Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Food and Yarn: Stop Encouraging Them

I have to say something.  I've been watching my fellow crafters over the years... women who want to dye their own yarn or fiber, but are afraid of "real" dyes and bringing harsh chemicals into their homes... dyeing with Kool-Aid.  Ladies and gentlemen, you are not thinking this through.

Dyeing with Kool-Aid involves taking the powdered drink mix, applying it to the fiber after dissolving it in liquid, and fixing it with vinegar and heat.

Dyeing with an acid dye, such as Jacquard, involves taking the powder, applying it to the fiber after dissolving it in liquid, and fixing it with vinegar and heat.

There is no difference.  NONE.  The substances are exactly the same.  In fact, by purchasing Kool-Aid instead of acid dyes, you are encouraging Kool-Aid to keep creating their noxious drink powders that contain substances that CAN PERMANENTLY DYE FIBER and feeding it to our children.

Instead of being afraid of Jacquard acid fixed dyes, you should be afraid that a company is feeding it to our kids.  Please stop encouraging them.  Kool-Aid is NO SAFER than other protein-fiber colorant agents.  It just has additional ingredients for flavor.

Now, dyes for cotton and plant-based fibers are a whole other story, but I'll save that for another post.