I wish the label had a little dab of color on it so that i knew what base shade is in the jar. - hands down the best dyes for cotton, rayon, hemp, linen and other natural fibers. See Color too dark. Some products may be excluded from discounts, and / or may discount only with themselves. For low immersion dyeing, where you want color separation, you can mix any of them indefinitely! it would be great if you could include one of these with every order of dies but I understand it does get pricey to print. reformulated. Its a black container with a white label and the name cleanly printed on it. Includes 13-2/3 Ounce Jars, 2-1lb Soda Ash Dye Fixer, Instruction Sheet, Color Chart. The prices are good on top of everything. We've been using this dye for years and definitley worth the extra effort (mixing chemicals like a mad scientist!). Mix Urea with 70% rubbing alcohol in a 5050 mixture I mix mine all at once but I use a one and two percent dye solution. Freckles, or small spots of color, are caused by clumps of undissolved dye striking in a small area on the fiber. Technique alone can determine color; colors may come out differently depending on whether you do a full dyebath, microwave in a baggie, paint and steam, etc. Keep out of reach of children and pets. 1/2 to 1 cup to start with, more for dark colors like black and navy. I'm extremely happy with my purchases thank you so much!! 2 oz. While we have offered other acid dyes for years, wepackage our own line of Acid Dyes in order to increase the range of colors and quantity discounts, and to overall lower prices for you. Drag and Drop chips to the Palette first. Certain chemicals are required for use and there are MANY ways to use this dye - Click on the tabs below including the full Description to read all about it. Washing machines don't get as hot, but do maintain consistent time, temperature and agitation, yielding more even results. Let stand for a few hours or overnight before using. Once the water is up to temperature THEN add the acid. For dark colors it matters more than light colors. 2 ozs. Adjust that as necessary to get a color darker or lighter. ), then add to the pot and stir. This is the dye you've seen on tie-dyes on the street, at fairs, festivals and concerts - the colors are brilliant and permanent. Using a larger pot and more water will help reduce this problem. 2 hours ago Web To get the colors on our dye color chart, we used 1/4-1/3 oz per lb of fabric (1.5-2% of the weight of the fabric), except to get a really dark Navy or a good black, use 1 oz/lb fiber . I wish we had a staff as large as Dharma's. I asked them how many people they had on Tech support since I do it by myelself. Everything you need for tie-dyeing about 50 T-shirts (except the shirts). We've chosen to offer both easy to use common (basic) colors as well as more complex (advanced) colors that are harder to get and not normally available to the home dyer. Blue 48% . Straining the dye stock before using it is the next step. I shudder to think of the amount of foam I would have had with regular Synthaprol as it was still VERY sudsy with LF! We brought them in because they are beautiful and unique colors that are very difficult to achieve by mixing leveling or milling dyes, and have never been available to home dyers before. I do go-to some of these colors both the primaries and mixes enough to really want to share my positive experience. Afterfix is Sodium Silicate, a liquid with the consistency of honey. Or add 1 Tbs. People use these dyes in a wide variety of creative techniques including solid color dyeing, microwaving, baking, printing, spraying, painting, squirting, steaming etc. These directions are for top loading washing machines only. Add dye, either powder or stock solution, as above, to thickener. With hard to dissolve colors that might be in a mix, this step can actually effect the final color you get. How I use Dharma Trading Co. The formula is a big time saver and can be . Try this. Commercial dyers use leveling agents to get the most even solid colors, such as adding Glauber's Salt to Leveling Acid Dyes (L) and using Ammonium Sulfate (used also for fertilizing plants and easy to find at gardening stores) instead of vinegar or citric acid with Milling (M) and Premetallized Acid Dyes (P). Just remember, if you want the color perfectly even or "level" when using any of the Pre-metallized colors or even the Milling colors, use ammonium sulfate at the beginning of the dyebath as described in detail above, and stir more than you would with the Leveling colors. Great saturation and couldn't be happier. I followed all the instructions and my colors are amazing. If you still have a lot of color left, take a note that you could try using less dye next time on that particular color. Superior to supermarket dyes in every way! Mix and match them to get the best discount. Store them cool and away from moisture. The value on these is great! There are 3 