I dye acrylic yarn with semi permanent hair dye. It works soooo well.

@ThePhantazmya

6 жыл бұрын

That sounds interesting. I wonder if something like Manic Panic would work to get bright colors.

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

That is really intersting! Is it wash fast? I've never dyed my hair before, but I've been curious about using hair dyes on yarn. I do have some RIT synthetic dye I'm going to play with soon (probably tomorrow) to try a better acyrlic dyeing method than this one. :)

@aiyana1975

6 жыл бұрын

Yvette Jones great idea. Does it stay in the yarn after washing? Cause I have some pink dye I'm not going to use

@evieshonte4301

6 жыл бұрын

I use Adore. They have fun colors and it stays after a wash. I’ve used manic panic but it has a different base than adore and it comes right out in a wash.

@whatinspiresu

6 жыл бұрын

Do you think colors will break dipping with rit dyemore? I can't wait to see you play with that stuff... You are definitely my favorite person on youtube. You're so fun and adorable! and I love all of your videos. I scored a huge lot of machine knitting yarn on monster spools. But so many pastel colors I will never use, and they're all either 100% acrylic or 70% acrylic 30% wool. I tried a bunch of your experiments today seeing what will work with the blend. SO much fun. Brown didnt break on the blend. Black took forever to break from purple to green on wool (i used too much dye?)... but I got nice gradients and yarn I will actually use! I even tried tea staining the blend and it worked. When you tea stain fabric, you can scorch it while it's damp with an iron, burn the tea and get great antique-like variations. I didn't want to ruin the yarn, so I didnt get that cool effect, but at least its not pastel yellow anymore. :D Thanks so much for sharing your brilliance with us! Cant wait for more.

Haven't used acrylic paint on yarn, but I use it to "screen print" on fabric all the time! After the paint dries you need to heat set it with an iron or in the dryer before washing it. The washing then takes away the stiffness without diluting the color too much. I have t-shirts I made with this technique 5 years ago that we wash and wear all the time and they still look great. Granted the t-shirts are cotton so they absorb better and I don't have to worry about accidently melting them when heat-setting. My grandma dyed a pillow she knit out of acrylic yarn using RIT dye and it worked alright but the color was not very vibrant.

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

That is interesting. I doubt I'll try to use acrylic paint on yarn again (I was so skeptical though this whole video, lol) but this is good to know for other types of projects.

I have used fabric fixative medium with acrylic paint to paint on fabric. I found it soaked the fabric marginally, but stayed on top of the fabric. The fixative softens the paint to make the fabric more pliable but has to be heat set to make it permanent...which it does...for washing etc. Acrylic paint is marketed as water clean up which is probably why so much came out when washing. Really loving your videos.

I have done this. It came out nice and soft and looked great

Thanks for this video because I was gonna dye my acrylic yarn with acrylic paint, and I'll just stick with rye dye more. I'm glad to learn this.

@ChemKnitsTutorials

2 жыл бұрын

100% go for rit dye!

I had seen another podcaster do this experiment so I knew the results you were going to get, but, I understand why you tried it, there were many requests for it! But, I haven't tried the new dye for synthetics yet so I really would love to see the results of that experiment because I know that alot of us have a certain amount of acrylic yarns in our stash and changing some of the colors might be just what we need to get that stash down! I use acrylic yarns mostly for baby blankets and toys and kids wear because it is able to be washed and dried in the machines! Thanks again for sharing!

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

We had a big power outage last night, so I thought my plans to use RIT dyes today were going to be foiled. Thankfully, the power JUST came back on so I should be able to play. :)

I would also try a better known brand of acrylic paint, including artist's acrylics. Along with the fabric fixative.

When I was in high school, I used to paint cotton jersey fabrics with dilute craft acrylic washes because I didn’t want to deal with dye. It worked very well, stayed soft, and didn’t wash out. My plan for acrylic yarn “dyeing” will be to mix up a wash of liquitex fabric medium, liquitex basics heavy-body acrylic paint, and water, because the fabric medium is supposed to help retain softness.

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the tip! I might be trying this again sometime and try adding some heat to the equation, too.

@stellworkstudio4391

6 жыл бұрын

ChemKnits Tutorials I just remembered something!! Ok, so acrylic paint is a flexible polymer, and it works by chemical bonds strengthening OVER TIME. It takes at least two weeks of dry time for acrylic paint to cure to permanence! Maybe it didn’t stay because you washed it right away! I think a heated dry in a lingerie bag in the dryer wouldn’t be a bad idea, either.

