For best results, wash items prior to tying. Fold into desired shapes and secure with rubber bands. The tighter the rubber bands, the more likely ‘white’ areas will occur. Looser bands will allow the colors to blend a little easier.

After tying your items, soak them in the soda ash solution. (We recommend 1 cup of soda ash mixed in with a gallon of warm to hot water.) Leave the items in the soda ash solution for at least 20 minutes. Make sure to use gloves when touching the solution, as it may irritate your skin. After items have soaked, take them out and squeeze out extra solution. The wetter the items are with the solution, the less dye they will absorb. Sometimes we even leave the “soaked” items out to dry or dry them in the dryer prior to dying. This makes for interesting patterns.

            Note: Soda ash solution can be stored and re-used until it is gone. There is no loss

            of effectiveness the longer it sits.

To mix the dyes, carefully fill the dye bottles with tap water, Do not use hot water, make sure the temperature is close to body temp. For dyes with turquoise in them, please use water that is a little warmer, (up to 130 ºF ) These bottles will be labeled with “Turquoise” if they are to be used with warmer water.  Please try and use dyes as soon as possible, as the chemicals in the dye loose their effectiveness over time. For best results, use within a week of mixing with water.

Note: We recommend filling bottles half full with water, putting caps back on, and shaking them well before filling the rest of the way. This is to ensure that there will not be ‘freckles’ or little spots of dye powder in your bottles. Be sure and mix the dyes in a well-ventilated area and be attentive to not breathe in the dye powder. The powders have been known to irritate the lungs.

COLORS CONTAINING RED are especially hard to mix and do need additional mixing.

Dye items carefully. See the links at the bottom of this page for more information on how to tie dye. We recommend dying your items outside or over a ‘utility’ sink. Newspaper stacks under your items are great for picking up loose dye, however the print can sometimes wear off onto the garments. Make sure and utilize the gloves included in your kit and wear old clothes while dying, as these dyes are very good at staining!

Squirt the dye onto your soaked items, being mindful to put dyes in the folds of the clothing to avoid having a lot of unwanted white spots. When finished, wrap each item, still tied, in a plastic bag (we use and re-use Ziploc gallon sized bags) and let it sit for at least four hours in a warm place (we leave our dyes sit for at least 24-36 hours before rinsing).

After the item has sat, rinse the tied item in cool water. Remove rubber bands and rinse until the water runs clear. Wash rinsed items in the washing machine on the maximum load and hottest temperature setting with dish detergent (not laundry detergent). Use an extra rinse cycle. Dry and wear!

For washings after the initial one, wash dyed items with dark colored clothing (jeans) for one or two more washes. Just like any new garment, dyes will bleed lightly for the first wash. After that, wash just like normal—the dyes will be colorfast!

Helpful links that will aid in folding and dying process

A great YouTube Video on How to Tie Dye (we are working on our own videos to be posted on how to fold different tie dye folds!)

Pictures on how to fold

How to Tie Dye by Paula Burch