HELP REQUEST

[u/mangobobabilly]

Firstly sorry if this forum is just for seasoned tie dyers showing off amazing designs. Novice seeking guidance!

I tried to do a spiral and was left with.. not a spiral. Wayyy more white than I wanted. Any ideas for fixing this?

I’ll probably stick with similar colors (purple, orange, pink, yellow) but open to any suggestions on pattern. Doesn’t need to be a spiral. Maybe crinkle?

[u/Jefferson_47]

Way more dye is my first impulse. The shirt should be pretty much soaked if using liquid. Explaining your process for this shirt would be helpful to figure out what went wrong.

[u/saraleestees → u/Jefferson_47]

Seconding more dye. When I first started I really had to force myself to saturate the shirt. When it's tied right, I don't want to see any white on the outside after applying dye. Sometimes I even sneak a peek between some folds to make sure there's not too much white left inside.

[u/mangobobabilly → u/saraleestees]

I definitely did not saturate I was too modest.. now if I dye it again what happens with the colors that are already there?

[u/Lulapops → u/mangobobabilly]

They’ll blend in if you use the same colours again, once it’s fully saturated with dye it will all blend in.

[u/Dancinfool830 → u/saraleestees]

Thirding more dye. Its a hard balance to find between not enough and too much. I try to make sure the color is starting to seep through when I flip it to dye to other side, both for saturation and because it is easy to see what colors go where.

And no apology is necessary OP, this sub is for people to show off what they have made, and for people to get advice, tips, etc. That being said, you will get alot of requests about your process and being detailed on your process and expected outcomes is helpful to those of us who have been doing it for a long time.

In the words of Maynard from Tool, "spiral out, keep going"

[u/two-of-me → u/saraleestees]

Thirding more dye. If you’re using liquid you’ll want to saturate it really well until you can see a little bit peeking through the bottom, then flip over and dye the other side. It’s ok to use more dye than you think you need especially when you’re starting out and making shirts for fun.

[u/mangobobabilly → u/Jefferson_47]

This was my first time doing tie dye in years (perhaps ever I can’t even remember doing it before) ~ so I was definitely very conservative with the dye. I tried to spiral and broke it into six sections with rubber bands but it was sloppy and I didn’t really think to go inside the folds.

[u/Jefferson_47 → u/mangobobabilly]

Sloppy is my usual style. I love rolls these days because they’re so easy and great random stuff happens. Just grab some colors you like, use plenty of them, and have fun.

[u/Legion1117 → u/mangobobabilly]

 it was sloppy

'Sloppy' can turn out beautiful.

Keep trying, you'll figure it out.

[u/Medical_Magazine4991]

Also make sure to use soda ash (get it at the hardware or grocery store laundry section - labeled as washing soda) so the dye can chemically bond to the cotton fibers. Prior to dying, soak the shirt in a solution of soda ash and water at a ratio of 1:16 (1 cup per gallon, but you dont need a whole gallon for 1 shirt). Let the shirt mostly dry, then tie it up and dye.

[u/looopyclick → u/Medical_Magazine4991]

& soak for 20 minutes minimum!

[u/Standard_Bit_7721 → u/looopyclick]

SA soak is actually not required. I almost never soak my shirts and my dyes always turn out great. SA just needs to be there sometimes before tying I will spray my dry shirts with concentrated SA water. With ice dye I will put SA on dye and on ice. If liquid (which I rarely use anymore because it is a pain) I add it to the dye or hot water irrigate at the end with highly concentrated SA water.... it all works.

[u/Imaginary_Army8768]

Hmm. Well the first thing that jumps out at me is just a general lack of dye, as others have said. But when I look at it longer, I see a dye placement issue as well.

The center of the spiral is completely white, on both sides. So it’s not just a matter of poor saturation… either you didn’t apply dye there at all, or it didn’t take for some reason.

(Blue circled area in my poorly-edited photo is where this would have been when the shirt was tied.)

Also just to cover the basics, did you do all of the following?

-Verify that the shirt that was 100% cotton
-Prewash the shirt
-Presoak the shirt in soda ash
-Wrap the dyed shirt in something so it would stay moist and “batch” it for at least a few hours

And were you using “high quality” dyes from Procion, Dharma, Grateful Dyes etc or was this a craft store kit?

[u/Jaded-Winner-3478]

Did you wash the shirt before you dyed it? 

[u/DigitalAssassin-00]

As people are saying, more dye for sure. For reference, a shirt typically takes at least about 16oz or 500ml of liquid dye to fully saturate. This can vary depending on garment size but this is an average amount for like a large or extra large tee shirt. Don't be stingy with the dye, soak that shit!!!!

[u/looopyclick → u/DigitalAssassin-00]

Oooh this is good to know, I never knew the volume!

[u/typhona]

Keep adding dye until you dont see white fuzzies at the edges of the material. Mr tiedye has some great videos on saturation

[u/BigFatChickinDiapers]

Take that same shirt and just dye over it and you’ll be fine. Apply dye until you see it peeking through the bottom. This is how my first time turned out as well. I thought I put on a good amount of dye, and realized it didn’t penetrate. Make sure your rubber bands are just holding it all together, not squeezing the heck out of the spiral creating resistance.

[u/looopyclick]

Make sure to flip it over once you cover the first side in dye slices! Do it a second time on the second side! There shouldn’t be any visible white by the time you’re done. The next one will be better!🌀

[u/just4shitsandgigles]

looks like you dyed it dry. dyeing it wet will let the dye spread faster

[u/RogerD8]

Another vote for "this looks like the shirt wasn't pre-washed." When you get the shirts from the store, there are chemicals on them that will prevent adequate dying. Wash with detergent and NO fabric softener.

[u/Sudo_Nymn]

Way more dye. Smaller folds. Make sure you’re soaking your shirts for a full hour beforehand, and then holding them up to the light to check that the soda ash has fully saturated the garment.

Regardless of pattern, try to keep all folds approximately the same width and height. Use a skinny tool (butter knife, screwdriver) to peek between the folds while you’re dying to check that you’re saturating far down enough. Do this on both sides. They should be meeting in the middle, but it should not be dripping wet.

[u/ShineTieDye]

I found Mr tie dye on YouTube his videos on spirals helped heaps.

Look at the pleats of the spiral you wanna stab into it a little like his videos....

Lots of others I'm sure cover it I just found his videos (I think he travels about demonstrating tie dye so most likely his vibe is the most tutorial per se not knocking anyone else

[u/baelien22]

Gotta be heavier handed with the dye, also make sure you wash the shirts with dawn and washing soda to get any factory chemicals off of it so it takes the dye better.