For those who have a limited number of dyes, storing them is fairly simple, as described here: if you write only occasionally, you can put them in some  cabinet, closet or box.  If you write year round, you can keep them on your work table or dye table.  But what do you do if you are a dye enthusiast/hoarder?

There are so many pysanka dyes now available, from so many companies, in so many different colors. While I stick to my basic traditional palette in most of the pysanky I write, I like to try out new dyes (to see if they produce better results, i.e.longevity and adhesion, or give better versions of traditional colors). I also like to write non-traditional eggs at the holidays, like my snowflake pysanky, for which I use various jewel tone and pastel shades. 

The dyes I use regularly (yellow, gold, orange, red, green, blue, dark red, black) I keep on my dye table, in Twist’n’Loc jars, usually with two to three jars of each color .  Those used less frequently, or mixed up on a whim, I used to store in two 2-drawer file cabinets. A legal size file cabinet drawer is wide enough to store three Twist’n’Loc jars across and, depending on its depth, up to five jars deep. You can also stack the jars, 3 pints or 1 pint and 1 quart.

But I ran out of space, and found that the small pint jars weren’t really practical for dyeing--too shallow.  What to do? I decided that it might be more practical to store the dyes in tall plastic bottles, and pour each dye into a Twit’n’Loc jar only when I actually needed it for dyeing.

What sort of containers should you use?

Any sort of lightweight plastic bottle can be used.  It is best if they are fairly sturdy; many of those that bottle water comes in are too flimsy for reuse.

My solution is to use Bai bottles.  They are of fairly heavy duty plastic, and have nice screw top lids which provide an excellent seal.  I accumulated a large number once Costco started selling them relatively cheaply by the box of 15.  I remove the drink label, wash and rinse the bottle thoroughly, and then pour the dye in with a funnel. 

NOTE:  do not mix up the dyes in these bottles; the plastic will melt if boiling water is poured into them.  Mix up either in a Pyrex 2-cup measuring cup (or large size), canning jar, or in a safe plastic container. Pour the dye into Bai bottles or similar plastic bottles only once it has fully cooled.

I tape the dye label on to the bottle, with date of preparation written on it, as I do for all my dye jars.  I also add a round one inch paper label, with the dye name (and company name) written on them, onto the lid, so that I can identify the dyes from above. Such round labels can be purchased in office supply stores or online.

Where should you store the dyes? 

As I noted before, dyes need to be stored out of the light, especially sunlight. A dark corner of the basement or a closet is a good choice.  Keeping them in a box (to keep stray light out) is also a consideration.  Bai bottles can be bought in boxes of 15; these boxes can be repurposed for storing the dyes, and can be safely stacked.

I store these in my legal width file cabinets.  I can fit ~8 across, and 12 or more deep.  I do not have enough dyes mixed up yet to fill the drawers of my two filing cabinets, so I still keep some of my extra dyes stored there in the bigger jars.

The file cabinet provides a safe, dark, and easily accessible place to keep my dyes.

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