The paint stays in the yarn better if its heat set. Also to dye acrylic yarn. i use idye poly dye you can pick it up at your local Hobby Lobbys are Michaels stores. I have also use rit liquid dye to dye acrylic yarn with both the rit an idye ploy put it on the stove top till it comes to a boil. Always stirring after a good boil starts remove from heat. Let cool, rinse it, dry it, use it. Thanks for the tutorial chemknits...

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

I have some Rit dye that is supposed to work on synthetic yarns I plan to try out soon. I get a LOT of questions about how to dye acrylic yarns. I was super skeptical about the paint (for good reason) so I want to do something that WILL work on 100% acyrlic to show that as a counter example. :)

@VickyShawcooksalot

6 жыл бұрын

I just got some idye. Time to cook some yarn.

Im glad u tried this before i did. I also saw a video that says u can use rit dye rite .... Its a new line made by rit. Its another thing I was going to try.

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

I have some of the rit synthetic dye that I will try soon!

@stellworkstudio4391

6 жыл бұрын

I watched a video recently where they tried the Rit synthetic dye on acrylic yarn according to package directions. The simmering water for 30 minutes ruined the acrylic. The temperature is too high.

@katehowland1806

6 жыл бұрын

I just tried RIT Synthetic Dyemore on some 100% acrylic yarn and because of the melting issue I had heard about I decided to double boil the fiber I had soaked in water + drops of dye. It worked out REALLY well, actually. :) I only heated the yarn to around 170 degrees. As I type this I am knitting up two swatch samples - one to test UV colorfastness (sunlight), and the other to throw in the washing machine to see if I lose any color.

I don't soak the yarn, and only use a little bit of acrylic paint and more water, it will be more like aquarel paint, but you can only get pastel color.

@ChemKnitsTutorials

5 жыл бұрын

Others have suggested that I try heating it in the future. It certainly wasn't wash fast, though, which was a bummer. I have plans to explore some other acrylic dyeing techniques in the future.

Fabric paint would not improve the color, it only adds softening and a bit of fixative. Paint adheres to the surface of the yarn/fabric, it does not combine with the fibers as a dye does. That is why is is not permanent like dye. Acrylic fibers can be dyed successfully with DyeMore from Rit.

@ChemKnitsTutorials

3 жыл бұрын

I highly recommend using a dye like Rit DyeMore Synthetic. I truly didn't think this would work for the reasons you mentioned, but I had people share the video with me asking about it so I thought it was worth trying out myself.

Have u tried using fabric paints yet instead? Could u heat set them too?

I’m going to try Patons Decor that has some wool...soaking in vinegar, so maybe that will help..yes..no..we’ll see...

@ChemKnitsTutorials

5 жыл бұрын

Good luck! I like using Rit Dye More Synthetic for acrylic yarn. kzread.info/dash/bejne/aZ2Vj9qpZM-_qJc.html

I think it's PLAID that makes bottles of textile stuff that can be added to acrylic paint to use on fabric.

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

Oh interesting. I did this test because someone said that you could use cheap acrylic paint to dye yarn. I have plans to do proper acrylic dyeing in the future. :)

New subbie that's been binging your videos. I have to use acrylic yarn in my hair because wool and natural fibers will lock into my natural hair if washed. I want to attach ombre yarn but I cannot find ombre acrylic hanks. Did you find a way to dye acrylic yet?

@ChemKnitsTutorials

5 жыл бұрын

I would try using Rit DyeMore Synthetic. This is the one thing that I've tried that worked GREAT on acrylic yarn. I've only tried kettle dyeing with the dye so far (kzread.info/dash/bejne/anyesZaEiMu2c7A.html) but I think a hand painted technique could help you get an awesome ombre. If you made multiple dilutions of the dye, hand painted them onto the yarn and then steamed it. I've done this with other Rit dyes, just not the synthetics. (Dip dyeing might work, I just haven't tried it yet. I'll try to take a closer look at that soon. I've been meaning to do it for a long time.)

@ChemKnitsTutorials

5 жыл бұрын

And welcome to the ChemKnits community!

You didn't rinse it after letting it sit in the paint, that is why it is crunchy.

