Dye Testing - Rit Brand - Aldhani Soft goods

[Vanedor[501st]]

I think we are on the right track. TJ is doing some amazing work.

I wonder if it would be worth it to look for other brands, too?

In my local stores, Rit seem to have a quasi-monopoly. But still...

[TeaJay[TX]]

7 minutes ago, Vanedor said:

I think we are on the right track. TJ is doing some amazing work.

I wonder if it would be worth it to look for other brands, too?

In my local stores, Rit seem to have a quasi-monopoly. But still...

Thank you, sir! 

Another brand to consider would be Dylon. They do make an olive green option that is pre-mixed; it is a powder and understanding the water to dye ratio may be more trial and error on this. https://www.amazon.com/Dylon-87034-Permanent-Fabric-1-75-Ounce/dp/B000FNDZN6

That is the reason I went with Rit, it seems to be more widely found without getting into hardcore professional dyes that can get expensive or hard to find in some countries. 

[TeaJay[TX]]

Here are the Spanish Olive results!

Quick note: This piece of fabric is a bit smaller than the others, so that may play a minor factor in absorbency. However, I made sure the dye was thoroughly stirred before the fabric swatch went in.

I also tried to add a little bit of shadow on the lower section of the fabrics using my phone when I took the photo to see if there was any noticeable difference.

 

Comparison of Olive Green, Spanish Olive, and Rain Forest Cover:

• Spanish Olive should technically be a little bit darker since it uses a Charcoal Gray rather than Pearl Gray (seen in the Olive Green).
• Olive Green appears to be darker in my results, which technically shouldn't be the case... is it the smaller fabric swatch? All other variables have been consistent in testing (water amount/temp, salt amount, stirring, rinsing, and drying techniques). I was able to squeeze more dye out than expected with this smaller fabric when rinsing...
•  Rain Forest Cover shows how much more lively the green is compared to the other two that contain grays.

 

Comparison of Olive Green, Spanish Olive, and Olive Green + Tan:

• Spanish Olive and Olive Green still looking similar. The Olive Green + Tan stands out in these three samples.
• Spanish Olive seems like another solid option for our troopers to choose from, in my opinion. Maybe some more testing can be done by Simon and Jason.

 

At this point in time, I would rank my top three as: Olive Green, Spanish Olive, and Rain Forest Cover.

 I will hold off on dying my uniform while others continue with testing. I missed the opportunity to take outdoor photos today.

[neoakaj[TX]]

Well some maybe bad news. I dont think my softparts are going to make it today. DHL still says they are in OH and I am in CO. Maybe tomorrow. Ill work on the dye when they eventually show up

[TeaJay[TX]]

Well, I ended up going ahead and dyeing my unform... I really think the Olive Green is a great dye option, so that is what I went with. I can answer questions a little more thoroughly when it isn't so late, but I wanted to toss up some photos. 

Note that the fabric is still very wet and looks darker than it will be after it finishes hang drying.

 

 

High level notes:

• After weighing my fabric it was a little over 3 lbs. (ImperialBoots - Medium Pants, Large Shirt, Standard Size Hat) - based on the weight, I went with 9 gallons of water and 3/4 cups of each dye that makes up Olive Green. I added 1 cup of salt, and 1 teaspoon of Dawn Dish liquid (Rit claims it helps even out the dye as it is absorbed). -- Also, sorry for this not being in metric for those of you who use it. Honestly, metric is so much easier to understand, but my apologies for not using it.
• I let my uniform soak in 140+ degree F dye-water for 40 minutes, stirring non-stop for the first 10 minutes and about 30-60 seconds every 5 minutes until reaching 40 minutes in total.
• I then squeezed out as much excess dye as I could, cleaned out my dye container and prepped new hot water (9 gallons again) to use the Rit Dye Fixative. I added 1.5 cups of the fixative into the 9 gallons of water and stirred thoroughly. Once mixed, I placed the still damp / rung out clothing back into the container. I stirred slowly and continuously for 20 minutes (yea, it will make your arm feel tired after a while). There will be some bleeding of the dye into the water, Rit's website says this is normal. After 20 minutes, I squeezed out as much excess water as possible and rinsed in cold water until I could see clear water when I would squeeze all parts of each garment. 
• After cold rinse, I hand washed with laundry detergent to continue to remove any excess dye that did not adhere to the fabric. The detergent bath and hand wash did result in more dye coming out into the water, not much but some. After the hand wash, I rinsed everything once more in warm water until the soap suds and dye tent was no longer in the water as I squeezed each garment.
• I left it all to hang dry over night before doing any additional drying...

