Would food coloring work for dyeing white cotton for customs?

[bobws]

I'm just wondering if food coloring would hold the color on white cotton to make custom uniforms. i've never dyed cloth before and think food coloring might be cheaper. any thoughts? let me know.

[Tothiro]

Ok... I'll bite. If just to bump up my post numbers

Rit: $2.29

Food Coloring: $1.54

I admit I'm no dye expert. I'm also of the philosophy that you should see if something works first, then break it to see if you can make it work better.... but I gotta figure for the $0.75 you'd be saving you probably don't need to worry about over complicating things even if it did work - especially if you don't use the other 11 colors in the pack, (well you know what I mean).

Jessica is much more helpful than me --->

[jessica]

I found this on the internet for you, Bob:

Link is here: Using Food Coloring as a Textile Dye for Protein Fibers


Food Colorings are a subset of the class of dyes known as Acid Dyes. They can be used to dye protein fibers only: that is, wool, silk, and also sometimes nylon. Heat is required; room-temperature dyeing will usually produce much less washfast results.
Remember: You cannot dye cotton with food coloring!
Sometimes people ask me how they can use food coloring to tie-dye cotton shirts. The answer is simple: you can't. Food colorings lack any way to permanently attach to cotton, so they will just wash out, leaving at most a pale stain: enough to ruin a shirt, perhaps, but not to decorate it. They can be used only for wool, silk, other animal fibers such as angora or cashmere, and also nylon (but no other synthetic), because the chemical structure of nylon somewhat resembles that of wool. You cannot dye other synthetic fibers, such as acrylic or polyester, with food dye, and you cannot dye other plant fibers, such as linen, rayon, or hemp. See About Dyes to select the correct type of dye for these and other fibers.

[Bizarro Amy]

So it sounds like if you're using a select few fibers, it's feasible. But Mego suits are usually cotton, polyester, or a blend using at least one of the two.

Also, getting just the right mixture is kind of a pain. Even when I use food coloring for cake icing, there's a lot of playing with it to get the color just right. If you just pay the extra for fabric dye, you can select the exact color you want and get to it.

[megocrazy]

Rit Dye is pretty cheap and easy to use. I do keep a separate pan in my workshop for dying things. You shouldn't use one that is for cooking. Make sure the plastic items, if any, don't sit on the bottom of the pan and make sure you wash the stuff before you put it on the figure to get any excess dye out and to set it in the material. If you don't the dye will soak into the body and the boots. Don't ask why I know that, but does anyone need a T2 body and yellow boots with a dark blue tinge? I believe I still have them somewhere.

[megojim]

Rit Dye is pretty cheap and easy to use. I do keep a separate pan in my workshop for dying things. You shouldn't use one that is for cooking. Make sure the plastic items, if any, don't sit on the bottom of the pan and make sure you wash the stuff before you put it on the figure to get any excess dye out and to set it in the material. If you don't the dye will soak into the body and the boots. Don't ask why I know that, but does anyone need a T2 body and yellow boots with a dark blue tinge? I believe I still have them somewhere.

Chuck,
What else are you "cooking up" in that work shop?

[bobws]

Thanks everyone esp. Jessica! i knew i could get a good answer here. i just figured with the set of food colors i would get more variety than buying each dye. no way though, so now i try my hand at dyeing. THANKS AGAIN!

[bobws]

okay i tried to dye some pants of a full body suit black and it worked out. thanks again.