Casa Mai - Tie Dye the Basics

This is my dye of choice. If you're lucky it'll be available somewhere in town where you live, but you'll want to explore mailorder if you intend to get into this a lot because it's much more affordable and you can get larger quantities. Personally I'd recommend Dharma Trading Co. They sell all sorts of things for textile embellishment; fabric paints, tools, premade dyeable garments, fabric yardage and (of course) fabric dyes -- many kinds. Check them out.

But we were talking about Procion. First, it is a cold water dye, by which I mean warm as opposed to boiling (like for Rit) which makes it much easier to use as a constant water temperature is not required. At the top I referred to it as a Fiber Reactive dye, this means it works well for all natural fibers: cotton, silk, wool, rayon, wood, paper -- you get the idea. It's not the ideal dye for polyester or polyester blends, although we've gotten some really nifty results on upholstery fabric, and it basically doesn't work at all on nylon. There are other dyes for other fabric types.
Procion performs differently on different fibers. It's fine for wools (better than Rit) because it uses lower temperatures so you don't end up felting your wool. Silk and cotton take the colors completely different, there a distinct shift between the two. And since many of the dyes (which start out as a powder) are composed of several colors blended together, sometimes they seperate and form other surprise combinations which you won't really discover until later. But that's part of the fun of tie-dye!

My personal favorite is rayon, it takes the dye beautifully yielding tremendously saturated colors. And for those of you who weren't aware -- yes, rayon is a manmade fiber but it's made from cellulose (wood) so it's natural.

Procion comes in a powdered form which is then made up into a dye solution, the color range is vast and, since it's a transparent medium, you can create other colors by layering -- I'll show you some designs that specifically utilize that characteristic. But there are over 100 colors to start with!

Procion is activated with various chemicals (depending on what you're trying to accomplish), for the direct application methods you'll need Urea and Soda Ash. It forms a permanent bond with the fabric that is virtually fade-resistant so you'll have the same bright colors (or a very near facsimile) years from now.
Soda ash (sodium carbonate) is a mild alkali that is slightly caustic; avoid getting it on your skin -- even in dry form it is irritating. The same caution should be taken with the dye in powder form; once mixed in liquid it is pretty safe but always be careful.

Urea (organic nitrogen) is a moisture drawing agent which keeps the fabric wetter longer. The dye only reacts in a liquid state and the longer it's wet the deeper the color. Urea helps do that for none-immersion techniques.

Synthrapol is highly recommended as both a pre-wash and afterwash. Pre-wash: will remove sizings and grease from the fabric so it will be more receptive to the dye. Afterwash: Keeps loosened dye particles from staining lighter areas by suspending them in the final wash. A little goes a long way.

Cautions:

As with any truly fun thing there are always warnings, and since we are dealing with chemicals and other potentially hazardous stuff... well...
First the dye itself; Procion is essentially non-toxic but it is a fine powder and can be inhaled, repeated exposure can cause allergic reactions. Some colors that contain mildy hazardous ingredients are labelled as such, again the main risk is in the powdered form. In it's liquid state the dyes are not readily absorbed through the skin but they do stain something awful.

Similarly, the chemicals are not extremely dangerous just irritating and can cause allergic reactions.

Do not inhale, eat, drink, or rub into your eyes any of these things. Duh. Use common sense, and if you don't have any, borrow someone else's. If you need supervision then make sure you have some before you start. It's supposed to be fun and it ceases to be so when somebody gets hurt.

Don't run with scissors, play well with others.

Also I take no responsibility for possible injuries or results, be an adult and be careful. Children can do this, too, but not without adult supervision. Don't be stupid.

And it works really well for vat dyeing / tub dyeing, too. But we're here to talk about Tie-Dye.