Dyeing to Know

To test the dye, the following items were dyed together in the vat.

Silk, wool, cotton, linen, muslin, raw mohair (this fiber had been washed but not treated in any other way), synthetic of unknown origin, and two vinyl dolls-a Breyer 1/9th scale doll, and a Soldier of the World action figure. All in all a pretty fair mixture of fibers and surfaces.

The basic instructions are simple to follow. Mix the powder in a small amount of hot water, add more hot water, then add salt, and the items to be dyed. The instructions were well written and clear, and with appropriate warnings on the hazards of using the product. The instructions suggest the dye vat be stirred non-stop for 45 minutes. This wasn't done for this test. The vat was stirred a couple of times over the course of an hour.

The results? Over all, very good. Starting with a dark brown dye powder this is what happened.

The cream silk turned a lovely cinnamon brown. The dye did not take evenly, probably due to being on the bottom of the vat, and slightly folded and not stirred enough.

Beige wool dyed very dark brown.

The white cotton turned a dusty brown. and the white linen turned just about the same color, a rather faded brown. The cotton was very lightweight, and like the silk did not take the dye uniformly for the same reasons.

The natural unbleached muslin turned a medium brown.

The raw mohair took the dye in an uneven fashion. The tips came out darker than the cut ends of the locks. This is typical of dyeing raw fleece. The tip ends are the oldest part of the fleece, and have been exposed to more sun and rain than the rest of the critter. The cut ends of the lock tend to have more oil, which will affect dye uptake, and have not been exposed to any sun damage.

The synthetic of unknown fiber content turned slightly tan, probably due to having a bit of natural fiber blended into the weave.

The two vinyl dollswere unchanged by their immersion.

The variation in color obtained from one batch of dye is pretty typical of how the different fibers take color. The general rule is that protein fibers-wool, silk, or hair, will take a stronger darker color than vegetable fibers- cotton, linen, jute, ramie, hemp and synthetics don't dye well at all. The verdict? This is a good product. Dylon did a good job on the fibers that it was created to dye, and didn't color any of the synthetic fibers or surfaces.
This would also be a product to experiment with for tie-dye, patten dyes or batik and would probably work very well on light weight closely woven fabrics.

This is also the dye product that I would recommend for dyeing fabric for any dolls or action figures. There was no color transferred directly to the plastic with immersion in a full strength dye bath. This dye simply does not stick to the common plastic used for dolls. So even if some of the dye is left in the fabric, it will not bleed on to the skin or hair of the guys and dolls.

Postscript:
Exhausting the dye vat, is done when there is color left after the first batch of fiber comes out. The frugal dyer throws in some more fiber/fabric in the hopes of getting more color.

In the case of the Dylon vat, more clean mohair was added to the vat to exhaust the remaining dye. This was left to sit for a couple of months (it got busy, and the vat was forgotten) The resulting fiber was a lovely deep auburn color, quite unlike the medium brown of the first batch of mohair. This is also common for exhaust dyes. Sometime the dye is made up of several color components, which "take" at different rates. In this case the "red" portion of the dye was slower to take in the first batch of fibers, and so was left for the second batch.

Grecian formula, or Lady Clairol color for hair are examples of tints. They start out dark, and over time wash out and need to be reapplied.
Both tints and dyes have their uses, but they should not be used interchangeably. Rit will color some synthetic fibers and some plastic. The soft vinyl use in many dolls and action figures absorbs Rit, and can be used to custom color some dolls. For this reason alone, Rit should not be used on fibers or fabric that will touch soft vinyl as over time the color will leach out of the fabric on to the vinyl.

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