Heat & Time~I'm so impatient

[Snugglebug]

When the temperatures were 100 degrees in Kansas I was happy, at least when I was dying.  I could set my projects outside and be fairly confident that they had enough time in 6-8 hours for good, bright colors.

Well now that it's cooling off (temp this am was 58) I'm wondering about other methods of speeding up the reaction process.  I tried the micro method suggested in one of the Tom & Martine DVD's... WOW what a mess!  I have also heated the oven to 400, then turned off and put projects in an aluminum pan on a wire rack covered with foil until the oven is cooled. 

Tom and Martine suggest that at 70 degrees a project requires 12 hours to react, at 60 degrees 18 hours to react.  Can you then infer that for every elevation of 10 degrees in temperature, you could subtract 6 hours or is there a minimum amount of time at any temperature you should wait for your dyes to react?

I am especially impatient when I'm trying something new, I'm working on that... but until I get that resolved, any suggestions?

[pburch]

Tom and Martine suggest that at 70 degrees a project requires 12 hours to react, at 60 degrees 18 hours to react.  Can you then infer that for every elevation of 10 degrees in temperature, you could subtract 6 hours or is there a minimum amount of time at any temperature you should wait for your dyes to react?

Procion MX type dyes react approximately three times faster for every 18°F (10°C) rise in temperature. The different colors differ at least six-fold in how quickly they react. Fuchsia (red MX-8B) reacts the most quickly, whereas turquoise (turquoise MX-G) reacts the most slowly. When somebody complains that their turquoise is coming out too pale, it almost invariably means that their room temperature is too cold. Tom and Martine say that the minimum temperature is 60°F, but most dyers say the minimum is 70°F, and I prefer 80°F or above. (That's 16°C, 21°C, and 27°C, respectively.)

I like to give my dyes more time than is strictly necessary to react, because if your dye is not all 100% reacted when you pick up your dyed items to wash them out, unreacted dyes can permanently stain the wrong parts of your project. It is safer and less trouble to allow more time than necessary, for a given temperature. Once the dyes are fully reacted, any backstaining that occurs can be removed by washing with hot water.

I've had no trouble with using a microwave oven to heat my tie-dyed projects. The only problem is the step of wrapping them in plastic, or popping them into a plastic bag, which must be done with care. You must watch very closely and stop the microwave when the plastic starts to inflate, to prevent blowouts. You must also take care to never microwave dry fabric, as it will catch on fire if cooked long enough.

There are lots of other ways to ensure sufficiently warm dye reaction temperatures: heat just a small room, or put your containers in a sink full of hot water, or use an electric blanket covered with plastic, or find a warm spot such as the top of the water heater or refrigerator, etc. If you use an aluminum pan or aluminum foil, be sure to line it with plastic, or keep the wet dyed items in plastic bags, to prevent damaging the aluminum with the soda ash (and possibly contaminating the colors of some dyes with the aluminum ions).

I have an FAQ page on this question on my website: see What is the effect of temperature on fiber reactive dyes?

Paula

[Anna]

Hi Ive, been wondering about this as well.  Is there anything such as reacting for too long?  It seems to me that the reaction will run until it's out of reactants, so after that it won't matter if the excess dye sits on the shirt after the reaction is complete.  But do you think leaving it for 24 hours (or longer) would do any harm either to the dye or fabric?  I am asking because sometimes I have the time to dye, but won't get a chance to washout until much later than 12 hours, unless I feel like doing it in the middle of the night.

Anyway, just wondering,
Anna

[pburch]

It does no harm to wait a couple of days to wash out, if you're dyeing cotton.

If you are using soda ash on silk, it would be better not to leave it much longer than necessary, since the high pH of the soda ash can be bad for silk. I've had no problems with silk left overnight, but it's possible.

Paula

[Snugglebug]

Anna it seems we have the opposite problem    I'm like a little kid at Christmas, not wanting to wait until morning to open the package!

Paula I so appreciate your thorough response.  The problem I had with the microwave was indeed the steam spray all over the sides from my plastic that had opened.  It also muddled the colors on the underside which leads me to believe that either my project was too wet to begin or oversaturated with dye, or both.

I never thought about the aluminum ions depositing but when I folded up some used aluminum foil today for future use it looked as if several areas had corroded leaving holes.  Looks like it's time for a designated cold weather reaction spot and more trials in patience    

[Anna]

Thanks Paula for all the info.  I also tried the microwave and came up with a mess, the plastic bag it was in melted (ziplock) so dye was all over the microwave.  The shirt, however, came out great, it was a black/dark green spider.  The colors were dark already, so I didn't notice any muddling.

Anna

[tiedyejudy]

One thing I have done whenever microwaving is to do it in 30 second increments, then turn off the microwave for 30 seconds, to allow the steam to dissipate.  This helps to keep the plastic baggie from melting.  And I use the heavier ziplock type of bag instead of plastic wrap, because it's a little more heat-resistant.  So far, I haven't had any disasters this way!

Judy

[Anna]

Thanks, Judy, I'll try that.  I thought I was safe with one minute increments, but got zapped on just the second minute.  So, since it speeds things up so much, though, I think I'll try again.

Thanks
Anna