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You gotta love and hate fiber reactive dyes. They are good because once they work on compatible fabric such as cotton, they are on forever, nothing except bleach will ever fade it, but hate it because the thing dont last forever! It seems this particular reactive dyes (like commonly used for tie dying) has a short shelf life because its so reactive that it will react with the water in the air, not the fabric therefore the thing is no good as reactive dye anymore... see this picture for example... top is newer batch, bottom is old batch. Tests were done by making a dye solution with soda ash and all, then cotton T shirt scrap were dipped in and heated with a lighter, while keeping it wet so it wont burn.
The AARG!!! part is I used that old batch of dye to make a T shirt.... then let it batch for a day and washed it out... well washed out it did! Other color were okay, didn't wash out but yellow completely washed out to white (just like that bottom test strip)!!!!!!!! So here is what I did as recovery.... I took the new batch of dye power and made a solution with soda ash and all, then used a squeeze bottle to apply it to the area where yellow (or any color containing yellow such as green) was supposed to be. Then I covered it with saran wrap hoping to keep it wet for at least 6 hours... I hope this works!
They said that fuchia is the most reactive therefore goes bad first.... but what gives??
Hey Tai Fu, I took this photo just minutes ago. Here ia a shirt dyed with dyes that have been in solution at least 6 months. You will see that yellow also tends to fade significantly as well. Black and turquoise are less affected. This was an experiment to see what would happen. It is best to use dyes within 2 weeks after mixing them with water. Allow the dye to stay in for at least 24 hours to get the deepest colours.
How old was your batch of dye? Left in powder form, I have heard, that the dyes are good for about 15 years.
Absalom
The yellow dye (old batch) was in powder form. There were a little bit (like 1/2 oz) left and it looks really caked from moisture, and just as I suspected, it went bad! How did you make that long black band in your T shirt? Did you make one big black pie when the shirts are tied on one side, then other colors on the other side? Man clearly shows im not too experienced in this....
Hey Tai Fu, be sure to keep powdered dyes dry to keep them from degrading.
Your assumption is correct when using black and colours together. First, you totally cover the back side with black. Flip it over, and apply the rainbow colours to the front.
Absalom
When humidity never goes below 90% and its HOT in the summer... easier said than done. It gives me trouble finishing guitar too cause the paint keeps clouding everytime I spray more than a wet coat... I dont know if my new batch of 8oz dyes going to go bad quick too, I paid an arm and a leg shipping that thing from the US cause no one here carries procion type dyes.