Hubby Hand-Dyed

Well we did it. We hand-dyed our first batch of fabric. What fun. It was a
total disaster and we can't wait to do it again. One thing one should
definitely NOT do is dye fabric near things that you don't want to get wet
or get dye on. lol. The very first batch, I got the soda ash mixed up with
the urea so that started off the whole disaster thing. Then rather than
leave the fabric all scrunched up, I had to go pick it up so that the dye
all drained downward and we didn't get the mottled look the way we wanted.
That was the fuchsia. We did turquoise next and I just don't know what we
did wrong with it but we still didn't get the mottling that I wanted. So we
went on to yellow. DH took the fabric and twisted it to see how that would
work. Well, it worked but not with a mottled effect, with a streak effect.
The colors turned out just beautifully bright and vibrant and I love them.
The yellow is a bit brighter, almost neon, than what I like but I'll use it.
All in all, it was fun and a great experience. We are going to enjoy this.
DH is going to clean out the laundry room and set us up a table in there to
use. We have a utility sink in there so it will work much better than on my
cutting table.

Now I have some questions for you HD gurus. What does the salt do? Does it
have to be plain or is iodized ok? We did the low water immersion for these
and didn't use salt. As far as the colors I'm please with the outcome. Just
not with the mottling but I'm sure that will come with experience. How long
do you leave the dye on before you add the soda ash? Do you just pour it on
then drain it or let it set for awhile? I know it needs to soak in the soda
ash for about an hour.

Anyway, we really enjoyed it and will definitely do more. DH asked me last
night when we were going to dye more fabric. He got a kick out of it. I love
that man.

Hugs,
Mika

And here I thought you hand-dyed your hubby. LOL

--
Mary
http://community.webshots.com/user/mardor1948
"Mika" wrote in message
...
: Well we did it. We hand-dyed our first batch of fabric. What fun. It was a
: total disaster and we can't wait to do it again. One thing one should
: definitely NOT do is dye fabric near things that you don't want to get wet
: or get dye on. lol. The very first batch, I got the soda ash mixed up with
: the urea so that started off the whole disaster thing. Then rather than
: leave the fabric all scrunched up, I had to go pick it up so that the dye
: all drained downward and we didn't get the mottled look the way we wanted.
: That was the fuchsia. We did turquoise next and I just don't know what we
: did wrong with it but we still didn't get the mottling that I wanted. So
we
: went on to yellow. DH took the fabric and twisted it to see how that would
: work. Well, it worked but not with a mottled effect, with a streak effect.
: The colors turned out just beautifully bright and vibrant and I love them.
: The yellow is a bit brighter, almost neon, than what I like but I'll use
it.
: All in all, it was fun and a great experience. We are going to enjoy this.
: DH is going to clean out the laundry room and set us up a table in there
to
: use. We have a utility sink in there so it will work much better than on
my
: cutting table.
:
: Now I have some questions for you HD gurus. What does the salt do? Does it
: have to be plain or is iodized ok? We did the low water immersion for
these
: and didn't use salt. As far as the colors I'm please with the outcome.
Just
: not with the mottling but I'm sure that will come with experience. How
long
: do you leave the dye on before you add the soda ash? Do you just pour it
on
: then drain it or let it set for awhile? I know it needs to soak in the
soda
: ash for about an hour.
:
: Anyway, we really enjoyed it and will definitely do more. DH asked me last
: night when we were going to dye more fabric. He got a kick out of it. I
love
: that man.
:
: Hugs,
: Mika
:
:

I also thought that, Mary!

There is no desire to HD since I am convinced it would be another
addiction for me to fight. But I'll happily give your rejected or non-
mottled pieces a home here!