 

To be continued.

[TeaJay[TX]]

Check out how adjusting lighting in the same room can change the color of the hat. It is still slightly damp, but wearing it, look how green it is with a mix of natural and warm tone lights on at the same time versus up close with just the natural toned lighting. --- Darker in one, lighter in the other, all by just changing lighting in the same room. First one is too green in my opinion for most troopers except for the wet ones, maybe because the hat is still a tad damp.

 

 

---

Apparently selfie camera had contrast filter on, whoops. Here's update directly under a natural tone light. Maybe too much direct light?

Updated:

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

Excellent job on the dye testing!!

[TeaJay[TX]]

Thank you! 

For those of you planning to use my Olive Green dye process, I'd recommend starting with a little less dye rather than 3/4 cup of each dye needed, start at 1/2 cup each and if you do not like how light it is, use additional dye. I'm happy with my outcome but the color is a bit more vibrant than I'd like, so I'm currently washing it with some oxy-clean and detergent in hot water to pull out more of the dye to dull it some.

Here are my results after the 2nd wash, this is the first wash that was in the machine rather than just doing a hand wash. I'm very happy with this color now... again photo vs in-person is always a tad different, but that 2nd wash with the machine did the trick!

It still need ironed to give it a tidier look --

 

 

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

I'd agree, that 2nd wash looks very good for it!

[fb501[TX]]

Just throwing this in there, still wet but this is the machine wash dylon olive green. Looks a bit darker in person but to me looks like a good option

[TeaJay[TX]]

4 hours ago, fb501 said:

Just throwing this in there, still wet but this is the machine wash dylon olive green. Looks a bit darker in person but to me looks like a good option

Looking forward to photos when all is dry! Dylon will be a great option for those who do not want to mess with Rit formulas/recipes. It has more of a lighter color than my green, but I like the look of this color. It still fits many of the on-screen troopers.

---

Also, I haven't forgotten about taking photos of the swatch samples outdoors, it's just been insanely cold -2F/-16C outside yesterday and slowly starting to warm up to 7F/-13.8C today... warmer weather is supposed to be here by Wednesday.

[neoakaj[TX]]

So turns out my softgoods are still pending shipping. What came from IB was one of the FB mystery boxes. Got some great stuff in that though. I suppose I’ll have it sometime next year. 
 

as for the colors. I am loving what I am seeing! All the more exciting to see this come together! 

[TeaJay[TX]]

Hey all, finally getting back to this while dealing with home repairs... here's a photo of the swatches that I dyed in outdoor full cloud coverage around 4:30pm ET, sun setting in the next hour +-ish.

It's important to note that the swatches all only had one rinse after the dyeing process. I ended up going with the Olive Green formula from RIT and then washed my uniform in hot water twice to lighten the color. So what you see here you can lighten up just a tad if you pick any of these colors.

I'm still in strong favor of Olive Green.

 

 

I would take photos of my uniform laying out but it is currently buried in our guest bedroom along with all our legion costumes while the closet that is normally in is undergoing repairs from our pipe burst back in December.

[Vanedor[501st]]

Done my dying this morning, following pretty much your steps. Will share the results once it's dry 🙂

[TeaJay[TX]]

Dulled down the vibrancy of my green by doing a few additional hot washes with oxyclean stain remover. The water was noticeably green each time, so I knew it wasn't in vain and it truly lightened everything up. Pulled these out of the tote for a quick photo on the CRL creation discussion thread. I figured I'd add it here too.

