Jacquard SolarFast

Jacquard SolarFast
4.45 star rating 4.45 ( 12 review )

USE FOR: Photograms, Painting, Tie dyeing, Screen printing, Sun Printing, Stamping and Batik

USE ON: Natural fabrics and paper.

Product Details 1-4 5-9 10+
4 oz. $6.89 $6.65 $6.25
8 oz. $10.25 $9.95 $9.45

Bigger Colorchips [+]
Name
Sizes
Quant
100 Golden Yellow
4 oz. - Sorry, this item is temporarily sold out. Due date ~03/29
101 Orange
102 Burnt Orange
103 Scarlet
104 Red
105 Violet
106 Purple
107 Blue
108 Teal
109 Green
110 Avocado
111 Sepia
112 Brown
113 Black
8 oz. - Sorry, this item is temporarily sold out. Due date ~03/29
All prices calculated in US$
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Sunlight-developed dye for Sun-printing on paper and natural fabrics

SolarFast dyes are used to create photograms, continuous tone photographs, shadow prints, and ombres on fabric and paper. SolarFast is also great for painting, tie dyeing, screen printing, stamping, batik and more!

Permanent on all artist papers and natural fabrics, including cotton, linen, canvas, silk, hemp, and wool. Color is washable and lightfast and leaves fabric completely soft.

Read all the info and watch the video to get the most out of your SolarFast Dye! 

Here's the skinny, straight from the horse's mouth:

  • SolarFast is odorless! 
  • It's kid-friendly and will not offend your nose, eyes or skin. 
  • Exposure times for all colors, including Black, is 10-24 minutes.
  • Black: is  deeper and darker, and the gray scale is more neutral. The dye goes on colorless and prints are easy to wash, with significantly less back staining.
  • Colors are brighter and cleaner: Vibrancy and color purity of the dyes is great, across the board.
  • The stability and viscosity of SolarFast: The dyes will not bleed and are easy to apply because they are thicker. The viscosity of the product in the bottle remains very stable.

Instructions:

For best results, watch the video, read the FAQs, and read the informational links below (downloadable PDFs!) so you know what you are doing before using! The PDF on troubleshooting and FAQS down below has excellent helpful advice! There is a learning curve with this dye, and the documents you can download below will really help a lot!


Briefly:

  1. Shake well before use.
  2. Apply SolarFast to fabric or paper using a brush, sponge or brayer.
  3. Place objects on coated substrate to block development during exposure. Any object that casts a shadow will create a pattern. Use a film negative to create permanent photographs on paper or fabric.
  4. While still damp, expose the design to sunlight and watch the color magically appear!
  5. After exposure, wash out undeveloped dye with SolarFast Wash and HOT water, agitating vigorously. Machine washing with the SolarFast Detergent is recommended for textiles. Color development is not complete until after washing.

SolarFast thins (creating pastel colors) and cleans up with water.
For screen printing applications, use SolarFast Thickener.

SolarFast Instructions
Exposure and Color Details
Tips and Tricks
Step Wedge Instructions
Troubleshooting and FAQs

Jacquard SolarFast FAQ

Question:

So why buy SolarFast dye and how is it different from Inko Dye?

Answers:

1. Way more colors (14) than Inko, which is now down to 3 colors, red, orange and blue.
2. More economical for price conscious artists!
3. In side by side tests, this product worked as well as Inko in every type of test. Some of the colors do take longer than Inko to develop to their full depth.

Question:

How is it the same?

Answers:

1. Have to mix colors, dilute, and paint or squirt on the fabric in very low light, NO U.V. light! So a little fluorescent lighting is ok, or darkroom type lighting. But definately do in a room without sunlight. Pull the shades! This dye is photo-reactive, just like Inko.
2. It is a little thick right out of the bottle, just like Inko, so you can paint it on and it won't wick. You could stencil it too. You can buy the thickener for screen printing.
3. A true Vat dye, just like Inko, so permanent when washed! Does NOT fade like pigment dyes do.

Question:

How much do the bottles cover?

Answers:

1. It varies by what technique you are doing and how much you want to thin it. For printing photos, you can use it straight out of the bottle or thin it some. For tie-dye, you want to thin it 50% or more, depending on how deep of color you want to get.
2. For printing photos, a 4 oz bottle should be enough to make at least 4 - 12"x12" prints, more if diluted.
3. For tie-dye, you are squirting onto a dry shirt that sucks a lot up. You don't want the tie-dye dripping wet though, as you have to untie it . Normally with a wet adult large t-shirt it takes 4 oz of dye to soak it. So 4 oz of DILUTED SolarFast should be more than enough on a dry shirt. Use less if you dont' mind a lot of white areas and want the project to be more economical. And of course, kids t-shirts will take way less, 1 - 2 oz of diluted dye.

