Q: What else do I need apart from Procion dye in order to make my own fabric?
A: Essential - soda ash (sodium carbonate - obtainable from hardware and pool shops, often labelled "pH Increase" plus a detergent such as Aviscour or Sandoclean to wash fabric with after dyeing. . Optional: plain salt, urea.
Q: What else do I need apart from acid dye in order to dye wool?
A: Essential - white vinegar or citric acid . Wool needs heat or steam to complete the setting process.
Q: Do you have instructions on how to use your dyes?
A: Yes. Please ask if you want a copy - there's no charge. These are not automatically included.
Q: Do Procion dyes need to be boiled like the old Dylon dyes I used in the 70s?
A: No. Procion doesn't need a lot of heat or water in order to activate it.
Q: What is the difference between Jacquard dyes and ProChem dyes?
A: They are the same types of dye, just different brands. I no longer deal with the manufacturers of Jacquard dyes because of the lack of quality control I have found with their products. ProChem has a much wider range of colours, and I have found them excellent to deal with.
Q: I've heard that Procion dyes are going out of production - is this true?
A: No. Other dye suppliers in New Zealand buy surplus dyes from a chemical company based here, and they have stopped selling Procion. Tillia imports its dyes from a major US supplier, so my supply is not affected.
Q: I've heard told there are only about a dozen pure Procion colours, and that I need to mix them to get other colours.
A: You CAN do so, but there are dozens of premixed colours that you can use immediately without having to mix your own. I import new colours each year, as well as blending my own.
Q: Do I have to immerse fabric in order to dye it?
A: No, you can thicken the dyes with Manutex or print paste, and apply it with a brush, roller, stamps or similar
Q: What's the difference between dyes and paints? I'm confused.
A: Dyes actually bond with the fabric in a chemical reaction. This means you can keep applying darker shades (overdyeing) as each colour will react with the fabric. Paints, on the other hand, just sit on the surface of the fabric. Once the fibres are saturated with paint, if you apply more it will probably wash off.
Q. Which are better, dyes or paints?
A: Neither, they give different results depending on what you want. Dyes tend to be more suitable for deep vibrant allover colours, and are wonderfully versatile. Dyeing is easy, but for best results, needs to "batch" for up to 24 hours, then needs to washed and dried. Paints tend to be softer in colour and are ready to use as soon as dry and ironed. They are much slower to apply so are usually applied to smaller pieces of fabric than dyes. Paints include pearlescent and metallic shades, and you can apply light over dark which you can't do with dyes. There are also "highlight" paints which are intended to throw highlights on specific colours.
Q: Can I use Procion dyes to change the colour of my curtains?
A: Many curtain fabrics are blends such as polycotton. Procion dyes are intended for natural fibres such as cotton, so if fabric contains artificial fibres it won't take the colour the same and may end up as a pastel. Unless you are sure of the fabric, try Dylon all-purpose dyes, available from supermarkets.
Q. When I washed my dyed fabric, a lot of the colour washed out. Why is this?
A. There could be a number of reasons for this. You will probably have some colour come out at the rinsing stage - this is quite normal. However, if you experience a substantial loss of colour after the hot wash, and you've followed the Tillia General Dyeing Instructions carefully, it is more likely to be one of the following:
- your fabric may not be 100% cotton. If it contains polyester, this will not take dark colours as Procion dye is formulated for natural fibres only. The higher the percentage of artificial fibres, the paler the colour will be.
- if you are printing with dye, you may have thinned your dye mixture with plain water instead of soda ash water. If you're using dry fabric that has not been presoaked with soda ash, there will not be enough fixative to set your colours properly.
- if you're using washing soda as a fixative instead of soda ash, you will most likely have a much paler result as washing soda contains a much higher proportion of water, and therefore is a less effective fixative.
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