iDye Poly, My Experience

A friend wanted something made with black lace, but Joanns didn't have much of a selection. I found some great lace, but it was white. What to do, what to do? I went to the fabric marker/paint section and actually found "over the counter" dye for polyester! Which was what the lace I found was made of. So, eagerly I bought 2 packs. One for practice and one for actual dyeing.

Once I got a pot big enough for the task from the thrift store (enamel, with a lid) I set to work. In the iDye pack there is the colorant and a small package of clear goo that you put into the mix. I got my lace all cut off the batch and some skewers to swish it around with, since I somehow lost my wooden dyeing spoon from my last foray into fabric dyeing. The mix was heating up and I tossed in the lace. The instructions say to simmer the concotion, so I cranked up the heat to about medium high and waited.

As soon as it started heating up the stench of the hot dye was incredible. It was like burned rubber, but boiling burned rubber. It was so overpowering! I ran to open windows and turn on fans, and then back to the pot of dye to see if it was simmering yet. Not yet, so I stirred and tried not to inhale too many of the fumes. I was gagging by then, and usually smells don't really get to me enough that I get all queasy. I ran, again, but this time to find my face mask that I use when I use my dremel, or for drilling type projects. It isn't the cheapest, but it isn't like a gas mask either. Just a surgical type mask with a little filter on the front. Thankfully it helped, but the damage was done, in more ways than one.

After running back from digging through things for the mask, I came back to find the pot angrily simmering away, on the point of boiling. I slapped the lid on (which I hadn't done before then) and stirred a little but upon closer inspection I realized that a fine mist had formed from the boiling/simmer and there were tiny blue dots all over my kitchen. Even across the kitchen! I can only imagine how much of that I inhaled before putting the mask on, which I didn't do until after I scrubbed at the counter tops to see if it would come off. For days afterwards my lungs hurt. I don't think there were any lasting effects, but it was a little scary.

Despite the mask, the smell was just too much. The instructions say to simmer it for 1/2 hour to 1 hour, but after about 25 minutes I had to stop that smell. So, I pulled everything out early, rinsed both pot and lid and lace and then spent the next hour using oxy clean and a scrubbie to get the blue mist off my counters, appliances and sink. I am still finding spots with blue mist all over it, where I didn't see it at first.

But, the lace came out great even though I pulled it out early! There is a faint green tinge to it in places, but for my first experiment with it, I'm happy with the product. At least in terms of how well it works. The stink on the other hand, really turns me off.

Dyed lace. Unfortunately Ed turned the lace with the wrong side up, so you don't get to see the cute ribbon detail on the front, but you get the point.

Next time I will use my little propane powered camp stove and do this outside. There is no way that I will have that disgusting smell in my house again. Oh, and another point: No where in the instructions did it say to ventilate! It said "do not inhale" but that is far different than talking about ventilation. I'm surprised at that.

If you do choose to use iDye Poly, you really, really need to have good ventilation. The smell lingers, but does dissipate with time. I think by the next day it no longer smelled like burned rubber in my apartment.