Question:

Is the SolarFast Wash any different than Synthrapol or Dharma's Textile Detergent?

Answer:

1. Yes! It is much more cationic, for you chemistry buffs. It has a charge that is opposite to the charge on the dye molecules, so it magnetically bonds to them and keeps them away from the fabric, so your white areas don't get muddied by the residual dye being washed off. Works great for tie-dye with Fiber Reactive dye too!

 

Here are some interesting, good to know facts:

1. Some of the reds and violets strike so fast in the light that they start to develop as you are walking out the door; Black on the other hand needs about 1.5 hours in the sun to get to a really dark black. Other colors are in between.
2. Good for small QUICK tie-dye events. Small, because so far, only comes in 4oz and 8oz bottles. Dilute it to tie-dye or do other dye-like effects.  Tie up your garment, squirt it on (not too much, because you do NOT want the garment to be dripping wet), take out to sun, cut the ties, hang up on a hangar outside and let it develop, and you are DONE! No curing time! 
3. Great projects for kids because it is so amazing to watch it develop in the sun. similar to sun painting with Setacolor, only much more advanced, especially if you are using photo negatives to sunprint with. The detail is just as good as what you get with the blue-printing (Cyanotype) fabrics!

Here is another very helpful document written by Jacquard for more FAQs and an excellent section for troubleshooting!

SolarFast Thickener is used to increase the body of SolarFast dyes for screen printing applications.

Product Details List Price 1-3 4+
4 oz $10.99 $7.49 6.95
8 oz $17.49 $11.95 10.95
Product Details Qty
Color Chip / Item image4 oz
This product is sellable
Color Chip / Item image8 oz
This product is sellable
In Stock = In Stock | Out Of Stock = Out Of Stock | Special Order = Special Order | Drop Ship = Drop Ship

SolarFast Wash is a high-strength, concentrated detergent used to remove undeveloped SolarFast dye after exposure to UV light.

Product Details List Price 1-4 5+
4 oz $7.09 $4.65 4.35
8 oz $13.59 $9.45 8.95
Product Details Qty
Color Chip / Item image4 oz
This product is sellable
Color Chip / Item image8 oz
This product is sellable
In Stock = In Stock | Out Of Stock = Out Of Stock | Special Order = Special Order | Drop Ship = Drop Ship

SolarFast Film may be used to print custom negatives on any inkjet printer.

Product Details List Price 1-4 5+
Jacquard SolarFast Film - 8.5" x 11" $18.79 $14.25 12.95
Product Details Qty
Color Chip / Item imagePack of Eight
This product is sellable
In Stock = In Stock | Out Of Stock = Out Of Stock | Special Order = Special Order | Drop Ship = Drop Ship

SolarFast Film is a high-quality inkjet film that is now available in a bulk pack of 100!

Product Details List Price 1-4 5+
Jacquard SolarFast Film 100 Pack - 8.5x11 sheets $125.99 $119.95 99.95
Product Details Qty
Color Chip / Item imagePack of 100
SPECIAL ORDER.
This product is specialorder
In Stock = In Stock | Out Of Stock = Out Of Stock | Special Order = Special Order | Drop Ship = Drop Ship

Product Details List Price 1-9 10+
Jacquard SolarFast Starter Set $32.99 $22.45 21.45
Product Details Qty
Color Chip / Item image
This product is sellable
In Stock = In Stock | Out Of Stock = Out Of Stock | Special Order = Special Order | Drop Ship = Drop Ship

This kit includes enough supplies for a party of up to thirty people and is recommended for ages 8+.

Product Details List Price 1+
Jacquard SolarFast Class Kit $159.99 $104.95
Product Details Qty
Color Chip / Item imageClass Kit
This product is sellable
In Stock = In Stock | Out Of Stock = Out Of Stock | Special Order = Special Order | Drop Ship = Drop Ship

PRODUCT REVIEWS
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MOST HELPFUL REVIEWS

4 star rating
5/16/2014
4
I have experimented a lot with these dyes using photographic litho negatives. They seem to have a more consistent quality and predictability than the Lumi dyes as well as a more interesting selection of colors. That being said there is a severe weakness in the colors in the green range (avocado green green and teal). I have not been able to get true color results from any of these. I'm especially frustrated with the avocado which I think could be awesome if it worked right. Also my experience is the best way to get a clear print especially if you have a lot of detail is to paint the fabric in a darkened room and let it dry thoroughly before exposing. If the fabric is damp it will create condensation under the glass and will blur the image andor dilute the colors. It will still wash out fine if you use the Solarfast wash. However the green range also are nearly impossible to wash out and I end up with yellow shirts. This doesn't happen with the other colors. Overall this is a really fabulous product with so much potential. Just needs a lot of patience and maybe a bit of tweaking from the manufacturer.
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29 of 29 users found this review helpful.

