If you’re using the Yorker Bottles from Dharma, they should not leak if the caps are on tightly. Also depends on how hard you squeeze. If the bottles are defective, return to Dharma. No other bottles work, unfortunately.

As far as the presoak, several possibilities come to mind.

First – prewash your shirts with detergent that is free from dyes and fabric softeners. Fabric softener will kill the color when prepping shirts. Then add a few drops of Synthrapol and about a tablespoon of soda ash. Rinse and spin out.

Second – when you presoak, use about 1/2 cup of soda ash to a washer load of water. Fill the washer on the rinse cycle not the wash, (you can just leave the shirts in from the previous wash), now if your washer adds water to the spin after the rinse cycle, you’ll need to shut the water off. Added water during the spin cycle will remove the soda ash and thus give you duller colors. Let the shirts sit in the soda ash for about 10-15 minutes then spin out. Shirts should be damp.

Then fold and squirt. Put in bags and let sit at least 24 hours where it is warm and they can get some heat.

When rinsing, rinse each shirt separately until the water runs fairly clear then either put them in a bucket (we used 5-gallon ones) with a cap of Synthrapol and cold water to fill. Put the shirts in with the same colors in each bucket as this is where the biggest potential for backstaining will come. When you have a washer full of one color or one category (rainbows, blue and purples etc.) then pull the shirts out of the bucket and put them into a washing machine with hot water and two caps of Synthrapol and start them. Dry immediately.

If you’re using a sink to rinse out the shirts (we always used a high pressure hose outside) take the folded shirt and run hot water then warm then cold before removing the rubber bands. Run for about 5 minutes at each temperature.

Lastly, how are you mixing your dyes? The formula is very critical. For the water in your area, we always added Calsolene Oil just a few drops to each bottle.

I know it’s a lot of work, but this is our system and you’ll get great shirts.

Soon as Rich is feeling better and I have some vacation time stored up, maybe we can come up and do some training for you.

On the back of the pin, I attach the pin back using White Glue or even E6000. Once it’s completely dry, I then attach a layer of felt with two holes cut for the pin and the pin lock parts of the pinback and cover the whole back. It makes everything look much more finished. I’ll upload a picture of how I back them in a bit.

Aren’t they fun?

As far as the artwork is concerned, sadly, no, it isn’t one of mine. I sure wish it were. It came with the theme I use here on WordPress.

And I absolutely love the art work at the top of each page of your website–is it fabric? Did you dye it? How, if you care to share?

Thanks,
Anna Mae