Originally Posted by moonwolf23
Originally Posted by Scissor Queen
Originally Posted by moonwolf23
Originally Posted by Scissor Queen
Originally Posted by cjr
How much vinegar? how much salt?
Vinegar or salt will not set modern chemical dyes. They are mordants for organic dyes.
Lots and lots of people will claim a fabric stopped "bleeding" after they washed it with vinegar or salt. It would have stopped "bleeding" anyway since it was just excess dye that washed out.
So what do you use, to set batiks? Do they use modern dyes?
Yes, they use modern dyes for batiks. Batiks tend to have a lot of unset dye left in them because they're boiled to get the wax out and they don't always get them rinsed really well.
The only way you can set a modern dye is with a chemical mordant. Retayne is a chemical mordant.
One of the things to keep in mind, is even if a fabric "bleeds" and it's picked up by another fabric that dye isn't set and will generally wash out in one or two washes.
Also keep in mind that the vinegar you buy in the grocery store is only 5% vinegar to start with at the most. When you put a cup of vinegar in a washer that holds several gallons of water you're dilluting it to less than a 1% solution.
So how many washes would you do for Batiks then? The last time I did rinsed my batiks, they were still bleeding a little in hot but not cool.
I don't pre-wash batiks. I don't want to spend my time washing fabric. I want to sew.
I just use a color catcher in the wash with a finished quilt and if I give it away I send some color catchers with it.