Ginger in CA
[yep, I've been watching those smooth-talking posts ]


On May 11, 7:35 pm, "maryd" mardor@*net wrote:
And here I thought you hand-dyed your hubby. LOL

--
Maryhttp://community.webshots.com/user/mardor1948"Mika" wrote in message

...
: Well we did it. We hand-dyed our first batch of fabric. What fun. It was a
: total disaster and we can't wait to do it again. One thing one should
: definitely NOT do is dye fabric near things that you don't want to get wet
: or get dye on. lol. The very first batch, I got the soda ash mixed up with
: the urea so that started off the whole disaster thing. Then rather than
: leave the fabric all scrunched up, I had to go pick it up so that the dye
: all drained downward and we didn't get the mottled look the way we wanted.
: That was the fuchsia. We did turquoise next and I just don't know what we
: did wrong with it but we still didn't get the mottling that I wanted. So
we
: went on to yellow. DH took the fabric and twisted it to see how that would
: work. Well, it worked but not with a mottled effect, with a streak effect.
: The colors turned out just beautifully bright and vibrant and I love them.
: The yellow is a bit brighter, almost neon, than what I like but I'll use
it.
: All in all, it was fun and a great experience. We are going to enjoy this.
: DH is going to clean out the laundry room and set us up a table in there
to
: use. We have a utility sink in there so it will work much better than on
my
: cutting table.
:
: Now I have some questions for you HD gurus. What does the salt do? Does it
: have to be plain or is iodized ok? We did the low water immersion for
these
: and didn't use salt. As far as the colors I'm please with the outcome.
Just
: not with the mottling but I'm sure that will come with experience. How
long
: do you leave the dye on before you add the soda ash? Do you just pour it
on
: then drain it or let it set for awhile? I know it needs to soak in the
soda
: ash for about an hour.
:
: Anyway, we really enjoyed it and will definitely do more. DH asked me last
: night when we were going to dye more fabric. He got a kick out of it. I
love
: that man.
:
: Hugs,
: Mika
:
:

"Mika" wrote in message
...
Well we did it. We hand-dyed our first batch of fabric. What fun. It was a
total disaster and we can't wait to do it again.

Yee haw!

Now I have some questions for you HD gurus. What does the salt do? Does it
have to be plain or is iodized ok? We did the low water immersion for
these and didn't use salt. As far as the colors I'm please with the
outcome. Just not with the mottling but I'm sure that will come with
experience. How long do you leave the dye on before you add the soda ash?
Do you just pour it on then drain it or let it set for awhile? I know it
needs to soak in the soda ash for about an hour.

Some people say that salt makes the colors take better (note: I'm NOT
talking about the techniques where you sprinkle salt on a spread out piece
of fabric before spritzing dye on the fabric). I never have a problem with
the colors taking, so I don't use it. If you aren't having problems, then
feel free to skip it.

You get more mottling the tighter you bunch up the fabric, and the less
liquid that you use. Experience will teach you how to straddle the fine line
between pleasant mottling and lots of white areas. Personally, I like to dye
my fabrics twice, using analogous colors (ie colors that are next to each
other on the color wheel). I get a lot more interesting fabric, complex
colors, and the second dye bath fills in the white patches from the first go
around.

Every dyer has a different method for when and how to add the soda ash. Try
a bunch of different methods, and see what works for you! Since I never save
mixed dye from session to session, I mix up a batch of soda ash into water
(going for a pH of about 11), and use that to mix my dyes. It's easy, fast,
simple, and most importantly, it works for me.

HTH!

--
Kathy A. (Woodland, CA)
Queen of Fabric Tramps

http://fabrictramp.typepad.com/fabric_tramping/
remove the obvious to reply

I let my plain fabrics (scoured if necessary) soak in a soda ash solution
for about an hour before I am ready to begin dyeing.

When I dye half yard pieces, I use a total of 1 cup of liquid. Also, I dye
in quart size ziplock baggies. I only turn the baggies a few times in the
dyeing process. My mottling turns out great.

As for the salt, it is supposed to deepen the colors on your fabric. The
salt bonds with the water molecules allowing more dye molecules to attach to
the fabric.

Hope this helps.