@lunaticladybc

6 жыл бұрын

Tammi Bolender how about with cotton yarn? I have bought a gradient 100% cotton yarn coral with a "well hidden" brownish that i hate and i was wondering if I could bleech it and dye it with acrylics. Has anyone tried this one?!?!?! Please let me know ... i need help

you can wash yarn in the washing machine??? awesome video! very helpful :) thank you

@ChemKnitsTutorials

3 жыл бұрын

I don't normally recommend washing yarn in the washing machine since it could get super tangled. But in this case I thought it was worth a try to see how much of the paint remained. (I was clearly skeptical about this project from the beginning!)

@GingerLolaMiniatures

3 жыл бұрын

@@ChemKnitsTutorials ok thank you, i was asking because i find most of my yarn from the thrift store ... thank you

Can you try to dye acrylic with Rit DyeMore? It's designed specifically for acrylic and other man-made materials.

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

I have some of the Rit Synthetic dye that I plan to play around with soon. I had a bunch of people asking whether this technique worked so I figured I would give it a try. :)

The instruction was to use 'deeper' color paint, not more paint and I think this would have been more successful because you will lose some color in the drying and/or the wash. Anyone who has gotten paint on their clothing knows how difficult it is to remove. Also your yarn will be less crunchy because it will require less paint.

@ChemKnitsTutorials

5 ай бұрын

Acrylic is an incredibly hard fiber to dye. Most colored acrylic items have the pigment in there before the acrylic is extruded (I'm assuming it is extruded but I'm actually not sure.) versus dyeing it like other fibers. I recommend using Rit DyeMore synthetic to dye acrylic yarn - this does work. I don't recommend this paint technique.

TFW you just chuck a bunch of paint and water in a basin with a little bit of yarn and hope for the best. It worked but man was there a lot of rinsing.

@ChemKnitsTutorials

5 жыл бұрын

I don't even feel that it worked since washing took most of the paint out. ;)

To pre soak the yarn do i just put my yarn in room temperature water or something else?

@ChemKnitsTutorials

4 жыл бұрын

Yes, I presoak the yarn by letting it soak at room temperature for 30 minutes usually. Sometimes I do longer (I don't remember exactly how long I tried in this video.)

I wonder if mixing the paint with a bit of fabric softener and or fabric medium would change the outcome.

@ChemKnitsTutorials

2 жыл бұрын

I think that ultimately paint isn't a dye and is not a permanent solution for dyeing acrylic fibers.

Painting on fabric requires heat setting after the paint is dry, I am wondering about heat setting this in the microwave.

@angela-vi2hh

3 жыл бұрын

Years ago [my daughter is 26 now and she was in 6th grade at the time ] we dyed acrylic yarn this way and microwaved the yarn before drying ....it was pretty colour fast( tho did lighten some)but i also used my artist grade acrylic paint . lol it was one of those last minute "mom I need tomorrow ....."projects our kids spring on us ! I really miss those days !

Hello I have watched a few of your acrylic yarn dying videos, and I was just wondering if you could give me some advice!? I recently made a 100% acrylic cream colored jumper, only to realise that one of the yarns was from a different dye lot, and at first it seemed a subtle difference until I seemed up the jumper, and now it is really noticeable. A few peple have suggested dying the whole jumper, and I am considering it, but am worried because the thought of applying heat to acrylic scares me a little...I have seen people dye whole jumpers but never in acrylic yarns...do you think this would be a good option for me, if so are there any specific tips/tricks/advice that would improve the end result!? Thank you, R x

@ChemKnitsTutorials

2 жыл бұрын

I have some other acrylic dyeing videos (I think there is a playlist on dyeing synthetic fibers) and dyeing acrylic yarn does kill the fibers a bit, so I would be worried about trying to dye the jumper. You need boiling (or near boiling) water to dye with Rit dye more synthetic. That being said... it does work so I recommend trying it on some remnant yarn first to see how it turns out.

Im not sure pre soaking was a requirement as it isnt there to help dye get in to a natural fiber

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

I presoak yarn for most of my dyeing because it helps you apply the dye to the yarn faster if the fibers are already wet. It can also help you get a more even coverage, but it isn't necessary.

Rit makes a synthetic dye that works on acrylic. I'm curious how that would work out!

