I am NOT an expert on dyes, but I am pretty good with colors. The base of that die seems to be a cool purple. If you add yellow, you will pull it more towards neutral gray and then towards brown. It might be more efficient to get a die that is closer to what you want. Look for a gray with a warm yellow green base. Hope this helps!
3 years ago | 28
(Sorry for the long reply) So we did this thing in school in chemistry class where we'd take a coffee filter and draw a coin sized circle with different colored markers on it. The cut little tabs on the inside of the circle and put the whole thing on top of a water filled glass so that only the tabs would touch the water. The water would slowly spread through the filter taking some color particles with it. Bigger particles only traveled a small distance, small ones almost to the edge. This resulted in a rainbow like color gradient for markers that used mixed dye and a monochrome gradient for non mixed marker (both appeared black before testing). I wonder if you could try something simmilar to see if your dye is mixed with some purple pigment
3 years ago | 8
I had the same problem when trying to dye gray where it kept turning purple. In addition to what others have said, here's another thing to consider: Certain color molecules will adhere faster than others, so in addition to getting the right color dye, you have to ensure you're keeping it in the dye bath long enough for all of the colors the gray is made up of to adhere to the fabric and balance each other out.
3 years ago
| 5
Dyes are always hard. I've had them break into colors you wouldn't think we're in there at all. It's nice if you can go with the flow in a project but dang irritating if you're going for a specific result. Jacquard acid dyes if it's a protein based fiber, maybe? I've used the Greener Shades brand on wool with good results. I've never tried Rit but it's easy to get and relatively affordable.
3 years ago | 6
With pigments, anything that approaches neutral black is going to be a mixture of multiple dark colors approaching black, and usually will have a specific cast of green, blue, or purple if you try to dilute it. You had the right direction out of the greys available, but if you want something that light and warm you'll need a different dye.
3 years ago | 4
It could be easier to get a warm some sort of honey colour dye and dilute it so that the fabric is much lighter, otherwise I'm afraid all greys will give you cool tones. Maybe it's my phone but on the picture the end result you want doesn't look too grey to me, more dusty cream
3 years ago | 4
This is probably going to sound silly, but there is a YouTuber called ChemKnits who dyes yarn with Dharma Acid dyes. She talks about the different fiber contents and also discusses how to forcibly “break” the dye, meaning to pull out the different tones and colors. I believe there are also ways to carefully not break the dye (the amount of acid you add versus your depth of shade, heat amount, maybe?) but her videos could be an amazing resource!
3 years ago | 1
Nicole Frost, Frost Yarns Fiber, sells a dye card of all of the darma colours and all of the jacquard colours. I think for like $5. On wool yarns, but should at least give you an idea of how the colour will look. Many of the grey's I've tried split purples out. But a dye card would give you a starting pt before committing to buying more dye.
3 years ago | 0
Add a yellow dye in to pull it warmer. Grays pull cool-toned, so adding a warm color will pull it towards a neutral/warm gray, and yellow should be the easiest to balance on a light color.
3 years ago | 0
That is tricky! If you have any yellow/orange dye in your stash, add a tiny percentage of this grey to it and see what happens. Your top swatch looks more like taupe/canvas color than gray (on my screen at least) so you need to start with a warm base and add a touch of cool contrasting color until you find the shade you want.
3 years ago | 0
Grays are the hardest color match to how easily the undertone can be shifted from color to color. I toured a dye factory and they say they hate it when grays comes into fashion.
3 years ago | 2
On my screen at least, all the ones you've dyed seem very cool and blue. What you want is more warm and yellow. I think what you need is a base dye of a different color, and you can add in just a tiny touch of the color you have now to neutralize the yellow, instead of trying to force the current color to work for you.
3 years ago | 0
In my experience anything named Platinum is rather cool toned, so a warmer gray dye would be better. That or try to color correct.
3 years ago | 2
Not a dyer, bit if the color is splitting, maybe use primary colors and do it in layers. I do watercolor which are transparent colors and this is often a good way to develop a color. Start with a yellow, your lightest, then do a very light red wash and a slightly heavier blue wash. Maybe that would get you there.
3 years ago | 0
I think i would look for a very very pale tan or taupe, which should have the right undertones.
3 years ago | 0
All blacks are either red- or blue based, that is what has the strongest effect when trying to add color. If that one isn't cutting it, then try a red based black. Best of luck!
3 years ago | 0
Wow, it looks nothing like the platinum swatch color on their website. Your target color looks closer to their sand dune but could be off on my screen. It’s very difficult to get an even light color. I used to dye wool yarn and if I wanted an even color I always did multiple dye baths. With a darker color if you do it all in one go then wherever the fabric hits the dye first will be darker and it will absorb unevenly based on the folds of the fabric with a light color you end up with some parts darker than intended and some parts undyed if you do it all in one go. If you want it that light though then you can’t do very many layers. I would still try to do it in 2-3 layers to get it even though. You’ll be using very small amounts of dye. Just a hint of shading to sneak up on the right color.
3 years ago | 3
Mariah Pattie
Still struggling with dye. The top is the goal. Barely gray, with warm undertones. The bottom three are what I’ve gotten so far. The lightest isn’t terrible, but they all have very strong purple undertones. I guess that means it’s a mixed dye, and trying to go lighter is highlighting the purple in the mix? Not sure if I should try buying another dye.
3 years ago | [YT] | 177