Do I Really Need Soda Ash?

One of the most common questions that I get is, “Do I really need to use soda ash?”. So I thought I would write this blog post to try to answer that question.

There are a lot of different types of dyes on the market that are used to tie dye. I live in the United States and don’t have any experience with the different types of dye that are sold outside of the US. However inside the US, I know people use Procion MX fiber reactive dye (this is the one that I use), Rit dye, various tie dye kits and even latex paint to tie dye with. These are just a few examples, I know there are a lot of other dyes that are used to tie dye with in the US.

I haven’t ever used Rit dye for tie dyeing. However from what I’ve read, Rit dye doesn’t need soda ash. I believe that Rit has a fixative specifically intended for their dye.

As far as tie dye kits - it depends on the type of dye used in the kit. Most kits will come with instructions and it is always best to read and follow the instructions for the particular kit that you purchased. Some craft kits use fiber reactive dyes and add the soda ash directly to the bottle. This will allow you to skip the soaking process.

If you’ve chosen to use latex paint to tie dye, you won’t need soda ash for that process. I haven’t ever used latex paint to tie dye with - unless you count all the shirts I’ve ruined painting the house and various other craft projects.

Procion MX Fiber Reactive dye is what I use and it is a necessity with this type of dye. Without it the dye will not be permanently bonded with the fabric, and will continue to wash out with each washing.

Let me start by explaining what soda ash is. The chemical name is Sodium Carbonate, and it is used to increase the pH. Increasing the pH will allow the dye to permanently bond with the fabric. You may hear it referred to as a “fixer” for this reason.

Soda ash is an irritant and I always use gloves and a P100 respirator when handling dry soda ash. I don’t handle soaked items without gloves on either.

Don’t confuse Sodium Carbonate (soda ash) with Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda). They are not the same. I’ve heard that some tie dyers bake sodium bicarbonate in the oven to make sodium carbonate, but I haven’t ever tried it. Instead I purchase mine from Dharma Trading Company: https://www.dharmatrading.com/chemicals/soda-ash-fixer.html

Sodium carbonate can be purchased from other places too. Pool supply stores usually sell sodium carbonate - just make sure it is pure without other additives.

Arm & Hammer also sells “Super Washing Soda” that is sodium carbonate. The Arm & Hammer product also contains water though. You will need to use more of it than you would pure sodium carbonate to get the pH to 10.5-11.

Several of the other tie dye suppliers like Grateful Dyes: https://www.grateful-dyes.com/dye-fixer/, Prochemical and Dye: https://prochemicalanddye.net/soda-ash.html, Dyespin: https://www.dyespin.com/products/soda-ash also sell soda ash on their websites. It can also be purchased from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Cbtphp.

Now that we’ve discussed what it is and where to get it - how do you use it? I mix a soda ash solution that I soak my shirts in before I tie them. To do this I add 1 cup of dry soda ash into 1 gallon of water. You can scale this mixture up and down depending on the amount of soda ash solution you would like to make.

I mix my soda ash solution in a 5 gallon bucket with a lid. I measure my dry soda ash and add it to the clean bucket and then add a few cups of hot water to dissolve the soda ash. I use a plastic spoon that I purchased from the Dollar Store and keep mixing until the soda ash is totally dissolved. **** It is important that you get all of the soda ash dissolved - it will not dissolve later. Instead it will clump together in the bottom of the container and get very hard. *** Then I add the remainder of the water to the bucket and stir well. The soda ash solution will keep for a long time in the closed container.

It is important not to store your soda ash/soda ash solution in a metal container. It corrosive to some metals - like Aluminum.

Like I mentioned above, I soak my shirts in the soda ash solution for about 20-30 minutes before I tie them. This allows the entire shirt and all of the fibers to get fully saturated with the soda ash solution. I usually soak several shirts at a time, but I make sure each shirt is fully submerged in the soda ash solution. I soak all of my shirts unless I am doing a tie dye process that specifically calls for a shirt that hasn’t been soaked (like low water immersion).

After soaking, I wring the shirts out in my Panda Spin Dryer: https://amzn.to/3yZ2PFS I place a container under the spout on the front of my spin dryer to catch the soda ash solution that is being wrung from the shirts. That allows me to pour it back into my container and reuse it.

Along with soaking the shirts in a soda ash solution, I usually add an additional sprinkle of soda ash over the top of my ice dyes. This is to make sure that there is still some soda ash left in the shirt after the ice melts and runs through the shirt. When ice dyeing, I know that some tie dyers choose to not soak their shirts at all and instead they only add soda ash to the top of their projects. I’ve never tried this though.

In Hot Water Irrigation, the dye and dry soda ash are normally mixed together and applied to the shirt. Therefore, the shirt doesn’t need to be soaked in a soda ash solution beforehand.

You can also add the dry soda ash directly to your liquid dye. I wouldn’t recommend this myself since it will activate the dye and the dye won’t be bright and vibrant for very long after adding the soda ash. I’ve added the soda ash to the dye before when I had a very small area that I needed to repair on a shirt and I used the dye immediately after adding the soda ash. I’ve also used it when I painted a small area on a shirt. If you are going to immediately use all the dye - it works. Otherwise, I would keep the soda ash and dye separate.

Essentially, if you are using Procion MX Fiber Reactive dye - you need to use soda ash somewhere in the process. However, there are several places during the tie dye process where you can add the soda ash - depending upon the tie dye method you are using.

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