basic Acid Dye types: L=Leveling, M=Milling, P=Premetallized 1:2 (see our article - "Did you Know how Acid Dyes Work" if you are a serious wool/silk dyer and want to get into chemistry and types of Acid Dyes and how they work). Start by adding 4 oz. I use it in my Malachite Colorway all the time. The amount used is determined by the amount of fabric (and thus the number of dye molecules that need to be bulked. I love your dyes for tie dying. To get the colors on our dye color chart, we used 1/4-1/3 oz per lb of fabric (1.5-2% of the weight of the fabric), except to get a really dark Navy or a good black, use 1 oz/lb fiber (4% of the weight of the fabric). I gambled on 142-Dutch Chocolate bc I couldn't figure out the difference between the browns and Dharma didn't answer my email. Retayne is also a "Fixing Agent", similar to the Dharma Dye Fixative. I used 200 Raven Black. Caribbean blue is a very bright turquoise lilac tends on the purple side with a slight gray undertone. Keep adding water to the container the dye was mixed in to catch all of the particles as the colours separate a bit (you will see particles of reds blues and even yellows depending on the colour you are using) and swirl the water in the container to really get all of the particles out and strained through the paper towel. Smash the powder with a sturdy spoon while adding the liquid very gradually. No one else makes one that does not have an undertone I find unpleasant. 4.7 out of 5 stars 109. Also a great way to discover wonderful new effects of different mix combinations. My only disappointment is that what color is the dye. Use the Shibori method to dye a cute swim suit for summers at the beach or by the pool! For the less wash fast dye colors, of which we are carrying a couple so you have more color choices, Dharma Dye Fixative or Retayne in a final soak after dyeing helps a lot. many of each type, style or size. I got the safety vest orange and kelly green and black in the pot and the colors are beyond what i expected. - - Sorry, this item is temporarily sold out. While we have offered other acid dyes for years, we have decided to mix and package our own line of Acid Dyes in order to increase the range of colors and to lower prices. Example: adding 4 each of 3 different T-shirts in any sizes will give you the 12+ price on all 12 shirts. Wonderful dye - beautiful colours and highly recommended. The bleed is just not there as long as I don't overdo it and use the proper amount of acid. 1azclace. This allows the dye molecules to react chemically with the fiber molecules. They all work well in direct application methods like tie-dye where the fabric is kept moist long enough for the dye to develop full depth. Colors #406, 445 and #456 are pureFluorescent and glow under black light. For tub dyeing, use these dyes on your stove or in a washing machine, keeping in mind that they do require very HOT water or steaming for best results. Proportion the dye in the container in relation to the amount of thickener paste and desired intensity. Thank you so much!! Acid Dyes are the dye of choice for dyeing all protein fibers, like wool and other animal hair like alpaca, angora, mohair, etc., silk, feathers, and also they dye nylon. Sharon and Janet take you through the steps of using one of our Indonesian Copper Batik Tjaps as a 'resist stamp' using wax. Other shades like orchid pink berry blast and radioactive are a bit more confusing. What are you dyeing: cotton, linen, hemp etc.? Because they don't come off, they are even safe on infant clothing and clothing for chemically sensitive folks, once excess dye and chemicals are properly washed out. With the possible choices of maroon brown and deep orange. These dyes require two auxiliaries; first salt which acts as an electrolyte that reduces the solubility of the dye. Stir frequently for a few minutes to evenly distribute the dye. It makes finding my so much easier Loving it! Dyes the cellulose (cotton/hemp) like the color chart. many of each type, style or size. - - Sorry, this item is temporarily sold out. We used syringes (without the needle) to make awesome colors - just slurp up a bit of this and a bit of that and some water and you can get some outrageous colors but not too much of it so it saves dye. While kelly green i know is bright green. Include golden yellow, fire red, scarlet, chinese red and new black. Dyes the cellulose and the protein the same color. They don't fade, even after repeated washings. You can also paint or print with with it if you fix it by steaming. If you have a leveling dye (small molecules) mixed with a pre-metalized dye (much larger molecules), the leveling dye will strike much faster than the pre-metallized. Acid dyed silk and wool should be washed in cooler water anyway. Wow! What we hope to illustrate is a method you can use to begin with a clean canvas and create the squres you desire to make a quilt that is entirely your own design. Perfect for