Food Grade Acid Dyeing of Protein Fibers

You can use most food grade dyes to dye protein (comes from an animal) fibers. Some sources of dye
are koolaid (and any generic form of koolaid), cake icing dye (Wilton's from Michaels for example),
food colouring, and Easter egg dye. Some people have even used Jello and stuff like Crystal lite. You
should used sugar free kinds, as the sugar can scortch and ruin the fiber during heating. Also you need
to be careful using Jello as the gelatin will make the yarn sticky and more difficult to manage.
The basic process for acid dyeing involves 4 things: a protein fiber, the dye, some acid, and heat.
Koolaid has citric acid in it which is why it is good for dyeing, you don't have to add anything else.
For the other types of food grade dye you will usually need to add some form of acid. You can use
(white) vinegar, lemon juice, citric acid, or anything similar.

1. Usually you mix some acid into some water (like a few tablespoons of vinegar with a litre of
water) and soak the fiber for at least 30 minutes, but you can leave it overnight. This is because
fiber takes dye better, and more evenly when it is wet.

2. Next you add the dye. There are all sorts of methods for doing this depending on what you
want to achieve. Here are some of the most common or easiest ways to do it:

  • ▪ Handpainting means that you mix the dye with water and either squirt it onto the fiber with a squirt bottle or paint it onto the fiber with a paintbrush. This is usually how you get variegated yarns. You have to be careful not to get the fiber too wet or the dye can bleed, possibly causing a lot of unwanted browns.
  • ▪ Kettle dyeing means that you mix the dye in some kind of dish, put the wet yarn in and heat it. This method can create a solid colour or the fiber can take up the dye in different amounts so you will have subtle variegation. You can also put the fiber into the water, then squirt different colours of dye onto different areas of the fiber. Once again you have to be careful or you can end up with muddy browns.
  • ▪ I have also just gotten the fiber wet then sprinkled the koolaid powder directly onto the fiber, then squished it in with our fingers. Have also put drops of food colouring directly onto the fiber (soaked in vinegar water first).

3. Next is heating. Most people use either the microwave or the stove top, but you can also use
the oven, a crockpot, the sun, or anything that can get it hot enough to set the dye. If you are
kettle dyeing you usually just leave the fiber in the dish and heat it. If you are hand painting
you will want to steam it to minimize running of the dye. Most people do this by wrapping the
fiber in plastic wrap. I have only ever done this using the microwave, but I have seen people
talking about doing it in the oven, crockpot, etc. I just worry about the plastic melting. I have
also steamed (real) acid dyes by putting a bamboo steamer over a bit of water and putting the
fiber on top. The dye won't run as much if it isn't directly in the water.

  • ▪ Microwave heating is usually done for by heating for a short time and then letting the fiber rest for a short time (something like microwave for 2 minutes rest for 3 minutes). You do this a number of times until the dye exhausts (this means the water is clear or milky but doesn't appear to have dye in it). I find it very hard to tell if the dye has exhausted when the fiber is wrapped, so I usually microwave for a total of about 10 minutes. Once you are done microwaving, it is best to let the fiber completely cool before unwrapping it. The fiber/platic will be very hot, and the dye tends to set better if you let it cool.
  • ▪ Other heating methods need you to get the fiber/water to a simmer (wool around 170f, silk around 180f). Then you usually leave it at a simmer for 30-60 minutes. You should be able to see the dye exhaust. The water will be clear or milky looking.

4. Once you have heated the fiber and dye it is best to let it cool completely. You can leave it over
night. This helps the dye set properly, and also can help prevent felting.

5. Once the fiber has cooled you need to rinse it carefully. You can do this by running/spraying
water on it in the sink. You should rinse it until the water runs clear. This gets any extra dye
out.

6. Let it dry completely. I usually hang my yarn to drip dry. It is best to air dry it.

Other information:
• If you don't set the dye properly, the dye will run or bleed when wet. It may eventually wash
out completely.
• a lot of food colouring is from red dye #3 (not just the red colours). This dye is very tricky to
get set properly. It is very sensitive to low pH (or acid) so won't set properly in acid. If using
koolaid you may need to add baking soda to raise the pH so it will set. You can add baking
soda until it stops bubbling. Lots of people will start with regular water until the red has set
then slowly add acid so other colours can set. http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/what-a-kool-wayto-
dye/1205497/1-25#3
• If you add too much dye it wan't exhaust. In this case you heat it until you are happy with it
then let it cool. You can usually reuse the dye bath, but the colour you get will be much lighter
unless you add more dye.
• Food grade dyes are more expensive than other acid dyes, but they are not toxic so you don't
have to worry about kids or special dyeing equipment. If you use non-food grade dyes you
would need to have pots/utensils/etc just for dyeing. But you still need to be careful not to
inhale the koolaid powder, etc.
• Baking soda apparently will remove the dye from hands and counters. I haven't tried, but the
Ravelry group raves about it.

• Dyeing is an excellent science project:

  • ◦ you can mix colours while dyeing for colour science. (i.e. if you kettle dye with red and blue it will turn purple where the two run into each other).
  • ◦ It is a chemical reaction involving the fiber, acid, and heat that causes the dye to bond to the fiber.
  • ◦ The pH of the water can affect dyeing
  • ◦ If you get into natural dyeing there is even more chemistry involved. You can use the same dye source and change the colour by adding different mordants (usually metals). But a lot of mordants and dye plants are toxic/poisonous so more care is needed. You can start out with food grade alum (pickling alum) and stuff you find in your yard/neighborhood, but it is best to take precautions and not use pots/utensils for food preparation after nature dyeing.


• Felting (or fulling) is caused by 2 main things

  • ◦ agitation (rubbing, wringing, stirring vigorously, boiling, etc)
  • ◦ shocking (extreme temperature changes quickly) So it is best to put a fiber that felts into water that is similar in temperature to what the fiber is. So put soaked wool into cool water and heat the water slowly, or rinse the fiber in the sink with a similar temperature from the tap.
  • ◦ Heat and wetness make felting easier. The scales in fibers like wool are more open when it is warm/hot, so it is easier for them to mat together. It is also easier to mat/shock the fibers when they are wet. You can felt wool by rubbing when it is dry, but it takes a lot more work.



Online resources:

  • • http://www.ravelry.com/ This is an online community for fiber people. Most people who use it are knitters or crocheters, but anyone can join. There is tons of information and help on pretty much any fiber related topic. You can also see patterns and yarns and people's projects so you can have an idea of how things might look. 
  • ◦ http://www.ravelry.com/groups/what-a-kool-way-to-dye this is the Ravelry group for koolaid (and other food grade) dyeing. There are lots of help there if you join Ravelry.


• Other web pages:

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