Juli



"Mika" wrote in message
...
Well we did it. We hand-dyed our first batch of fabric. What fun. It was a
total disaster and we can't wait to do it again. One thing one should
definitely NOT do is dye fabric near things that you don't want to get wet
or get dye on. lol. The very first batch, I got the soda ash mixed up with
the urea so that started off the whole disaster thing. Then rather than
leave the fabric all scrunched up, I had to go pick it up so that the dye
all drained downward and we didn't get the mottled look the way we wanted.
That was the fuchsia. We did turquoise next and I just don't know what we
did wrong with it but we still didn't get the mottling that I wanted. So
we went on to yellow. DH took the fabric and twisted it to see how that
would work. Well, it worked but not with a mottled effect, with a streak
effect. The colors turned out just beautifully bright and vibrant and I
love them. The yellow is a bit brighter, almost neon, than what I like but
I'll use it. All in all, it was fun and a great experience. We are going
to enjoy this. DH is going to clean out the laundry room and set us up a
table in there to use. We have a utility sink in there so it will work
much better than on my cutting table.

Now I have some questions for you HD gurus. What does the salt do? Does it
have to be plain or is iodized ok? We did the low water immersion for
these and didn't use salt. As far as the colors I'm please with the
outcome. Just not with the mottling but I'm sure that will come with
experience. How long do you leave the dye on before you add the soda ash?
Do you just pour it on then drain it or let it set for awhile? I know it
needs to soak in the soda ash for about an hour.

Anyway, we really enjoyed it and will definitely do more. DH asked me last
night when we were going to dye more fabric. He got a kick out of it. I
love that man.

Hugs,
Mika

On Fri, 11 May 2007 21:51:18 -0400, "Mika"
wrote:

Well we did it. We hand-dyed our first batch of fabric.

Go you!

Now I have some questions for you HD gurus. What does the salt do? Does it
have to be plain or is iodized ok? We did the low water immersion for these
and didn't use salt. As far as the colors I'm please with the outcome. Just
not with the mottling but I'm sure that will come with experience. How long
do you leave the dye on before you add the soda ash? Do you just pour it on
then drain it or let it set for awhile? I know it needs to soak in the soda
ash for about an hour.

I have used iodized, non-iodized, kosher, sea salt, and pickling salt
and seen no difference between them. Glaubers salt does make a
difference in brightness with the turquoise and turquoise bearing
colors though.
I don't imagine that the salt make a huge difference unless you are
doing dark colors. I have forgotten the salt once or twice. With
light colors it doesn't seem to be a big deal. With dark colours
(BLACK!!) it does make a noticable difference as regards color take
when doing standard vat dyeing.

I will soak the fabric in the dye solution, stirring frequently for 15
or 20 minutes when dying solids. Then add the soda and stir like the
dickens for an hour or so. I usually prefer dark rich colors. But to
get the more mottled effect, I squinch it up in a narrow container
(quart jars for FQs or half yards, buckets for yardage) when dry, then
pour the dye solution over and then let it sit for an hour or more
without stirring, then I pour the soda solution in and let it sit
overnight. If I had to really cram to get all the fabric in, then I
will often call it a multi day project and let it sit in the dye bath
overnight, then add the soda and let it sit overnight again.

Those wide shallow plastic totes (under the bed totes and such) are
good for limiting the mess when you discover soaking the fabric in the
soda solution, and then going at it with squeeter bottles, spray
bottles, and/or plant misters full of dye solution.

NightMist
--
Come to the dark side.
We have cookies.

naw he did that to himself. lol. before we were finished with the process he
had shed the mask and gloves and had dye all over himself. Ruined one of his
t-shirts. But he had fun in the process.

Hugs,
Mika

"maryd" mardor@*net wrote in message
...
And here I thought you hand-dyed your hubby. LOL

