EXTENDED CUT: Mixing Acid Dye Stock Solutions - My First Experience with Jacquard Acid Dyes

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Let's see how the stock solutions are doing 8 months later: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZXXpYtpo819qq8

[@singingwolfdyeworks2391]

How exciting!! For the hard to dissolve dyes, I use really hot water, like almost boiling to make more of "slurry" (if that's the word) as opposed to a paste and then keep adding warm water & mixing til it's dissolved. I find that shaking the bottle (with paper towel over the lid in case it leaks) dissolves more effectively than stirring. The warm water will build some pressure and can cause it to spray when you open the jar so open slowly (with paper towels, lol). Hope this helps.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

This does help a lot! After the video I started going more for a slurry vs the paste. You can see that pasting it made it harder to dissolve in my second example!

[@singingwolfdyeworks2391]

That's how I learned too and it's all fun. I've seen other dyers use blender sticks. It's messy but it does seem to dissolve all the dye. I think mess is just an inherent part of the process and as you've shown, it makes for some beautiful paper towels. Ha!

[@gagaloo83]

I mark my jars with the colour, or tape the label to the jar. Also if making a small amount, a small milk frother mixes it nicely.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Oh no! We got rid of a milk frother last year because we weren't using it anymore! Maybe I should check the second hand store for one or a magic bullet or something. Thanks for the suggestion. :)

[@MarieH528]

We also see that "Practice makes Perfect" It is so Awesome!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Or practice makes less mistakes? ;)

[@GrapeApe2018]

I bought a small milk frother on eBay to mix my wood stains and I don't know how I managed without it before. Best part about it, is they were only $2.00 and free shipping! Took awhile for them to get here but so worth the wait. Lumps and clumps don't stand a chance.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Someone else mentioned a milk frother at some point and I forgot! This is a really good idea.... :0)

[@marieking-stevason1775]

Cool video!! I won't be using acid dyes because I'm severely asthmatic (I can't even be around baby powder), but I'm really excited to see what you do with these dyes!! Happy Dying from Canada 🇨🇦 ❤️Marie

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thanks, Marie! The good thing is that all of the techniques I do with these dyes translate well to food coloring. We'll just get to explore some fun hues (grey! Black!) that are harder to acheive with food coloring. :)

[@marieking-stevason1775]

ChemKnits Tutorials Which will be awesome to see!!! I can't wait 😊 Have an amazing day!!

[@ooohlaa13]

what's a magnetic stirrer? I missed that ... it could help to put heated water into one of the empty bottles the exact amount and then you wouldn't have to be concerned about measuring as you go, especially in demos its hard to demo and talk and not make some errors. This was very helpful, I like how you cleaned up as you went along. So easy to have a mishap you really have to set things up ahead of time. I am short and my kitchen counters were made for a taller person and I tend to knock things over when I reach across a counter busy with equipment. Thanx this was so helpful.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I'm so glad that it was helpful! I think pre-measuring the hot water would have helped a lot. Although I did use cooler water to bring up the volume so everything would cool off sooner. I think the talking while measuring didn't help my memory much. ;0) A lot of labs have a hot plate with a magnetic stir bar. You ad your powder to liquid, turn on the heat and the stir bar and it stirs and heats all at once. Perfect for getting things to dissolve.

[@KoleSlaw83]

I mix my dye in an unusual way. I have my waters pre-measured in 100 ml cups and instead of mixing with a spoon or whisk I use a blender bottle, yes the drinking one, for the first half of the mixing. Then pour into my jar and use the rest of the water in the blender bottle to get what dye is left before pouring that into the jar.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Oh man. I think I want to get a dye only magic bullet! A little blender would be PERFECT, and better than the magnetic stir bar of my dreams. ;)

[@cm4107]

Love your videos, Rebecca. You've got me hooked on dyeing yarn. Just got the acid dye for the first sweater for myself! I was wondering if it would be bad to add the citric acid or vinegar to the stock solution. Thank you so much for taking the time to do these videos.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I think that some dyers add acid to their dyestocks. It could potentially help prevent things from growing in them, so that could be a good thing. I personally don't add acid to my stocks because sometimes I like to have no acid when I first add the dyes in various projects.

[@cm4107]

Thank you.

[@mary-ruthflores4107]

When I paste the dye I use a very thin rounded rod instead of a spoon, that way there is no cup, and I use a tiny bit of water and grind it against the side and bottom, adding water a bit at a time till it gets smooth . I know filming is a problem but I take much more time in the paste mixing. The handle of the metal spoon would work well

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I now add more liquid for the original paste than I used to. Some dyes really clump and firm up if I add too little liquid at the beginning which is annoying.

[@mary-ruthflores4107]

@@ChemKnitsTutorials that is so true, I find the reds really clump but using a rod to grind it against the sides and bottom helps. I know one person who uses a glass tile and flat grinder to mill the dye in the paste stage. Like you would do when hand making watercolor paint. That’s too much for me but it is an option. I very much enjoyed your indigo fail videos as I am gathering stuff for a pot! Big help! It’s hard to find “fails” and “fixes”! Thanks for posting it, I learn so much from your “fails”!!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

@@mary-ruthflores4107 I'm so glad they're helpful! For me the yellows tend to glob up really badly. I shudder with some of them since I always forget.

[@ooohlaa13]

I just found a blender this Tuesday at Aldi on sale for $7.20. Its not one I would buy for food because it comes with 2 plastic drink bottles; I bought it to mix chalk paint, but it will be perfect for this use. Thanx for the idea to use one to KoleSlaw!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

You're welcome. :)

[@christinev2710]

Don't forget to put a label on the lids so that there is no chance of the lids ending up on the wrong bottles and tainting the solutions

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

That is a great suggestion! I have a lab habit of only opening one stock solution at a time, but I still might mark the lids anyway in case I get sloppy. Thank you!

[@MarieH528]

You also could have taken the lid of the violet jar, weighed it and then put Black jar on Scale and pour water slowly to be more accurate. None the less, we knew you were just planning on being approximates verses total accuracy so it's all good! I am Loving it All!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I could have done that, but the jars might not have weighed exactly the same. ;)

[@MarieH528]

ChemKnits Tutorials Ahh Ha so true-spoken by a true chemist, You thought of all those variables!!

[@michaelsrowland]

How much of the dye solution do you add to the dye bath?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Great question! It depends on the final color that you want. If you want a pastel you will use a lot less dye then if you want something more saturated. Typically I aim for ~1% Depth of Shade (1 g dye / 100 g yarn, which would be 100 mL of one of these stock solutions) But for some colors I might use a lot less or a bit more.

[@ThePhantazmya]

Now you have me looking into buying a magnetic stirrer for my kitchen. ROFL

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Stir bar + hot plate = the best! Not that I plan to actually buy one any time soon, but doing these stock solutions had me think very fondly to the days of letting things just stir while I did something else. :)

[@eddielee68]

Hey why didnt you put vinegar in there? the instructions say to

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I use vinegar when I dye yarn with acid dyes, but I don't like to add vinegar to my dye stocks. I like to be able to control the acid level and concentration depending on the project, so I like having a more neutral stock solution so I can then adjust after.

[@chatelainmakes9830]

You probably know this by now but I think that using a tongue depressor to mix might work better

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

This is a great suggestion! I tend to use what I have on hand, but when these tools break then I'll look into it. :D