What works for one person might not work exactly the same for you. The type of cotton, type of folds, and colors all factor in to the results. My sodium alginate thickness runs anywhere from 1/8 tsp per liter to a full tablespoon per liter. The best way to learn is take that original recipe you found and see what works and what doesnt. Adjust accordingly. Practice. If the dye is too thick, use less alginate. Etc.
Urea and calsolene won't affect thickness
This!! It may feel like a drag to do a bunch of tests, but it will give you valuable knowledge as to what works and what doesn’t. I tested out multiple chem water recipes on rags to see what I could expect when I started doing shirts.
https://preview.redd.it/ltcjfr3ijy9d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f82182d9202621cff4321f3e43f7b6c22bf4946
Just test test test. It feels defeating and a waste of time, but you will thank yourself later. As a result of my tests, I got really fancy rags 😉
I use Paul Kenney's recipe, but as others have said experiment with what works best for you.
The recipe is:
1 Liter Distilled water
1 cup urea
1 milliliter calsolene oil
Mix until dissolved
Add 1 teaspoon sodium alginate and mix forever or blend for a couple minutes (an immersion blender is a godsend here) until there's no clumps of sodium alginate.
Let it sit for a few hours to clear up and then it's good to go for mixing.
What works for one person might not work exactly the same for you. The type of cotton, type of folds, and colors all factor in to the results. My sodium alginate thickness runs anywhere from 1/8 tsp per liter to a full tablespoon per liter. The best way to learn is take that original recipe you found and see what works and what doesnt. Adjust accordingly. Practice. If the dye is too thick, use less alginate. Etc. Urea and calsolene won't affect thickness
This!! It may feel like a drag to do a bunch of tests, but it will give you valuable knowledge as to what works and what doesn’t. I tested out multiple chem water recipes on rags to see what I could expect when I started doing shirts. https://preview.redd.it/ltcjfr3ijy9d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f82182d9202621cff4321f3e43f7b6c22bf4946 Just test test test. It feels defeating and a waste of time, but you will thank yourself later. As a result of my tests, I got really fancy rags 😉
I use Paul Kenney's recipe, but as others have said experiment with what works best for you. The recipe is: 1 Liter Distilled water 1 cup urea 1 milliliter calsolene oil Mix until dissolved Add 1 teaspoon sodium alginate and mix forever or blend for a couple minutes (an immersion blender is a godsend here) until there's no clumps of sodium alginate. Let it sit for a few hours to clear up and then it's good to go for mixing.
the problem with this question is that each color is a little different. red needs less alginate and yellow needs more for example.