Tie dye

Ramesh Bhurtel 7/15/2015 09:02:00 AM 2 Comments cashmere scarves , dyeing , featured , Kathmandu , Nepal , tie dye Edit

Tie dye is an art; this ancient dyeing technique is still extensively practiced all over the world. By using this method, fabric or the textile material is dyed by hiding the portion that has to be left untouched by colors using rope, thread, rubber bands, yarn, and string. So, the fundamental principle of TIE DYE is to partly or entirely stop the applied dye from dyeing the fabric.

Let's start tying (tieing). Dyer has to try with different fold and tie to get new design and pattern. As this a hand art, if noted down the process accurately the duplication could be very close to the original. There are an infinite number of methods one can bind, stitch, twist, fold or compress the fabric to obtain different pattern and design. So the design, pattern i.e. output is also infinite quantity.

Selecting dyes

Cellulose fibers such as cotton, linen, hemp, and rayon are dyed using REACTIVE DYESProtein-based fibers such as wool, silk, wool, and feathers, as well as the man-made polyamide fiber, nylon, can be dyed using ACID DYES.Some of the well-known dyes manufacturers are DYSTAR, HUNTSMAN, CLARIANT and BASF. These companies produce almost all range of dyes and finishing chemical for all kind of textile material. As these are multinational corporations, they have their distributors in almost all the country of the world.

Tied for dyeing

Pot dyeing

The tied scarves are put in a pot have the pre-dissolve dyes with acetic acid. This pot is placed on a stove and is boiled. After boiling the dyes migrate to fiber. At this stage, if we look at the water it becomes colorless or with very less color.

Cellulose fiber

Cold dyeing method --Normally cellulose fiber is dyed by cold type reactive dyes ( PROCION MX ) which are usually applied between 25 to 40 degree Celsius. And we don’t have to boil the dye bath.

Hot dyeing method-- This is a less desired process because it has to be dyed by increasing the temperature even up to boiling point.

An experienced or skilled dyer is required, to do both methods, to get better and expected result

Protein-based fibre

Here acid dyes are used to dye the fabric. We must boil the bye bath to migrate the dyes to the fabric.

Here is a tutorial video of tie dye. Here I have used LANASET Red2B