Dye Consistency

[dianaj]

Hello,

I Went to Blick and bought some containers of Robins Egg Blue and Bubble Gum Pink.

I pasted them up in the usual way but as soon as I added a small amount of water each one became so thick I couldn't get it off the end the spoon.  It was like a wad of gum stuck there.

With a lot of effort, I managed to mix up most of the color and both dyes worked fine. There was however a lot of wasted dye stuck in the bottom of my mixing cup that I just couldn't get to mix.

Did I get bad dye or does this happen sometimes.

Thanks Diana

[Kathy]

I mix my dyes either in a mason jar or the squeeze bottle is I am going to tie-dye. I don't use spoons, I just add my liquid in the amount I need and then add the dye powder. I put the lid/top on securely and the shake the hell out of it. Agitating the mix as opposed to stirring it dissolves the dye very efficiently. If I need a larger quantity of dye Mixed up I do it in a blender I have dedicated for mixing dye.

[ktaltre]

I also mix my mx dyes by shaking vigorously with urea and water in a bottle.
I have used some one cup juice bottles, with lids that don't leak, for years now.
Earlier this year I actually perused the grocery store for 1/2 cup bottles, didn't matter what was in them, and found 1/2 cup juice bottles for babies (the pear was disgusting, the apple, ok) haha. They were expensive, but they don't leak and it's for art.........
I put a little urea in a bottle, then the dye, then the water and shake shake shake - rest the bottle for a while and shake again.
The urea helps the dye to disperse into the water. I make dye concentrates (Ann Johnston), keep them in the dye fridge and dilute them as I'm using them.
k. taltre

[tiedyejudy]

The only time I have had a problem with clumping like that is if I mix up black, which requires 4+ times more dye powder.  I mix my dyes  in a large margerine tub and use a plastic spoon to mix the dye and water, and rarely have a problem.  Might be the dye powder was old, but maybe putting in more water to make the paste might have helped...?

[steve]

There are a few obscure pure MX purples (I can't recall which) that are really tough to mix.

Anyway, I use electric hand blenders to mix dye quickly and easily.