Gold Toe Sock Dyeing with Rit Lab Notes
Tips
- The amount of dye mixture per pound of article to be dyed determines the “stop point” of the color transferred. It is actually important.
- If the color looks too dark, if you are tempted to stop early to make the color correct, then you probably need to reduce the amount of dye / pound of cotton.
- With the right amount of dye you should be able to continue for 60 minutes of dyeing or more without the color being too dark.
- With the right amount of dye you can dye longer, allowing more penetration of dye into article
- Mercerized cotton takes dye more and differently than you might expect. Don’t assume the standard Rit recipes will work the same with mercerized cotton.
Gold-Toe socks are made from mercerized cotton, so normal Rit dye recipes do not apply because mercerized cotton takes dye much more than regular cotton.
The ratio of socks (item being dyed) to the amount of dye mixture turns out to be very important in determining the final color of the item. It’s not just the ratio of water to dye, but the water, dye, amount of item relative to each other.
Empty Rit bottle: 1.1oz = 31g
Full Rit bottle: 10.9 = 308g
Each ounce of dye: 1.225oz = 34.625g
| cup | tbsp | tsp | oz | Rit bottle weighs | |
| ⅛ cup | 2 tbsp | 6 tsp | 1 oz | 2.3 oz | 66 g |
| ¼ cup | 4 tbsp | 12 tsp | 2 oz | 3.6 oz | 100 g |
| ½ cup | 8 tbsp | 24 tsp | 4 oz | 6 oz | 170 g |
| 1 cup | 16 tbsp | 48 tsp | 8 oz | 10.9 oz | 308 g |
Used Rit Color Fixer on all batches using proportions and times on Color Fixer directions.
Trial 1
- 3 pair socks
- 2 gallons water
- ½ cup (8 tbsp) Rit Dark Green
- ¼ cup (4 tbsp) Rit Dark Brown
Heated too hot, probably 160°F-170°F. Soaked 30 minutes. Dyed 3 pair Gold-Toe white socks. Look very dark navy (maybe slightly green). Nylon threads looked brown. Brown probably attached well to nylon due to overheating.
Trial 2
- 3 pair socks
- add gallon of water to above mix, not a new batch, just same mix after dyeing first batch of socks
Again probably heated too hot, probably 160°F-170°F. Soaked 30 minutes. Dyed another 3 pair Gold-Toe white socks. The dye was probably exhausted from the first batch of socks, so these 3 pairs were medium blue with green tinge. Nylon threads looked brown. Brown probably attached well to nylon due to overheating.
Trial 3
- 1 pair socks
- 1.5 gallons water
- ¼ cup (4 tbsp) Rit Dark Green
-
⅛ cup (2 tbsp) Rit Dark Brown
- 130°F-140°F
- 20? or 30? minutes
Optimum seemed to be 4-gallon stock pot on my stove at either Low or just past 2 on burner. Sock looked a little greener but still very dark navy blue.
Trial 4
- 1 pair socks
- 1.5 gallons water
- ⅛ cup (2 tbsp) Rit Kelly Green
- ⅛ cup (2 tbsp) Rit Dark Green
-
⅛ cup (2 tbsp) Rit Dark Brown
- 130°F-140°F
- 20 minutes
Optimum seemed to be 4-gallon stock pot on my stove at either Low or just past 2 on burner. Still dark, but more of a forest green. Still too navy but slightly greener. Some lightening of nylon? threads when ankle is stretched.
Trial 5
- 1 pair socks
- 1.5 gallons water
- ¼ cup (4 tbsp) Rit Kelly Green
-
⅛ cup (2 tbsp) Rit Dark Brown
- 130°F-140°F
- 20 minutes
Looks green but more brown, kind of moss or wood. Ankle is lighter when stretched. (nylon?)
Optimum seemed to be 4-gallon stock pot on my stove at either Low or just past 2 on burner. It seems the Dark Brown really dominates and makes blue. Socks are still dark, definitely green, but a bit too brown. After a wash I wore them and they actually look pretty close to olive, but too dark. They seem lighter when stretched, as though some parts didn’t get thoroughly dyed. Maybe 20 minutes is not enough.
Trial 6
- 1 pair socks
- 1.5 gallons water
- ¼ cup (4 tbsp) Rit Kelly Green
- ⅛ cup (2 tbsp) Rit Tan
-
1/16 cup (1 tbsp) Rit Dark Brown
- 130°F-140°F
- 10 minutes
Looks very green, like my cheap green socks. Ankle parts are lighter when stretched. (nylon?)
Started with only Kelly Green and Tan–socks looked super green! Too green. Somehow the Tan itself looks green. So then after a minute or two I added the Dark Brown. Possibly the Tan is unnecessary. Super green socks, like my cheap green socks, with very slight olivey.
Trial 7
- 1 pair socks
- 1.5 gallons water
- ¼ cup (4 tbsp) Rit Kelly Green
-
3/32 cup (1.5 tbsp) Rit Dark Brown
- 140°F constant
- 30 minutes
Looks very Olive, probably most olive so far. When stretched, the ankle part is mostly ok but a little lighter. Maybe higher temp is needed?
Trial 8 *
- 1 pair socks
- 1.5 gallons water
- ¼ cup (4 tbsp) Rit Kelly Green
-
1/16 cup (1 tbsp) Rit Dark Brown
- 140°F constant
- 30 minutes
Looks greener than trial 7, not as olive, but possibly more obviously green. When ankle is stretched, lighter areas are more apparent. Maybe the light areas are shine of light? I think this might be the best one.
Trial 9
- 3 pair socks
- 3 gallons water
- ½ cup (8 tbsp) Rit Kelly Green
-
⅛ cup (2 tbsp) Rit Dark Brown
- 145°F constant
- 60 minutes
These socks came out very vividly green, but unfortunately less olive than 8 or 7. Darker than 7, lighter than 8. This mix had 1 sock / 1 gall water. Trial 8 had 1 sock / 1.5 gallon water.
Trial 8 looks better, so probably somewhere between the two (but closer to Trial 8) would allow a long dyeing process (for better penetration and intensity) but still dark enough to look olive. One could try: 3 socks, 3 gallons water but 10 tbsp Kelly Green and 2.5 tbsp Dark Brown. This is halfway between the dye / sock ratio of Trial 9 and Trial 8. Hopefully the water is not important.
Trial 8 is the most “sophisticated” olive
Trial 9 is the most vivid.
Possibly 9 with a tiny bit more brown could work. Or more green and brown. The amount of socks per dye mix seems to really matter