Hold the Retayne
I started fabric dyeing in 2008 and read and followed almost everything I read online. One day I wanted to test Retayne in the rinse process.
It was recommended by a fellow fabric dyer on another list. wanted to tie dye some shirts for my brother's girlfriend, Wanda.
The recommendation was to put Retayne in the rinse water and to still do the final wash with Synthrapol. I mixed up a blended red, a muddy blue and a golden yellow. In each color I dyed 2 fat quarters of a white PFD and 2 of natural muslin. In the photo the muslin is on the right. The Retayne did nothing to help hold more color and it had a bad overall effect. When I rinse my fabrics I rinse each piece under running water a bit and then put all of the fabrics, regardless of color, in a rinse bath of very hot water with Dawn detergent. I have never had color migrate from one fabric to another - until I rinsed with Retayne. The darker color migrated to the lighter color. I'm not sure if you can se it in the photo but the yellow Retayne-rinsed piece is very grayed. Very disappointing but that's what testing is for!
It was recommended by a fellow fabric dyer on another list. wanted to tie dye some shirts for my brother's girlfriend, Wanda.
The recommendation was to put Retayne in the rinse water and to still do the final wash with Synthrapol. I mixed up a blended red, a muddy blue and a golden yellow. In each color I dyed 2 fat quarters of a white PFD and 2 of natural muslin. In the photo the muslin is on the right. The Retayne did nothing to help hold more color and it had a bad overall effect. When I rinse my fabrics I rinse each piece under running water a bit and then put all of the fabrics, regardless of color, in a rinse bath of very hot water with Dawn detergent. I have never had color migrate from one fabric to another - until I rinsed with Retayne. The darker color migrated to the lighter color. I'm not sure if you can se it in the photo but the yellow Retayne-rinsed piece is very grayed. Very disappointing but that's what testing is for!
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Of course, all would have been just fine if I had stopped there. For some insane reason I decided to use the Retayne with all of the dyeing that I did today. Let this be the final proof for you. Can you see how dingy these shirts look? The white and yellow picked up the blues and purples from other things I dyed. They are horrible.
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I should have checked Paula Burch's web site before I did my testing yesterday. Here's her post on Retayne.
Paula Burch on Retayne
She basically says it isn't necessary for Fiber Reactive Dyes but there's another important bit of information there as well. I am highly chemically sensitive and had asthma issues after that dye session. According to this post, Retayne contains formaldehyde! Small amounts, but if you are very chemically sensitive it would matter. I do wear a respirator when I mix dyed and when I use fabric paints (because they contain VOCs) but I don't need it when dyeing. I had been wondering what was going on with me that day. It is a normal chemical reactions for me.
I no longer use Retayne for any application.
Paula Burch on Retayne
She basically says it isn't necessary for Fiber Reactive Dyes but there's another important bit of information there as well. I am highly chemically sensitive and had asthma issues after that dye session. According to this post, Retayne contains formaldehyde! Small amounts, but if you are very chemically sensitive it would matter. I do wear a respirator when I mix dyed and when I use fabric paints (because they contain VOCs) but I don't need it when dyeing. I had been wondering what was going on with me that day. It is a normal chemical reactions for me.
I no longer use Retayne for any application.