--
Mary
http://community.webshots.com/user/mardor1948
"Mika" wrote in message
...
: Well we did it. We hand-dyed our first batch of fabric. What fun. It was
a
: total disaster and we can't wait to do it again. One thing one should
: definitely NOT do is dye fabric near things that you don't want to get
wet
: or get dye on. lol. The very first batch, I got the soda ash mixed up
with
: the urea so that started off the whole disaster thing. Then rather than
: leave the fabric all scrunched up, I had to go pick it up so that the
dye
: all drained downward and we didn't get the mottled look the way we
wanted.
: That was the fuchsia. We did turquoise next and I just don't know what
we
: did wrong with it but we still didn't get the mottling that I wanted. So
we
: went on to yellow. DH took the fabric and twisted it to see how that
would
: work. Well, it worked but not with a mottled effect, with a streak
effect.
: The colors turned out just beautifully bright and vibrant and I love
them.
: The yellow is a bit brighter, almost neon, than what I like but I'll use
it.
: All in all, it was fun and a great experience. We are going to enjoy
this.
: DH is going to clean out the laundry room and set us up a table in there
to
: use. We have a utility sink in there so it will work much better than on
my
: cutting table.
:
: Now I have some questions for you HD gurus. What does the salt do? Does
it
: have to be plain or is iodized ok? We did the low water immersion for
these
: and didn't use salt. As far as the colors I'm please with the outcome.
Just
: not with the mottling but I'm sure that will come with experience. How
long
: do you leave the dye on before you add the soda ash? Do you just pour it
on
: then drain it or let it set for awhile? I know it needs to soak in the
soda
: ash for about an hour.
:
: Anyway, we really enjoyed it and will definitely do more. DH asked me
last
: night when we were going to dye more fabric. He got a kick out of it. I
love
: that man.
:
: Hugs,
: Mika
:
:

Shameless beggar. ;-)

I'm hoping it doesn't turn into another addiction for us. It can get
expensive.

Hugs,
Mika


"Ginger in CA" wrote in message
oups.com...

I also thought that, Mary!

There is no desire to HD since I am convinced it would be another
addiction for me to fight. But I'll happily give your rejected or non-
mottled pieces a home here!

Ginger in CA
[yep, I've been watching those smooth-talking posts ]


On May 11, 7:35 pm, "maryd" mardor@*net wrote:
And here I thought you hand-dyed your hubby. LOL

--
Maryhttp://community.webshots.com/user/mardor1948"Mika"
wrote in message

...
: Well we did it. We hand-dyed our first batch of fabric. What fun. It
was a
: total disaster and we can't wait to do it again. One thing one should
: definitely NOT do is dye fabric near things that you don't want to get
wet
: or get dye on. lol. The very first batch, I got the soda ash mixed up
with
: the urea so that started off the whole disaster thing. Then rather than
: leave the fabric all scrunched up, I had to go pick it up so that the
dye
: all drained downward and we didn't get the mottled look the way we
wanted.
: That was the fuchsia. We did turquoise next and I just don't know what
we
: did wrong with it but we still didn't get the mottling that I wanted.
So
we
: went on to yellow. DH took the fabric and twisted it to see how that
would
: work. Well, it worked but not with a mottled effect, with a streak
effect.
: The colors turned out just beautifully bright and vibrant and I love
them.
: The yellow is a bit brighter, almost neon, than what I like but I'll
use
it.
: All in all, it was fun and a great experience. We are going to enjoy
this.
: DH is going to clean out the laundry room and set us up a table in
there
to
: use. We have a utility sink in there so it will work much better than
on
my
: cutting table.
:
: Now I have some questions for you HD gurus. What does the salt do? Does
it
: have to be plain or is iodized ok? We did the low water immersion for
these
: and didn't use salt. As far as the colors I'm please with the outcome.
Just
: not with the mottling but I'm sure that will come with experience. How
long
: do you leave the dye on before you add the soda ash? Do you just pour
it
on
: then drain it or let it set for awhile? I know it needs to soak in the
soda
: ash for about an hour.
:
: Anyway, we really enjoyed it and will definitely do more. DH asked me
last
: night when we were going to dye more fabric. He got a kick out of it. I
love
: that man.
:
: Hugs,
: Mika
:
:

Thank you so much Kathy. You always have such great advice for me on this
subject. I'm hoping that next weekend we can give it another shot and see
what kind of damage we can do with different colors.

Hugs,
Mika

"Kathy Applebaum" wrote in message
. net...