4 star rating
9/4/2013
4
Wow! These dyes are fast and very sensitive. I was quite impressed with how much detail they are able to pick up. I initially used them with a piece of acetate and a sharpie pen and my drawing appeared on the fabric like magic. I found that it's important to prep this in as dark a room as possible as the sensitivity of the dye can start it to develop before you expose it to full sun.I used Teal and Blue and found that the Solar Fast Wash is really important to get out any left over undeveloped dye. (The Teal is really yellow when it is first applied and regular Synthrapol didn't get the yellow out of the white parts but the Solar Fast wash did).Also make sure you're in a well ventilated room as some of these dyes have a pretty strong ammonia aroma.It's well worth the fun and adventure with these dyes!
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19 of 19 users found this review helpful.

5 star rating
10/7/2013
5
I have really been getting some nice results with SolarFast. It is the best way I have found to reproduce shaded images like pencil or charcoal drawings without using a half tone. More detail than screen printing! It is a bit tricky at first a little like exposing a photo emulsion screen. I have found that you need to have a really dark transparency. Doubling the transparency can be a good idea if you aren't getting good highlights in your image. Over exposing has been better than underexposing for me. It was developed in California so I think the sun is a little stronger there. I add 5 minutes to the exposure time in bright sunlight in NYC and I more than double exposure time when it is cloudy. I sometimes lift the transparency and look at the darkest part of my image to make sure it has exposed fully.Washing is really important. Some colors wash out better than others. I have found that red scarlet orange burnt orange violet and brown wash out by hand. Anything else needs a washing machine and the SolarFast detergent. Yellow which is in all the greens sepia and black seems to be the hardest to wash out. If you didn't get it right the first time try again. The results are totally worth it!
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11 of 12 users found this review helpful.

5 star rating
9/10/2013
5
This dye is fun and fast. My experience so far: I tried it at home during the late day sun not so good. We are entering fall here and the sun was at an angle. I got some results that worked so I was ready to do it at a picnicbarbeque event which was a mid-day event.. We used the logo from the club and hand embellished them with sharpies - so much fun! We were under the shade of some dense redwood trees out of direct sun. I poured the paints out and used little foam rollers. I had added about 10percent water to the dye. Some people mixed the colors others used one color. We had plexiglass for all of the designs which helped keep the pieces of fabric from blowing around. We had a large area of concrete that we set the fabric on and it left a better image on the cloth when we left the newspaper that we used to keep the table clean under it rather than rested it directly on the concrete. Some people left their pieces on the concrete for a long time but regardless of the time it was really important to keep them completely out of the sun until they were ready for washing. We didn't have hot water or the Solarfast Wash so they were sent home with instructions to wash in hot water as soon as they got home. A few pieces were lost because they were put where the sun could get to them when they were taken up from the concrete.My next experience was even better (practice totally makes perfect!) I had my husbands business logo and we used black on one and red on the other shirt. The logo is an old drawing with a lot of sketch design so it had light and dark areas. We did the same photoshop process to make the image of the original. This time we did it inside (definitely a potent odor like ammonia is what the dye smells like - so open some windows!) and darkened the table area with sheets over the windows. The black did not completely get dark and I was told that it should stay outside for an hour to develop. (Next time!) We did the red as well in that design but it came out more pink. I then took the blue and watered it way down like 30 to 50 percent. It spread so much easier when I had the water added and the picture image was a photograph. It came out very nice indeed with plenty of detail. One thing to keep in mind is not to pour out of the bottle more than you are going to use at that time. I have a scarf that I add color to evertime I take out these dyes. I add color to it when I'm cleaning up. It's developing nicely.
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10 of 11 users found this review helpful.

5 star rating
5/7/2014
5
Jacquard reformulated these dyes just a few months after they launched them. Seems they worked out some formula issues and made some significant improvements. I find the he newer batches perform really nicely! I am really pleased with all the colors I have tried recently. I am getting much better results than I ever have with light-sensitive dyes. The product just seems much less fickle now. Colors are bright and bold. The Black develops nicely in sunlight and the other colors are much more consistent and beautiful. The fact that the dyes are now odorless and safe for kids is fantastic (my little nephew loves to watch the color magically appear!). Jacquard seems to know what they are doing--if you had any issues with these dyes when they first came out (Fall 2013) I highly recommend giving them another shot! I think they work great!
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9 of 10 users found this review helpful.


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