko
Sorry about the late reply... thanks to all those who replied to
this! I'd heard about vinegar, so I'm gonna try to that. ^_^
Catherine Johnson.
--
dis "able" to reply
"Our lives are different from other peoples'."
-Oz, _Buffy, the Vampire Slayer_