putting the tied items through a spin cycle in my washer to remove excess dampness. This seems to work well.
Sue...the spin cycle isn't affecting the bind at all? Are you placing the garments along the side-walls? In my head this seems the way to do it so there little/no movement of the than the centrifugal force of the spin.
As far as the activated dye goes, I don't think the lower amt. of dye powder was contributing to faster exhaustion. However, it could have been a timing thing...i.e. the dyes were already lighter b/c of the lower concentration of dye powder, then the strength of the dye was ever decreasing in that 2 hour window as the dye was reacting with the chem water.
On another note, I too stopped activating my dye(unless I am teaching someone/people how to tie-dye) b/c I rarely had time to efficiently use the activated dye due to lots of 4 yr. old interuptions.
Kathy