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

I'm going to play with that tomorrow! I have a series of experiments to do with the Rit dye for natural fibers + the ones for synthetics. :)

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

(The videos won't come out until November, probably, but I'm still excited to start playing with them.)

@caitlinreum100

6 жыл бұрын

I'm excited to see those videos!

@klutzygurl411

6 жыл бұрын

ChemKnits Tutorials I did a variegated yarn with rit dyemore and it was awesome!! Have fun!!

I thought putting vinegar in with the dye was part of it whilst using acrylic? Have seen a few different videos, am hoping to find a cheap way to dye acrylic yarn well! Thanks for the vids :)

@ChemKnitsTutorials

3 жыл бұрын

I was following a tutorial, I don't think that vinegar would make any difference here. THe paint is just coating the fibers a bit, it isn't dyeing them. To dye acrylics, look for dyes marketed for synthetics: like Rit DyeMore Synthetic or Jacquard iDye Poly

I wonder if it would be softer if you used fabric medium instead of water?

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

I didn't even know that product existed! Ultimately, I think that people could have better results with fabric paint and acyrlic paint is just the wrong thing to use to dye yarn. Fabric medium would probably help if you are trying to use a fabric paint to dye yarn. Maybe I'll have to try this out sometime!

@AJBcreative

6 жыл бұрын

Yep its very useful for people who don't want to have 2 types of paint around but I think it makes more sense to just go buy acrylic yarn in the color you want and only dye plant and animal fibers....unless rit dye works on acrylic but I don't think it does.

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

There is a Rit dye for synthetic yarns that I wanted to test out. I plan to mostly stick with natural fibers, but I get a lot of questions from people about how to over dye some acrylic they have in their stash so I want to test some things out. :)

@janacagle2141

6 жыл бұрын

would love to see your opinions on that .

I dye my yarn with paints as well! Through trial and error, the cheapest yarn doesn't seem to take as well because it's more of the plastic/whatever material. Red Heart works best. I dip mine into the water mixture, squeezing to make sure it saturates the entire hank inside and out. Sometimes I dry it with a hand towel by carefully pressing, but mostly I unwind it and let it dry outside on top of a towel after rinsing. I never drip dry because it turns out too heavy at the bottom unless you're around to rotate it every few minutes. Also, you have to make sure there isn't too much paint in the water. All the colors are muted and pastel like. Never vibrant, so you don't need a whole lot of paint. Just enough to get the water slightly "milky" looking. I had initially thought it would take better, but it just doesn't. If there is too much paint to water, the yarn is very rough and flaky. If it's not mixed well enough, there are paint blobs in the water that sticks to the yarn. Mine have been washed and all that with no color loss. :)

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

Interesting! Did you heat your yarn? I've wondered if that would help. The colors did not really stay well here at all, which was a bit of a bummer.

Did you end up donating this to Goodwill? I swear this exact yarn was in a grab bag I purchased 2 years ago. 😂

@ChemKnitsTutorials

4 ай бұрын

No, I didn't. I think I let my kids play with it (i.e. tangle it up since they were very young at the time.)

darn

@ChemKnitsTutorials

5 жыл бұрын

I was pretty skeptical of this one, but it looked like it worked pretty well in that video you shared with me. It does soak into the yarn, but I don't think it would be very fun to knit with. :(

Acrylic, and therefore acrylic paint, is pretty much like liquid plastic. So when it dries, it leaves behind plastic residue. Any kind of yarn you use that paint on would end up stiff as well.

@hibiscusfreak

6 жыл бұрын

I was thinking...(lol) maybe you could massage some lanolin or mineral oil into it. Then wash that out with Dawn. And yeah, there'd be nothing left after that.

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

I was really skeptical of this technique from the outset. I was getting a TON of questions about it so figured I'd give it a shot. Apparently I should have heated it. However, I highly doubt I'll try this again. :)

@hibiscusfreak

6 жыл бұрын

Did you ever try dying yarn with henna and/or indigo? I use them on my hair and they work great. I bet they'd dye wool very well. I'm going to try that one day but not until I finish crocheting a baby blanket for my niece. I think the baby will be in 4th grade by the time I'm done with it at the rate I'm going...lol.

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

I haven't tried henna, but I've been working on an indigo project this week. My first vat didn't work correctly, but I'm hoping to rejuvinate it. :)

@hibiscusfreak

6 жыл бұрын

I'll be looking forward to the video! When I use it on my hair (henna + indigo = dark brown on hair) I also use some vinegar. Sometimes I throw black coffee into the mix too.

