Color migration

[patmcneil]

I had some questions about color migration. It seems like some colors migrate worse than others. I'm using Tom & Martine's formula for chemical water using 1 tsp kelp per half gallon of water. It seems like if I make a line of dye that is one inch wide, after 12 hours it's 3 inches wide. Do I need more thickener?
Thanks,
Pat

[pburch]

You can use a lot more thickener than that, if you want to limit dye migration more. Michael Fowler's recipe contains four teaspoons (20ml) of refined sodium alginate per quart (liter) of water. You can buy sodium alginate from any good dye supplier; it's the same stufff as kelp, but may be cleaner and more predictable.

Alginate is easier to mix if you mix it with alcohol before adding it to the water. I recommend using Metaphos (sodium hexametaphosphate, a.k.a. Calgon), as well, to help prevent the alginate from forming a thick gloppy gel that's hard to clean out of your bottles.
An alternative to sodium alginate is a mixture sold under the name of Superclear.

See the Tie Dye Wiki entry on alginate and my page on Sodium alginate, Superclear, and other dye thickeners.

Paula

[steve]

I had some questions about color migration. It seems like some colors migrate worse than others. I'm using Tom & Martine's formula for chemical water using 1 tsp kelp per half gallon of water. It seems like if I make a line of dye that is one inch wide, after 12 hours it's 3 inches wide. Do I need more thickener?
Thanks,
Pat

Migration is also affected by how wet or dry the fabric is. I find that very wet fabric can allow the dye to migrate and dilute as it does so. I think everyone has their own sweet spot in terms of how wet or dry the fabric is for dyeing. There are contradictory forces at play: There is an extent to which the presence of moisture can act as a resist while it can also transport the dye. I prefer my fabric very dry when I use soda soak. I find the fabric with the dried soda ash in it is a powerful resist--giving vibrant well defined colors (In conjunction with the thickening recommended above). When bleeding, you almost have to wrestle it through the fabric.

Additionally, do not apply the dye any more quickly than the fabric can absorb it--otherwise it will migrate over the surface.

Steve