my halloween start. When vat-dyeing (when you are dyeing a solid color shade) there are alsodifferences: Black is a tough color to get. * How much water did you use and how much salt? If I want a green for example and Peacock is in the green I mix the yellow and green by weighing it in a container on a jeweler's scale. * Is the color too light? To each cup of chemical water add: 1 tsp. When it is a well-dissolved slurry, add the rest of the cup of water and stir vigorously. To mix subdued colors, use Gold Yellow, True Red and Royal Blue. If you want colors that are easier to use, we recommend you enjoy the other 49 beautiful colors. Acid Dyes react fast, exhaust well, and results for most colors are very lightfast and washfast. dry dye powder= 6 tsp. It is my drop-dead go to berry color. For ease, I've listed Dharma Trading 's pure pigment colors below (updated 3/14/2021): PR1 Lemon Yellow PR3 Golden Yellow PR6 Deep Orange PR12 Light Red PR13 Fuchsia Red PR22 Cobalt Blue PR23 Cerulean Blue no longer available PR25 Turquoise PR26 Sky Blue PR188 Bluebird PR186 Nebula Navy Start with one tsp and add more very gradually while you stir to avoid lumps. Here we tell you how to do it! Black is a tough color - use a lot of dye and when vat dyeing, double the salt. There are only a handful of dyes that are one single color. Textbooks and commercial dyers also talk about adding leveling agents to get the most even solid colors, like Glauber's Salt to Leveling Acid Dyes and using Ammonium Sulfate (used also for fertilizing plants) first, before the vinegar or citric, with Milling and Pre-metallized Acid Dyes, especially when dyeing paler colors. 3/4 cup Urea (dissolve in hot water if necessary) 2. For each gallon of water add 1 TBL. (Make sure it's sealed and labeled!) For hard to dissolve colors, try using hot Urea water (1-2 TBSP Urea/cup water) instead of plain water, or water at boil temp (212 degrees Fahrenheit) to paste up the dye. The traditional method of printing with dye is to add the dye to a thickener paste. To get the closest match to our color chart, for most colors tub dye at 1.5 - 2% of weight of goods (OWG), for colors with an * by their name, use at 4% OWG. Love thease dyes they are very easy to work with and get great results if you follow instructions. Blue 19% . I normally use Jacquard iDye for its simplicity smaller salt amount and no need for a fixer. Limit the time of exposure, or use baking soda instead, and steam, microwave or simmer on the stove. Drag and Drop chips to the Palette first. If you have taken all these things into consideration, you can see if a color is possibly "off" by doing a "controlled" test, where you follow the dyebath directions to the letter with proper timing and proportions using a piece of common wool or silk and distilled water, or use water softener if you have "hard" water. - - Sorry, this item is temporarily sold out. Our new colors #478 & #479 are Fluorescent Acid dyes mixed with another color (unfortunately, no such thing as a fluorescent blue), so they fluoresce, but not quite as strongly. Soda Ash Fixer (be sure it dissolves) Dye to taste (try a pre-dissolved concentrate and drip & stir until color is right). The old addage "if a little is good more must be better" DOES NOT apply here. The best dye for tie-dye batik fabric dye painting etc. Low immersion techniques are normally used to deliberately get color separation, as with tie-dye "bleed" that you see with fiber reactive dye on cotton. If you don't want this, use the colors that we mark on the chart below with a color index #, as those are pure, unmixed colors. Today. The Jet Black doesn't get totally black unless you use 1.8-2 grams per oz of dye. Of the 3 blacks that work in cooler water, this one gives the deepest black in tub dyeing. You have to use a lot of dye and in vat dyeing, you need to double the salt. If you are using salt to help exhaust darker colors, add the pre-dissolved dye to the hot bath and mix well BEFORE adding salt. We have brought in some colors that are the same as other manufacturers, easy to use, with brilliant colors, at better prices. Forgetting to Pre-wet the fabric - always soak your fabric in some cool to warm water with a couple drops ofKieralon before adding it to the dye bath. - Sorry, this item is temporarily sold out. To ensure that all of the excess dye has been removed, we suggest running the fabric through another wash cycle with cool to warm water and some. Good to know they recognized a problem and fixed it!In case anyone's looking for color specifics: Berry Crush is a drop dead gorgeous magenta chartreuse is a bright olive green if you use a bit more than the recommended amount You can get a lovely spring green with it (light green with yellow undertone). Use the stove top method for wool.). Only mix as much concentrate as you can use in about a months time, after that the dyes will get weaker and give less vivid results. Let it dry until