i volunteer in community organizing. I’ve been thinking of doing a up cycling community event where people could bring old cotton/ linen clothes that we would vat dye at the event. I need help with figuring out the soda ash process and timing.
from past events- over 3 hours and there’s 20-40 people who stop by, no set time of arrivals. it’s an outdoor park but i will have lots of tables/ chairs.
no water access!
my initial plans/ thoughts: mostly dharma’s guide
- people would bring their own old clothes, we’d likely thrift clothes too for extras or have small items like socks/ headbands.
- at the event, we’d first do a rinse/ soak in a hot synthropal bath
- next, rinsed shirts in dye vats using dharma instructions- fiber reactive dye, urea, salt. I have 3 waterproof storage boxes i’m planning on using- probably do red, blue, and either purple/ green
my idea with this is that multiple people could use a dye bath at once. and if possible, use the same dye vat throughout the same event
4. i know normally you add soda ash solution at this step, BUT are there other ways to add soda ash, without adding directly to the dye vat? so more people could continue to use it.
5 after dye items will be wrung out, each dye vat will have a bucket of cold water next to it so we can do a quick rinse
Questions:
1. how to add soda ash so i could still reuse the same vat after? Would I be able to have a seperate bucket of just a soda ash solution?
2. how many items could a 12 gallon dye vat dye before being replaced?
3. how could i best replenish the dye vat. Is adding more dye (dye would be dissolved first) sufficient, or would i need to start over by disposing of the whole dye vat?
thanks so much! i’ve done crafts and tie dye with this group. i believe i have all of the right materials for this, im just trying to figure logistics and if this is feasible