Usually when I see people getting bland or faded results from Rit dye, it's because they haven't used hot enough water. When the instructions say "near-boiling", they mean it. (I heat distilled water to boiling in an electric kettle, mix the dye with that, and get the fabric into it as quickly as possible.) Sometimes it's tricky to manipulate the fabric without touching the saturated areas, so it's useful to keep a pair of tongs or chopsticks around for that. Since I've only been preparing small batches, my results are closer to those from the low-water immersion process than standard tie-dye.
Food coloring is way more expensive than fabric dye, weight for weight. Stuff that's safe to eat needs higher purity and better quality control. :)
Your plans for batik sound interesting! When you get around to it, please post pictures.
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Date: 2010-03-05 03:45 am (UTC)Usually when I see people getting bland or faded results from Rit dye, it's because they haven't used hot enough water. When the instructions say "near-boiling", they mean it. (I heat distilled water to boiling in an electric kettle, mix the dye with that, and get the fabric into it as quickly as possible.) Sometimes it's tricky to manipulate the fabric without touching the saturated areas, so it's useful to keep a pair of tongs or chopsticks around for that. Since I've only been preparing small batches, my results are closer to those from the low-water immersion process than standard tie-dye.
Food coloring is way more expensive than fabric dye, weight for weight. Stuff that's safe to eat needs higher purity and better quality control. :)
Your plans for batik sound interesting! When you get around to it, please post pictures.