damp, cover or wrap in plastic or otherwise stop the drying process and let sit for: 12 hours for pastels 48 hours for deep shades Rinse in running cold water then wash out excess dye using Synthrapol and let dry. 1.5% worked well for the light colors and 2% worked well for all the darker colors with the three exceptions above. When fabric is bunched up, the dye pools in the folds and creates dark patches. A clear and easy tutorial on how to tie-dye a shirt with the most popular pattern: the spiral. Price and other details may vary based on product size and color. stock . HOT BLACK Stay away from this one. I would never consider dropping the Espresso Bean from my line. Brands of dyes used include Dharma, PRO Washfast Acid Dyes, Jacquard & Greener Shades. I'm not a high-volume dyer but I've dyed a fair amount of stuff over the years. Dharma Tutorials Featured Artists Group Project Supplies DYES All Our Dyes Cotton, Rayon, Hemp Silk, Wool, Nylon Dyes For Tie-Dyeing Painting Fabric Silk Painting Kits & Starter Sets Help Choosing Dyes Fabric Dyes of all types in one place! On protein you can use soda ash,but it can damage silk if you soak it for long periods of time. Dyed on ready to dye cotton from Dharma - soaked in soda ash prior to ice dyeing and then washed using professional textile detergent. Red 25% . Also keep in mind that some mixes of Acid dye colors, especially milling and premetalized dyes, can "separate" as they are drying and the colors migrate. Your discount is figured on the total number of cotton and rayon items we ship, not how For one of the other dyers who said the Peacock Blue is hard to dissolve yes it can be. If anything is left in the strainer paste it up with some more hot water and strain it again. And as with all dye powders, you should handle them carefully. All the dyes can be dry-cleaned. Require more rinsing to remove the excess dye than do other colors. We make bulk orders so we mix about 30 different colors for each batch and this stuff is AMAZING! After resetting, let washer run through entire cycle including a cool rinse. Include Free Dharma Acid Dye Instructions & Color Chart. If you'd rather speak with a human, please call toll-free from anywhere in the U.S. or Canada M-F 8am to 5pm PST. Fill a stainless steel or enamel pot with enough hot or warm water for the fabric to swim freely, turn on the heat. Well it does not list new colors or colors that have been reformulated or the limited edition colors it sure helps me keep track of what dies I do have and the ones I do not so I'm not ordering multiples of the same color. One of its functions, besides being a humectant, is to allow more solids to go into solution in less liquid. Using a smaller amount of this due yields a beautiful lighter blue-lavender shade and its just as delicious as the dark:) These dyes however do need to be very well dissolved and I recommend pouring the dye solution through a strainer lined with a paper towel. stir and flip your fabric/yarn/garment so that one section does not spend more time at the bottom of the pot than the rest. But after 2 hours of mixing stirring and rinsing - my jacket was the color of a chocolate bar ! #39 Black - our oldest original black, was never as good as the newer blacks, and unfortunately we need to discontinue it due to lack of sales. The Pre-metallized colors are also extremely washfast and lightfast. Over dye for a different color, or see Color too dark. We provide those in our tie-dye kits and sell them separately here. If you combine different fabrics in a dyebath, or even the same fabrics from a different lot, you can end up with different colors coming out of the same dyebath. Next with Fire Engine Red Navy and True Black I leave them overnight to finish exhausting and next morning rinse. Flu Acid Yellow 250 - 25% / L - bright fluorescence under black light. It overdyes almost anything with the Depth of Shade reachable to completely cover a bad dye job or to enhance another color and add depth. * How much dye did you use? #200 Raven Black- NEW! The end color depends on your temperature, how much dye you use, how acid the dye-bath is, how long the fabric is in the dye, and how much fabric you have. Its use is in the "fixing" of Fiber Reactive Dyes, the creation of an alkali environment in which the cellulose and the dye are able to permanently bond together. of Procion dye (pre-dissolved) and 1/2 cup plain salt. As with all powdered dyes or craft chemicals, handle with care and use good housekeeping procedures. Click the tabs below for complete description and instructions for the numerous techniques you can use these dyes for. for each lb. I have had the color literally change while rinsing from an apricot bordering on orange to a mottled pink to yellow sallow skin tone.At one point I tested 42 samples of the same fabric on different dilution of the same batch of dye and got 42 different shades it drove me nearly insane. The Jacquard Procion H