"Mika" wrote in message
...
Well we did it. We hand-dyed our first batch of fabric. What fun. It was
a total disaster and we can't wait to do it again.

Yee haw!

Now I have some questions for you HD gurus. What does the salt do? Does
it have to be plain or is iodized ok? We did the low water immersion for
these and didn't use salt. As far as the colors I'm please with the
outcome. Just not with the mottling but I'm sure that will come with
experience. How long do you leave the dye on before you add the soda ash?
Do you just pour it on then drain it or let it set for awhile? I know it
needs to soak in the soda ash for about an hour.

Some people say that salt makes the colors take better (note: I'm NOT
talking about the techniques where you sprinkle salt on a spread out piece
of fabric before spritzing dye on the fabric). I never have a problem with
the colors taking, so I don't use it. If you aren't having problems, then
feel free to skip it.

You get more mottling the tighter you bunch up the fabric, and the less
liquid that you use. Experience will teach you how to straddle the fine
line between pleasant mottling and lots of white areas. Personally, I like
to dye my fabrics twice, using analogous colors (ie colors that are next
to each other on the color wheel). I get a lot more interesting fabric,
complex colors, and the second dye bath fills in the white patches from
the first go around.

Every dyer has a different method for when and how to add the soda ash.
Try a bunch of different methods, and see what works for you! Since I
never save mixed dye from session to session, I mix up a batch of soda ash
into water (going for a pH of about 11), and use that to mix my dyes. It's
easy, fast, simple, and most importantly, it works for me.

HTH!

--
Kathy A. (Woodland, CA)
Queen of Fabric Tramps

http://fabrictramp.typepad.com/fabric_tramping/
remove the obvious to reply

Thank you so much Juli. We were going to try a ziplock bag but only had
quart size and we were dyeing yard size pieces. Ok I was overly ambitious.
lol. So maybe we'll go to smaller pieces from now on and see how that goes.

Hugs,
Mika

"Juli in VA" wrote in message
...
I let my plain fabrics (scoured if necessary) soak in a soda ash solution
for about an hour before I am ready to begin dyeing.

When I dye half yard pieces, I use a total of 1 cup of liquid. Also, I
dye in quart size ziplock baggies. I only turn the baggies a few times in
the dyeing process. My mottling turns out great.

As for the salt, it is supposed to deepen the colors on your fabric. The
salt bonds with the water molecules allowing more dye molecules to attach
to the fabric.

Hope this helps.

Juli



"Mika" wrote in message
...
Well we did it. We hand-dyed our first batch of fabric. What fun. It was
a total disaster and we can't wait to do it again. One thing one should
definitely NOT do is dye fabric near things that you don't want to get
wet or get dye on. lol. The very first batch, I got the soda ash mixed up
with the urea so that started off the whole disaster thing. Then rather
than leave the fabric all scrunched up, I had to go pick it up so that
the dye all drained downward and we didn't get the mottled look the way
we wanted. That was the fuchsia. We did turquoise next and I just don't
know what we did wrong with it but we still didn't get the mottling that
I wanted. So we went on to yellow. DH took the fabric and twisted it to
see how that would work. Well, it worked but not with a mottled effect,
with a streak effect. The colors turned out just beautifully bright and
vibrant and I love them. The yellow is a bit brighter, almost neon, than
what I like but I'll use it. All in all, it was fun and a great
experience. We are going to enjoy this. DH is going to clean out the
laundry room and set us up a table in there to use. We have a utility
sink in there so it will work much better than on my cutting table.

Now I have some questions for you HD gurus. What does the salt do? Does
it have to be plain or is iodized ok? We did the low water immersion for
these and didn't use salt. As far as the colors I'm please with the
outcome. Just not with the mottling but I'm sure that will come with
experience. How long do you leave the dye on before you add the soda ash?
Do you just pour it on then drain it or let it set for awhile? I know it
needs to soak in the soda ash for about an hour.

Anyway, we really enjoyed it and will definitely do more. DH asked me
last night when we were going to dye more fabric. He got a kick out of
it. I love that man.

Hugs,
Mika