[stormachtig[TX]]

For my "test" I used 2 pods of Dylon Olive Green - the recommended amount for the weight of fabric.

Came out at the dark end of the range.

I'll post some photos when I get home.

[stormachtig[TX]]

 

Took a couple of photos in daylight this morning, but it's a near-impossible task to get the camera to represent the colour correctly.

Same pair of trousers. In real life, looks more like the pic on the right - ie at the darker end of the Olive Green scale.
I weighed the fabric (too light for the scales, so used myself+ fabric  ) , and used two Olive Green Dylon pods as recommended - washing machine method. Dyed once, washed twice, and ironed.
 

[Vanedor[501st]]

Here's my result so far. The green is certainly too vibrant. What do you think, @TeaJay?


One pic is outside, the other is under neon lignt in my basement.

[stormachtig[TX]]

I know you're only asking for @TeaJay 's assessment @Vanedor , but that green looks way too vibrant/lime/neon. Then again, the camera can be tricksy. On the plus side, since you're on the light side, it's easier to dull/darken down with more dye.

I tested my stuff in trooping conditions today. Freakishly cold winds, but bright sunlight.
Before this, I was ok with the shade.. not 100% certain. Now I'm very happy with it. Again - 2 pods of Dylon Olive Green for hat, top, and bottoms, in one washing machine load.

[Wasrovv Slociw]

After some washes with mine and another set of Dylon Olive Green (Powder, not pod). I'm getting close to somewhat matching. What do you guys think honestly? I might give a go on one washing machine pod and trying that out and after that I'll stick to what it is basically.

[stormachtig[TX]]

14 minutes ago, Wasrovv Slociw said:

After some washes with mine and another set of Dylon Olive Green (Powder, not pod). I'm getting close to somewhat matching. What do you guys think honestly? I might give a go on one washing machine pod and trying that out and after that I'll stick to what it is basically.

Do you have a better photo? The colours of the clothes and the background being so similar, and the bright sunlight(?) means that everything is washed out. It just all looks... "light"., Can't really tell the colours apart. Maybe it's just me though.

[Wasrovv Slociw]

37 minutes ago, stormachtig said:

Do you have a better photo? The colours of the clothes and the background being so similar, and the bright sunlight(?) means that everything is washed out. It just all looks... "light"., Can't really tell the colours apart. Maybe it's just me though.

How about now?

[Vanedor[501st]]

3 hours ago, stormachtig said:

I know you're only asking for @TeaJay 's assessment @Vanedor , but that green looks way too vibrant/lime/neon. Then again, the camera can be tricksy. On the plus side, since you're on the light side, it's easier to dull/darken down with more dye.

I tested my stuff in trooping conditions today. Freakishly cold winds, but bright sunlight.
Before this, I was ok with the shade.. not 100% certain. Now I'm very happy with it. Again - 2 pods of Dylon Olive Green for hat, top, and bottoms, in one washing machine load.

Yeah, certainly too lime. I now wonder what's the best way to dull it.

 

Great green, ny the way. I'm jealous 😉

[stormachtig[TX]]

11 hours ago, Wasrovv Slociw said:

How about now?

 

I think that looks good!
I know the camera can make the colours look a bit whacky, but I'd say this is definitely in the range.

 

[stormachtig[TX]]

10 hours ago, Vanedor said:

Yeah, certainly too lime. I now wonder what's the best way to dull it.

 

Great green, ny the way. I'm jealous 😉

 

You're using Rit, right? I'm no expert in dyeing stuff (this is the first time the process hasn't ended in a semi-disaster for me), but I guess there's only two variables - amount and shade. 
TeaJay's swatches are all much deeper/darker greens, and assuming you're using Olive Green like he is, it should just be a case of doing the process again but with more dye? Plus maybe adding a little brown? 
If you have spare fabric, play with that. Always a risk doing everything at once. 

(I do that, but I'm stupidly impatient  )

((also, thank you for the compliment on my green!  ))