concentrates contained 25% or 40% dye, that is, 25 or 40 grams of dye powder per 100 ml of water, depending on color. To get the colors on our dye color chart, we used 1/4-1/3 oz per lb of fabric (1.5-2% of the weight of the fabric), except to get a really dark Navy or a good black, use 1 oz/lb fiber (4% of the weight of the fabric). When your end color needs to be very specific, we recommend a test first, before dyeing your main project or going into production. Very handy in the dye world. Scrunch it up and dye it. This will help the dye move through the fabric more evenly and help prevent areas from absorbing more dye then others. Read the instructions for your chosen technique(s) to see what else you will need. The first step is to make a cold batch chemical water which can be stored a month or more in the refrigerator. Bright True Green: 1 pt Brilliant Yellow + 1 pt Turquoise . There is no light shades or pale variations. I have used Dharma's acid dyes on silk nylon (net moleskin and milliskin). This is PR175. Learn to take Acid Dyes to the next levelhere. I do a one or two skeins of yarn at a time in a stainless 8 qt pot with no problem. So much so I've ordered more yarn and am about to order more dye. One I cut up the color chips and taped them to the dye containers. #300 New Black-Vat dyes with a blue cast and edges are blue/pink in tie-dye. You will experience a lot of different results, color shifts, separation of color with mixes, etc. Mix chemical water by adding 1/4 cup of urea and 1 Tablespoon of vinegar to 1 quart of water. Dye printed in too thick a base will halo from the image before the fabric is cured or will accumulate in the corners, altering the image. TRUE-TO-COLOR, 100% COTTON SWATCHES OF OVER 120+ DHARMA FIBER REACTIVE DYE COLORS! Wool will felt in a washing machine and dyes better with even hotter temperatures than silk. I have finally got a lot of the kinks out of the process. Some folks say to turn your hot water heater to its highest setting first and let it heat up, especially when you are going for black and other dark colors, or they add some boiling water to increase the temperature. The dyes are so bright and beautiful. Use this: Colors without a star try 1 level Tablespoon (1/4 to 1/2 oz.) I was wrong. You can do all these things with Fiber Reactive Dyes! Procion is not highly recommended for wool as many of the colors break down under the high heat that wool needs in order to dye properly. Acid dyes are very economical, as they are very concentrated, react fast, and the results are very permanent for most colors (see chart below) - light and wash fast! Using Glauber's salt instead of plain salt when vat dyeing can also improve results. Pour off the amount of chemical water you need for one color (for ease of measurement use 1 cup increments). with beautiful results. Watch. It's great to have this handy chart. Keep in mind that an * by the name of a dye color (blacks and navy) indicates to use that color at 4% of weight of goods rather than 1.5 - 2% for the rest of the colors. 3. Adding the Vinegar (or citric acid) too early - Acid Dyes need heat and an acidic environment to strike and fix to the fabric. They require heat for vat dyeing and steam setting for direct application. The gorgeous purple undertone is not available anywhere else and it is so lovely. Not enough room in the dyebath or not stirred enough. USE FOR: Tie-Dye, Tub or washing machine Dyeing (solid color), Low Immersion Dyeing, Batik, Dye Painting, Silk Painting, Screen & Block Printing or Stenciling, even Tie-dyeing Silk in a Microwave, USE ON: All natural Fibers (Cotton, Rayon, Hemp, Linen, Silk, etc. The dye looked just like red velvet cake. If you'd rather speak with a human, please call toll-free from anywhere in the U.S. or Canada M-F 8am to 5pm PST. I've always longed (and on multiple occasions even searched) for a website featuring somewhat of an archive, documenting true-to-color swatches of the many Dharma Trading Co. Dharma Fiber Reactive Dyes ( View Full Size) 4.82 ( 3597 review s ) USE FOR: Tie-Dye, Tub or washing machine Dyeing (solid color), Low Immersion Dyeing, Batik, Dye Painting, Silk Painting, Screen & Block Printing or Stenciling, even Tie-dyeing Silk in a Microwave Everything you need for tie-dyeing about 20 T-shirts (except the shirts). The dye can be thickened with DyeHouse Thickener and used like a fabric paint or the thickener can be left out for water color and wash effects and for the French Serti technique of painting on silk. Too much dye - Double check your formula. Use the following chart: 1 tsp. This allows the dye to attach itself to the fabric for a much longer time before the dye bath turns acidic and the dye "strikes". * Is the salt plain or iodized? Limited Edition Fiber Reactive Springtones For 2020, Limited Edition Fiber Reactive Falltones For 2019. For lighter colors, use less, for even darker than our color chart, use more. But otherwise my advice