Dye Expectations

Dyeing is a craft, not a pure science, and like all crafts there is a learning curve and many nuances that affect the outcome...Be advised - we do not guarantee the result you wind up with will be what you want. One needs to read the directions carefully, follow them step by step, and test first when the results are more critical. If you are not sure about which dye to use after reading our descriptions, give us a call, we're here to help, but in the end, you should still test, because many situations are unique. Also, when kids are tie dyeing, they are delighted no matter how the shirts look. We adults are much more critical and hard on ourselves, or we just have a vision in our head of what we think it should look like. For those trying to match the color of something else exactly, you can get lucky, or it can take days of testing and tweaking, even if you are an experienced Dyer. (Folks who do color matching charge about $75 per hour!)

The color, evenness (or lack thereof) and total effect produced depends on several factors that you control: the amount of dye used, i.e. fuchsia can vary from a light pink to a dark magenta just by varying the quantity of dye used..., the temperature of the water of the dye bath, the temperature in which you cure your tie dyes or paintings, the fabric, whether you pre-washed or not, how you dissolved the dye and at what temperature, your particular water chemistry, the type of fabric, does the fabric have any treatments on it, was the fabric evenly optically whitened by the fabric mill that produced it, etc., etc. Wash fastness, light fastness, fading, bleeding, all depend not only on the type of dye you use, but on what you are dyeing and what it will be exposed to. As you can see, there are a lot of variables! That is why the craft of dyeing is part science, part art, and a lot of experience and practice.

With our Dharma Fiber Reactive dyes, a color will produce a range of shades from pastel to vivid in it's color range. The color and evenness depends on the factors above and more, most of which you can control, some of which you cannot. Colors also can vary from dyelot to dyelot because the pure primary colors used for mixing can vary a little from the original manufacturer, which can affect the mixes made with them. To repeat a color exactly, you need to use the same dyelot, and you need to do everything exactly the same as you first did it. The colors on our color chart are meant to be used as a guide, but they are only as accurate as the printer's ink, your computer monitor, or the eye of the person who made the chart. Also, the color chart was developed from dyeing cotton. Then throw in the variables. You can dye 100 % cotton t-shirts from several different manufacturers in the same dye bath along with a rayon and a silk garment and have them all come out a different color or shade. On silk, the colors can shift dramatically - mixes with blue in them more than others. In the extreme, the black Fiber Reactive dye on silk will yield shades of brown or maroon, and forest green yields chartreuse!

The main thing is to have fun. Like other arts and crafts, dyeing is fun!!! And remember, it is always best to test the suitability of a product (as well as your technique) before using it extensively or on big production runs when you are doing resale. Like other companies, we have to limit our liability for replacement or refunds for defective products only, and just cannot take financial responsibility for time or other materials when a dye job doesn't come out the way you expected it to. We can make no guarantees about how products will work in your situation, although we try harder than most companies to help you to choose the product most likely to succeed for you. So test, test, test!