How long do Procion dyes last?

[zed]

I couldn't decide whether I want to dye a largish amount of one or two fibres a bunch of colours, or smaller amounts of lots of different fibres the same colour when I start dyeing my cellulose fibres, so I thought I'd just make up a batch of red for today and see how much that dyes.

I followed Lyn's method/recipe: rosiepink.typepad.co.uk/rosiepink/tutorial-hand-dyeing-scri.html
and made 2 litres.
It didn't cover everything and there was a bit of colour running when I rinsed.

Is the dye that's left any use, or has it probably been mostly exhausted now? I don't want to waste it, but won't bother trying to get more out of it if it'll probably just give me pink

I'm not too bothered about wasting this, but for in the future, it'd be good to know whether it'll still work the next day, so I can soak more fabric or fibres if I have left overs.

[MTRuth]

Zed - the dyes will work for a while if they haven't been mixed with the soda ash. But the exhausted part won't do you any good. I have never used fiber reactive (Procion) dyes that haven't run when rinsed. It isn't like the acid dyes where it exhausts completely and then doesn't run.

[penguin]

Procion dying is something I really want to try, but it seems a lot more effort than acid dying, so haven't got round to it yet. Definitely on the long list of things to try!

[MTRuth]

Procion dyes aren't any more effort than acid dyeing, just different way to do it.

[Teri Berry]

I agree with Ruth, you only get 2-3 hours of dyeing time once procion has come into contact with soda ash (or any alkali). There's no value in trying to use the left over dye (I have tried and only got the palest of results even when I added fresh soda ash). So long as you don't add soda ash I find I can keep my dyes in 10% solutions for several months and they still work (I have read blogs that disagree though so maybe there are variations in supplier?)

[Pandagirl]

That's the thing I don't like about procion dyes not being able to mix and save and also the run off. But then I don't usually have to dye much cotton unless it's cheesecloth. I prefer acid dyes and steaming or the Jaquard green silk dyes which are liquid and can also be used on wool with steaming.

[MTRuth]

When I have stored Procion dyes, they have still worked but the color was off from the original.

[Shepherdess]

I do low water immersion dying with the fiber reactive dyes. I find it to be a lot less fuss. I will be showing you some scrunch dyeing on tomorrows blog post. I did my silk hankies with a variation of this method. feltingandfiberstudio.com/2015/02/14/dyeing-some-silk-hankies/ the dye reacts with the water as well as the fiber. I give it one rinse in hot soapy water and then one in cool clear and that is enough.

[zed]

Thanks, everyone

Penguin, the mixing is a bit more faffing around with the Procion, but then you don't have the hassle of steaming.

That's similar to how I did my fibres, Ann, though I think I need some smaller tubs and jars to the ones I used.
I always forget about silk being able to dye with either. I was wondering what I could use if I end up with some spare dye, I have loads of different types of silk, so I'll have to remember that.