How long will your dyes last in the fridge before the colors start weakening? That doesn't mean the concentrates are unusable. Just means that the dye concentrates are lighter in color. That is important to know if you are using recipes for a specific mixed color. Vicki Welsh has shared some of her knowledge on the subject.
Vicki is a professional dyer and has more experience than I will ever have. When she read my post on dye colors she linked me to a post on her blog from 2011. She experimented to find out how long dye concentrates will last in the fridge. She has allowed me to post the chart of her results on the Fire Blog. Thanks, Vicki!
The colors are the Dharma Trading names. The results are listed below. The dye showed the changes the week AFTER this date.
Fuchsia - 56 days - 8 weeks (means 8 weeks of good results and the dyed showed weakness at 9 weeks)
Cobalt - 63 days - 9 weeks
Sky Blue - 35 days - 5 weeks
Deep Orange - 63 days - 9 weeks
Grape - 63 days - 9 weeks
Turquoise - 35 days - 5 weeks
Jet Black - 35 days - 5 weeks
Deep Yellow - 63 days - 9 weeks
Cerulean - 49 days - 7 weeks
Lemon Yellow - 56 days - 8 weeks
Light Red - 56 days - 8 weeks
Please go here to see her full post and here to check out her blog. You can drool over her dyed fabrics in her Etsy shop.
Again, thank you, Vicki, for sharing your knowledge with our readers!
A TECHNIQUE DRIVEN Blog dedicated to mastery of surface design techniques. First we dye, overdye, paint, stitch, resist, tie, fold, silk screen, stamp, thermofax, batik, bejewel, stretch, shrink, sprinkle, Smooch, fuse, slice, dice, AND then we set it on fire using a variety of heat tools.
I also read a blog post recently about using dye powders that were 30 years old: http://quiltspluscolor.blogspot.com/2014/01/are-those-old-procion-dyes-still-good.html
ReplyDeleteGreat cross post to Kay Sorensen!
ReplyDeleteI confess that I have never done a scientific study, but do know that I can use dyes a lot longer than what they used to recommend when I first started back in 1998. I do have a dedicated fridge in the garage for my dyes, and I label them with the date for reference. In my experience, pinks, yellows and greens lose their strength sooner than the others. If I want to be sure my colors are really vibrant, I mix a fresh batch unless my stored dyes are less than a month old, but the rest can be used for experiments or for projects where I am not concerned about the intensity of the colors. And I have some jars of dye powder that have been on the shelf for awhile, although I don't date them... probably should, but I have not had any bad batches so far!
ReplyDeleteI hope to be able to play with you this month. I am saving up the info for the weekends.
ReplyDeleteI tried the link to Vicki blog but just got her profile.
I will check out her blog for the into. I do have her in my blog feed but I don't always get everything read.
Jo V.
Oops if I read to the end I would have got the right link.
ReplyDeleteMy impatiences strikes again! lol
Jo V.
Oops if I read to the end I would have got the right link.
ReplyDeleteMy impatiences strikes again! lol
Jo V.
Vicki is very generous with sharing her experiences. :)
ReplyDelete