would be to not use this color. The Sapphire is better than most colors and truly reminds me of sapphires. It doesnt look like the color swatch on the website. many of each type, style or size. If you have any questions at all please contact us toll free at 800-542-5227 (no buttons, For a dye for protein fibers that is washfast even in hot water, see our new Dharma Lanaset Dyes. I really love these dyes. Dharma Dye Chart - Fiber Reactive Poster Here you will see many Dharma Dye Chart analysis charts. If the dyes are combined with soda ash, they weaken FAST - they may last for an hour or so - again each color is different. Even color is called Level. If you dye two different fiber types in the same dye bath, one may grab a color in the mix much faster than the other, hogging it, so the other fiber can come out a different color entirely. Colors marked (T) contain #25 Turquoise these colors: 1. 5 out of 5 stars (160) with vinegar on silk, came out black in our tests and a less deep shade of black on wool. Will still be available for special order in quantities of 5 lbs and up. - Sorry, this item is temporarily sold out. Salt reduces solubility, so if you do happen to have tiny particles of undissolved dye, they stand a better chance of going into solution without salt. You will experience a lot of different results, color shifts, separation of color with mixes, etc. Dharma's True Black is unbeatable. Copyright 2022 Dharma Trading Co. All Rights Reserved. When you add the vinegar, push the material aside and add parts of it to different sides of the pot, or even pull the fabric out while adding the acid. Allow it to cool cap it (I use glass ball jars that I sterilize) and shake prior to opening in a utility sink with gloves on. I didn't once and when I pried the sealed top open there was a color explosion in my sink over my gloves onto my apron and a mask was one of those things I really needed and was glad I was wearing. for each lb. Red 16% . Copyright 2022 Dharma Trading Co. All Rights Reserved. Any of the "pure" yellow, blue and red or fuchsia type colors can be used as primaries, but the chart below lists the most popular. As with the methods above, it is important to prepare the fiber by washing to remove the sizing and anything else that might hinder the dye from penetrating. The dye is completely absorbed and there is little to no bleed at all. These are very concentrated dyes, and that is one thing that makes them very economical. hopefully we can get this back at a later date. Sodium Alginate F is a low viscosity, high solids alginate used for silks and synthetics when fine line definition is desired. It is normal for some acid dye colors, especially Acid Red 266, to fall out of solution when the water cools, or even to thicken and gel when very concentrated. Add Thickener (sodium alginate) gradually to suit your use, from a tsp up to 4 tsp. When screen printing with dye thickened with sodium alginate, the print base should be as thin as the image will allow. Direct Application: Painting, Printing and Stamping with Dye (instead of paint), General and important Information about Fiber Reactive Dyes. Often when you have a mix of 2 or more colors, the pure colors in the mix are of a different molecular weight, size or composition, and some colors "strike" faster than others, even if the mix is of the same type of acid dyes. A great precautionary practice. Heating will restore them. I use an electric kettle to get the water boiling hot to mix with the dye. Dyeing can be just like spray painting! $54.66 $ 54 . Sodium Alginate SH is a high viscosity, low solids type of alginate thickener used primarily for cotton and other cellulose fibers. Start with a cup of very hot (at least 180 degrees Fahrenheit) water and add about 1 tablespoon of that water to the powder. Mixes of Acid Dyes with widely different chemistry or molecular weight, like mixing a Leveling Acid Dye with a Pre-metallized Acid Dye - the smaller molecules travel through the material faster than the big ones, which can cause colors to "separate" or "break". Or add 1 Tbs. It mixed to a coppery color. * Wrong color entirely? I don't expect an exact representation but I'd like to be able to tell if a color is warm or purple based or ashy etc). An exception is our new #275 - Hot Black. Dharma Acid Dyes Instructions Dharma Trading Co. See chart on my Procion H Dyes page for more details.] A large chart included under the Instructions link gives you more information and ratings for all the colors so you can make intelligent choices. Low immersion techniques where steaming or microwaving is used to set the dye - in these situations where you don't have much water, the dye is trapped in the creases and folds. All of the colors can be mixed for an endless pallet! I've had so much fun. The garment or fabric possibly not totally clean before dyeing. This strong bond between the dye and the fiber imparts excellent wash- and light-fastness.