Acid Dye: Used on protein fibers like wool, fur and silk. Acid dyes must use a HOT WATER process and can be fixed with either citric acid or more commonly for the home dyer, vinegar.

Fiber Reactive Dye (Procion MX): Used on cellulose fibers like cotton, linen, rayon, bamboo and hemp. Fiber Reactive Dyes can be used with room temperature or even COLD WATER process and are fixed with SODA ASH. Salt is often also needed in order to help disseminate and fix Fiber Reactive Dyes.

iDye Poly: Basically the only dye we sell that can be used for polyester.

Alum: The mordant needed to pre-treat fabric for natural dyeing (i.e. dyeing with colors extracted from food and plants)

Pre-Reduced Indigo: Taking indigo from leaf to dye is a time consuming and chemical dependent process. “Pre-Reduced” in this context means that the chemicals needed in order to make indigo dye work have all been mixed beforehand and freeze dried. This freeze-dried mixture can then just be added to hot water and stirred thoroughly to create an effective Indigo dye bath.

Synthrapol: An industrial detergent used to pre-wash or sometimes post-dye wash the fabric. This is especially recommended as a pre-treatment for thrifted items that have been washed and worn a lot and to remove as many spots, stains or other types of residues that may interfere with the dyeing process.

Gutta: a resist used in silk painting. Gutta can be applied to the fabric in a number of ways and rinsed out. If transparent gutta is used then the fabric it is applied to will stay white. You may have noticed that we sell colored gutta as well, this is gutta with dye added to it and anywhere it is applied will be dyed the color of the gutta.

Dye Paints: While the use of these liquid dyes seems self explanatory the most important thing to note is that any and all of the dye paints we sell, regardless of the type of fabric they are meant for, need to be heat seat. This is easiest achieved with an iron or steam.

A lot of Dyeing is using these items in different orders to create different effects. There are a few common dyeing processes that people may ask about.

Immersion Dyeing or Dye Bath: For this process your dye and fixer will all be added to water at the same time. If using an acid dye this is a hot water process, usually done stove top as the water temperature needs to be at a constant, between 185-200 degrees. If using a fiber reactive dye this can be done in almost any appropriately sized container for what you are trying to dye. The water can be lukewarm to cold and doesn’t need to sustain a specific temperature to be effective.

Tie-Dye: For this process the dye and fixer will be added together in either a bucket or more commonly a squeeze bottle. Fabric is then either dipped in the buckets or the dye is squeezed onto the fabric in a semi-controlled manner. Dye needs to set in the fabric for 4-24 hours (the longer the better) before being rinsed out.

Ice Dyeing: Ice Dyeing can only be done on cellulose fibers as fiber reactive dyes are the only powder dye that still work with cold water. For this process the fabric has to be pre-treated with the fixer (in this case soda ash). Fabric needs full submersion in a soda ash bath and then rung out and left damp (better results) or left to dry. Fabric is then scrunched up and ice is set on top, then dry dye powder is sprinkled on top of that. Let ice melt at it’s own speed. Dye needs to set in the fabric for 12-24 hours (the longer the better) before being rinsed out.

Natural Dyes: This term is most frequently used to mean dyes derived directly from plants. Often this can mean boiling plant matter and straining out the solids so you are left with the colored water. Another process, usually called either “direct” or “bundle” dyeing is where you would apply the intact plant directly to the fabric and bundle or roll it up tightly and let it sit for at least 24 hours. Steaming the fabric or even better yet, pressure cooking the fabric will better set the dye. Bundle dyeing will result in only the areas being directly touched by the plant material to be dyed often even leaving a distinct shape (i.e. that of the leaf used). In both of these processes you will want to pre-treat the fabric with a mordant, most commonly and sold by us, Alum. There are many easy to obtain plant matter that can be used as dyes but some of the easiest to get are onion skins, avocado pits, turmeric, beets, coffee, marigolds

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