Month: June 2012

This new product landed on our shelves a couple of weeks ago and we are very impressed with the results. Printing on a dark colour is always difficult and opaque inks feel much stiffer on the finished article. Using Jacquard Screen Ink Discharge you can lighten pre-dyed fabrics at the same time as printing.

This product was designed for use with Jacquard Screen Inks but will work with other water-based, translucent Screen Inks such as Speedball or Permaset Aqua. Mix 7% of the Screen Ink Discharge into your ink of choice. 7% is roughly 3/4 teaspoon per 50g of Ink. The Discharge additive is liquid so if you use too large a percentage it will make the inks too runny to print with.

Screen your selected image onto your T-shirt as normal. We used a 43T mesh and a commercially dyed T-shirt. Leave the ink to dry for 30 minutes. 

Steam iron at the highest temperature appropriate for fabric until the image is developed enough – you can see this happening in front of your eyes. A strong odour is given off during steaming, we would recommend using in a well-ventilated area with a mask. 

The T-shirt can now be washed as normal. As you can see the image is much brighter than you could usually achieve when printing a translucent, water-based ink onto a dark T-shirt.

One plain white, cheap cotton T-shirt, made to look very Isabel Marant!

Here was our inspiration:

• Take one plain white T-shirt and soak it in water.

• Scrunch the T-shirt up and tie into a bundle.

• Mix 1 teaspoon of Charcoal Procion MX Dye with 100mls of warm water.

• Mix 1 tablespoon of Soda Ash into 100mls of warm water.

• Mix the two solutions together.

• Pour the mixed solution into a squirty bottle. And squirt the dye over the T-shirt. When the T-shirt is covered put into a plastic bag and leave for at least 2 hours for the dyes to react with the fibres. The longer you can leave it the better.

• Rinse the T-shirt under cold running water. First rinse it whilst it is still tied up and then when the water runs clear undo the knots and rinse again.

• After the water runs clear you can wash the T-shirt in a washing machine. We would recommend using Metapex on a 60′c wash. Metapex will remove the any remaining excess dye. (If you don’t have any Metapex you can use a non-biological washing powder/liquid).

The finished T-shirt!

These black and white leggings were purchased in the sale at New Look but never worn.

• We mixed up three squirty bottles of dye putting 1 teaspoon of Soda Ash, 1 teaspoon of dye and 1 teaspoon of Urea in each along with 200ml of warm water. The dyes we used were Golden Yellow, Scarlet Red and Bright Royal. (We used Urea as this was not an immersion dye and, as Urea is a humectant (sucks moisture in from the air), it would help keep the leggings damp which would assist the fibres to react with the dyes. 

• We then squirted the dyes onto the leggings, making sure that enough was put on so it would soak through to the other side, but not so much so that the leggings would be swimming in dyes and that the colours would all mix together. 

• We covered the leggings with a sheet of plastic (bin bags work well for this) and left for two hours. Then we rinsed the leggings under cold running water until the water ran clear. Then we washed the leggings on a 60’c wash with a teaspoon of Metapex.

The finished leggings!

Here is the last instalment of Tie Dyeing 5 Ways and it is a bit of a classic. We used the method for a Spiral Rainbow Tie Dye but only used two colours Scarlet Red and Bright Royal.

• We took a dry plain white T-shirt and placed a fork where we wanted the centre of the spiral to be. We then started twisting (as if putting spaghetti on the fork).

• When all the edges were in the spiral. We took some elastic bands to secure the twist. 

• Then we made a solution made from 2 litres of water and 2 tablespoons of Soda Ash and left the T-shirt to soak for 15 minutes. 

• We made up two dye solutions. One bottle of Bright Royal and one bottle of Scarlet Red. Each bottle had 200mls of warm water and 1 teaspoon of Procion MX dye. First, we squirted just over half the circle with Bright Royal (turning over the T-shirt to make sure we covered both sides), then we squirted just over half the T-shirt with Scarlet Red. We wanted the colours to overlap and blend.  

• We wrapped the T-shirt in clingfilm and left for 24 hours for the dye to fix well. (You need to leave for at least 2 hours, but the longer the better).

• After 24 hours we remove the T-shirt from the clingfilm and rinsed (whilst still in elastic bands) under cold running water, until the water ran clear. Then we undid the T-shirt and rinsed again until the water ran clear. 

• After the water runs clear you can wash the T-shirt in a washing machine. We would recommend using Metapex on a 60′c wash. Metapex will remove any remaining excess dye. (If you don’t have any Metapex you can use a non-biological washing powder/liquid).

The finished T-shirt! 

I was sent this lovely pic from Hannah Clay – they followed our guide and look what they made!

Next up was a cropped denim waistcoat. We wanted to dip dye it. This method can be used for a huge variety of garments.

• First we gave the complete waistcoat a good soak in a bowl of water.

• Mix 1 teaspoon of Procion MX Turquoise into 100ml of tepid water.

• Dissolve 3 tablespoons of table salt into 1.5 litres of water.

• Dissolve 2 tablespoons of Soda Ash into the Salty water.

• Mix the Dye Solution into the Soda Ash/Salty water solution.

• Squeeze the excess water from the waistcoat and then put on a hanger. You need to allow the bottom 5cm of the waistcoat to sit in the dye solution. The waistcoat will need to stay in the solution for at least two hours. The dye will gradually creep up the waistcoat. When it has reached your desired level it can be removed.

• After two hours the fibres should have reacted with the dyes. Remove the waistcoat from the dye and rinse the excess dye out under cold running water. Be careful at this stage not to allow the excess dye to touch undyed areas as the dye could stain. Rinse until the water runs clear.

• After the water runs clear you can wash the waistcoat in a washing machine. We would recommend using Metapex on a 60’c wash. Metapex will remove the any remaining excess dye. (If you don’t have any Metapex you can use a non-biological washing powder/liquid).

The finished waistcoat!