@chemknits have you considered trying to dye yarn with ink? Dr. Ph. Martin's india ink might be fun?

@ChemKnitsTutorials

3 жыл бұрын

I tried alcohol inks once kzread.info/dash/bejne/pIGrlZOqdK2aaM4.html I wasn't a huge fan but it was fun to try once.

@michelle7430

3 жыл бұрын

@@ChemKnitsTutorials no not alcohol ink. This is a permanent waterbased in- Dr phils.

@michelle7430

3 жыл бұрын

think of india ink but coloured. I was wanting to see what black india ink does on wool and if it gets a nice deep black that stays put

@cazkiwinz4300

6 ай бұрын

Or Inktense pencils/blocks

I guess I simply ask... Why would someone paint yarn? Why not go spend $3 on a already colored skein of cheap acrylic yarn? It's available everywhere including my hardware store. It gives me goosebumps watching you touch the crunchy yarn almost like the fingernails on chalkboard chills. Thanks for being so open to try...I would not have entertained the possibility at all.

@ChemKnitsTutorials

4 жыл бұрын

Acrylic yarn is a lot harder to dye than natural fibers, so I can understand people wanting to try. If you have a lot of yarn in a color that you don't like then you might want to try to change that color. That being said, I would go for a dye meant for synthetic fibers over paint for sure. (I much prefer dyeing natural fibers!)

@AllieBee00

3 жыл бұрын

I watched a video and the lady explained sometimes you are gifted white yarn you just wouldn't use but want to dye

What about using alcohol inks instead?

@ChemKnitsTutorials

3 жыл бұрын

I haven't tried alcohol inks on acrylic, but I have tried them on wool and cotton and it worked.

Can you use food coloring for acrylic yarn?

@ChemKnitsTutorials

3 жыл бұрын

No - unfortunately food coloring and acid dyes won't work on acrylic and other synthetics. You need a dye like Rit DyeMore Synthetic to dye acrylic.

@tehanu3

3 жыл бұрын

@@ChemKnitsTutorials ok. Thank you. I could use food coloring on cotton though, right? And for the acrylic yarn do I need citric acid with the water?

@ChemKnitsTutorials

3 жыл бұрын

@@tehanu3 Unfortunately, food coloring won't work on cotton either. (There IS one type of cotton that you can use with food coloring, it is called Dye-Lishus but this isn't something that is commonly found.) FOr cotton yarn you want tie dye, fiber reactive dyes. Rit and Jacquard iDye also work great on cotton. For acrylic yarn you don't need any citric acid with the Rit DyeMore SYnthetic.

@tehanu3

3 жыл бұрын

@@ChemKnitsTutorials good lord! What kind of yarn works with food coloring?

@gabriellafox2981

Жыл бұрын

I had fairly good results dyeing some 100% wool fabric with food colouring

What about oven heat and then wash it out then ,

@ChemKnitsTutorials

3 жыл бұрын

I don't have any plans to try this again, but the tutorial I was following didn't use any heat.

@katt7938

3 жыл бұрын

ChemKnits Tutorials I’m only starting my dying journey and I have found all your tutorials and try outs very beneficial to my learning ,thanks

On another video it comes out to crunchy put to much paint...

@ChemKnitsTutorials

4 жыл бұрын

That might be it in part. THe most pastel one isn't super crunchy. Nevertheless, I recommend going for acrylic dyes themselves over this.

Ewwww ill definitely not be trying this.

the acrylic painted yarn needs to be washed, just like all the other yarns you've dyed.

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

Hmmm... I waited until after the paint dried because I thought that if I washed it sooner all of the paint would just wash straight out. (Sort of like rinsing out a paint brush.)

@mariakristinahawl1640

6 жыл бұрын

ChemKnits Tutorials I realize that. seems that the paint washes off either way. You're right, tho. the paint "stained" the acrylic. that's too bad. I really wish there was a bright color we can dye the acrylics!! your tutorials are so much fun!!

@ChemKnitsTutorials

6 жыл бұрын

Thank you! I do have two videos coming up that feature acrylic dyeing. I think they'll be out in December. :)

oh please don't try it again, zero interest, bt you still managed to make it fascinating!