Soda ash / LWI question

[aeboaz]

Hi everyone - quick question:  I'm doing some LWI's and in some cases it's difficult to know EXACTLY how much water I ended up adding (forgot to keep track, ended up pouring some off, etc.), so I'm wondering if it's better to over-estimate or under-estimate the amount of soda ash needed.  I'm not talking much difference here, maybe just a fraction of a teaspoon one way or another.  I'm leaning towards over-estimating, but just wanted to run it by those of you who know more than I do!   

Thanks a lot!  I love having this resource.

[Jaja]

I use this method: I have a concentrate of washing soda in strenght 250g/liter (if you have soda ash, you can use half amount of soda for the same effect).
Whenever I do LWI, u use slightly concentrated color shades and I pour in 1/5 (one fifth) of soda solution with respect to amount of dye liquid. (In other words for 100% of dye solution I add 20% of washing soda solution resp. 10% of soda ash solution)

[pburch]

The amount of soda ash I usually use in LWI, one teaspoon (5 ml) per cup (250 ml) of total water volume, is more than is needed. If you use half as much soda ash, it will work fine. Even less than that will work! There's no need to worry about fractions of a teaspoon.

Paula

[aeboaz]

Thanks for the help, Paula and Jaja! 

Paula, I've been getting some really cool results using the method on your site.  Now I'm wondering, if I do happen to get too much soda ash, how (if at all) might it affect my end results?

Thanks!

[brixter]

I have another question which seems to fit in this thread. I just rinsed out the first LWI dye that I've tried(I'm sure it's not going to be the last!) and noticed there was hardly any dye wash out of this shirt. I usually soda soak my shirts in a solution of one cup soda per gallon of water then put in the washing machine to spin out..just the last click of the spin cycle. Then I tie and dye. When rinsing these shirts/dyes I have way way more dye wash out. Is this an indication that I need more soda ash in my mix? It seems there's a lot of unreacted dye which wasn't there when I did the LWI. I don't think it's a time issue as the bulk of my shirts are left to batch at least 12 hours and I just couldn't wait any longer to see what the LWI shirt looked like, It only batched for 5 hours or so. Any thoughts?

[ktaltre]

Maybe you didn't use as much dye on the LWI shirt as you thought you did - less washout.
And the concentrated dye mix you use on your tied work might be too strong, therefore more washout.
As for soda ash, I've cut back from 1 cup to about 1/2 cup per gallon of water after a discussion on the dyers list.
The lesser amount of soda ash hasn't made any difference in my finished results.
k. taltre

[tiedyejudy]

I have been following the instructions on Paula's site for a couple of years now, and get consistently good results.  First off, I don't presoak the item in soda ash solution for LWI, I add it afterward.  Second, I keep track of how much dye liquid and additional water I apply to the item I am dyeing, then I add a teaspoon of soda ash to a cup of hot water for each cup of dye and water I use, then add another teaspoon for the cup of water I am dissolving the soda ash in.  After the dyes batch for an hour, I add the soda ash solution and let set for another hour, then rinse/launder.  My results using this method have been better than any other method I have tried.  Having said that, I note that Paula has mentioned the amount of soda ash solution can vary and still give good results.  I trust Paula's knowledge and experience, and would take her word for this as she is the recognized expert here!
Judy