Trouble dissolving dye powder

[tiedyejudy]

I have been experimenting with vat dyeing this weekend.  I am using Dharma's Jet Black, which requires double the normal amount (in this case 4T) for deep colors.  I put the dye powder in a bowl, then slowly add a cup of water to dissolve, stirring as I go.  The dye clumps in sticky masses, and I have had a devil of a time trying to get it to completely dissolve.  Any tips or suggestions?  I have never had this problem before, but this is the first time I am mixing so much dye powder at once.

Judy

[pburch]

You want to start with adding just a tiny bit of water to the dye, just teaspoons of water at first, crushing the paste as you make it with a spoon or a pestle (as in mortar and pestle), as you add the water, so that there are no clumps before adding another little bit of water. That's the most critical part. Paste up the dye before adding much water. Clumps of dye are always dry in the center and don't dissolve well at all, since there is a lot less surface area of dye exposed to the water.

You can try adding one drop of Synthrapol or hand dishwashing detergent to help reduce surface tension and wet the dye thoroughly.

Once you've gotten the dye thoroughly pasted up and then added the rest of the water (try adding that gradually, as well), stir the dye in the water for a bit, then go away and do something else. More time helps. Then come back, give it another stir. The time you leave it along makes a difference. Stirring the whole time would be even better, but stirring for that long makes you crazy. Just leaving it to sit for half an hour or an hour is a good idea.

I like to use a small stainless steel whisk to mix the dye paste with the rest of the water. It's faster than a spoon. The whisk helps make up for proper pasting-up technique iof you forget and dump too much water into the dye at the beginning. Some people like to use a blender, but I have only one blender, for food use only. The one time I used the cheap immersion blender I bought for this purpose, I did not use a large enough container and spatter dye all over the sink. I'm expect that the immersion  blender would be a good idea with adequately large containers.

Paula

[fiberartist219]

This topic was just going around the dyer's list today.

When I'm mixing dyes, I do it in a bottle so I can shake it. Another thing that helps, is letting it sit in the water for an hour or so, and then shaking it again before you use it. I found out today, that I'm not hte only one that does this. Sometimes it just takes time for the water to soak in and dissolve it. I think urea and salt might help a bit too.

Oh, and if you end up with a bottle that has a leaky lid, apparently teflon plumbers tape will help keep it tight. I haven't tried that yet, but it would make sense.

[mustdye]

I'm all about using a blender...

[tiedyejudy]

Thanks everyone, for the suggestions.  I was dissolving for a vat dye session, which is why so much dye powder.  It finally did dissolve, but not without some effort.  I did learn that screening through the toe of a stocking definitely does not solve the problem!  Guess from now on, I'll mix the dye concentrate on day one, then do the vat dyeing on day 2.

Judy

[pburch]

On the subject of using Teflon tape to prevent bottles from leaking: it's been less of a panacea in my hands. I used plenty of teflon tape on the threads of unaccountably leaky Yorker-top squeeze bottles, but some of them leaked anyway. I've had better luck for those bottles by using rubber washers of the right size to cover the area where the top of the bottle opening meets the inside of the yorker cap. The hardware store sells rubber washers.

Paula

[steve]

I use a hand blender. I also make sure I use water that is somewhat warm when I know I am working with something difficult to dissolve. 

[tiedyejudy]

Steve, do you mean an electric blender?  Otherwise, I'm not sure what a 'hand blender' is.  If electric, do you have a speed you use?  I would be afraid all the dye would clot in the blades!

Judy

[Jeau]

Hi Judy--I have used a hand blender too, when trying to find the best way to blend alginate.  It's actually an electric blender, but the hand-held kind, so you can use it in any container with a wide enough opening.  I haven't used it with dyes (because I also use it for food, and my usually weak dye concentrates dissolve fine when shaken), but I never had any trouble with the alginate getting stuck in the blades.