Dyeing Experiment

Water from our town is treated with Potassium Hydroxide for pH adjustment and Sodium Fluoride for Fluoridation.The Potassium Hydroxide raises the pH to just above neutral (7.0) so that it is not acidic and corrosive. The Sodium Fluoride is added to provide cavity protection for infants and children.  Some neighborhoods also get water that we buy from a neighboring city that chlorinates the water.  I wanted to know if the water chemicals make a major difference in the colors that result when I dye my wool, so I dyed a 1/4 yard of Dorr white using tap water and 1/4 yard using bottled water.  The dye used was Pro-chem Blue #440, Caramel #130, and Brown #503.  Everything in the dyeing process was exactly the same except the water.  I kept track of the pieces of wool by adding a safety pin to the one that was dyed in the bottled water.

The piece on top was dyed in our tap water, and the bottom piece was dyed in bottled water.  There seems to be no substantial difference in the results.