Where To Buy Laundry Bluing
We ship to the warehouses and/or participating locations of these fine retailers. If they don't have MSB on the shelf when you visit their stores, speak to the store manager or laundry products buyer, who MAY be able to order some for you.
where to buy laundry bluing
In laundry bluing, a product adds a trace amount of blue dye to white fabric during laundering to improve its appearance. Bluing products in higher concentrations can darken jeans and other blue fabrics.
Thank you to everyone who's asked about suppliers of laundry bluing. This list of sources of various kinds of washing blue - liquid, solid, or powder - online should help. If you have any other suggestions, do let us know.
Then, create a solution of 1/2 cup ammonia to one quart of water. Ammonia is the only way to remove your bluing stains. For the best results, the water needs to be cold, and there needs to be enough solution to submerge your clothing entirely. In addition, your items will need to float in it.
White fabrics can become gray or yellow after washing. Adding bluing to the wash or rinse water gives a subtle blue hue to whites even as it makes whites appear whiter and cleaner. Bluing is part of the manufacturing process for many white fabrics.
Laundry detergents improved over time, but whites can still grow dingy with frequent washing. Even today, bluing is a better option for whitening because bleach weakens the fibers. Bluing is still available today.
I remember my mother using this product when I was young, when she would have my sister and I go to the laundrymat. I too have used it through the years as an adult, and value how bright and clean my whites, my sheets, and my lights look when ever I use it. I also use it on my dark colors. It is good to know that the quality of some things in this world has remained the same. Thank you!
Bluing, laundry blue, dolly blue or washing blue is a household product used to improve the appearance of textiles, especially white fabrics. Used during laundering, it adds a trace of blue dye (often synthetic ultramarine, sometimes Prussian blue) to the fabric.
White fabrics acquire a slight color cast after use (usually grey or yellow). Since blue and yellow are complementary colors in the subtractive color model of color perception, adding a trace of blue color to the slightly off-white color of these fabrics makes them appear whiter. Laundry detergents may also use fluorescing agents to similar effect. Many white fabrics are blued during manufacturing. Bluing is not permanent and rinses out over time leaving dingy or yellowed whites. A commercial bluing product allows the consumer to add the bluing back into the fabric to restore whiteness.
Bluing has other miscellaneous household uses, including as an ingredient in rock crystal "gardens" (whereby a porous item is placed in a salt solution, the solution then precipitating out as crystals), and to improve the appearance of swimming-pool water. In Australia it was used as a folk remedy to relieve the itching of mosquito and sand fly bites.
Bluing is usually sold in liquid form, but it may also be a solid. Solid bluing is sometimes used by hoodoo doctors to provide the blue color needed for "mojo hands" without having to use the toxic compound copper(II) sulfate. Bluing was also used by some Native American tribes to mark their arrows showing tribe ownership.[citation needed]
At the start of a crystal garden experiment, you mix liquid bluing with salt, water and ammonia to create a watery blue sludge. Pour it over small pieces of porous material, like sponges and clay pot pieces, in a plastic container. Leave the container overnight, and by the next day, crystals should form. You keep the "garden" growing by adding more salt and more of the sludge mixture. As the water and ammonia evaporates away, the collodial particles provide seeds for the salt to produce crystals, creating the broccoli shapes.
If you don't have commercial liquid bluing, you can substitute powdered bluing, if you mix it with distilled water in a 1-to-1 ratio. Combine three cups of baking soda with 1/2 tsp of Prussian blue pigment powder from art stores to make your own powdered bluing. Alternatively, you can create a Prussian blue suspension from saturated solutions of iron (III) chloride and potassium ferrocyanide. Mix 3.7 grams of iron (III) chloride with five milliliters of distilled water in one beaker. Mix 1.39 grams of potassium ferrocyanide with 5 milliliters of water in a second beaker. Pour the potassium ferrocyanide solution into the beaker with the iron (III) chloride solution and stir with a glass rod.
You can carry out fun crystal experiments without liquid bluing or Prussian blue suspension. Add a spoonful of Epsom salts to a cup of warm distilled water and stir until dissolved. Continue until the solution is saturated (i.e. no more salts will dissolve). Let all the undissolved salt settle on the bottom of the container then slowly pour off the solution into a bowl, stopping before you get to the undissolved salt. Put the bowl in the refrigerator for three hours and you will see crystals beginning to form. You can also do crystal experiments with table salt, alum, washing soda and borax.
Laundry bluing includes a pigment called Prussian blue (ferric ferrocyanide) that gives an optical illusion, allowing laundry to appear whiter. Bluing reduces yellowing and keeps whites from looking dingy by reflecting light off of the fabric, making whites look brighter. Bluing is usually added directly into the wash cycle. And, yes, it can even enhance the shade of your favorite jeans. You should know, however, it is not a detergent or a stain lifter.
Using laundry bluing regularly can help keep your white laundry items looking fresh and vibrant for longer. Start by pre-treating any stains before adding them to the washing machine. Avoid adding bluing directly to the washer. Instead, dilute the bluing in at least a quart of cold water. A few drops will work for a small load, but you can add up to 1/4 teaspoon of bluing liquid to the water for larger loads.
If you have a front-loading or another high-efficiency washing machine, you can pour the water and bluing mixture into the dispensing drawer after the washer has filled with water, as long as the dispenser remains unlocked during the cycle.
To darken denim or other blue or even black fabrics, dilute up to one teaspoon of bluing per quart of water. You can add the water mixture to your washer or soak the garments in a porcelain sink or tub (the bluing will stain fiberglass fixtures) or a metal bucket. Follow the instructions on the bottle, which generally include soaking the garments and then rinsing them.
If you were a little overzealous when adding the bluing and your items look stained or dark, you can use a mixture of cold water and ammonia to remove the excess. Add one-half cup of household ammonia for each quart of water in a container that you can cover tightly. Five-gallon plastic buckets with lids are ideal.
Submerge the item that has been stained with bluing in the liquid and close the lid tightly. Let it soak for 24 hours. If the stain remains, make a new batch of ammonia water and try again. Finally, launder the item in a regular cycle in the washer with laundry detergent only.
I chose to add bluing to my rinse water. The downside of adding bluing to the rinse is that you have to keep close tabs on your washing cycle. I added the diluted bluing solution at the beginning of the rinse cycle, after waiting for the machine to fill up again. I recommend knowing how long your wash cycle takes, then set a timer.
For a front loader machine, everything is pretty much the same. Only in your case, you will add the diluted bluing to the dispenser (as long as it remains unlocked during the cycle). If your dispenser door locks, add the diluted bluing to the largest drawer in your dispenser before starting the washing machine.
No one in my supermarket has heard of laundry bluing. Is it possible it is hazardous and has been banned in some states/countries? Perhaps it has another name? Perhaps this has a chemical name?
In the 1870s, Al Stewart was a traveling salesman throughout the Midwest. One of the products he sold was a bottle of liquid bluing that his family made at home using his proprietary formula. At this time, Minneapolis resident Luther Ford had opened the first five and dime store west of Pittsburgh. These two gentlemen met while Stuart was looking for someone to manufacture his bluing. Stewart sold the rights to MSB to Ford, who immediately made plans to distribute the product more widely.
Kerr suggests an alternate method for regular upkeep: "Use a good laundry detergent along with a whitening laundry booster, but be sure not to overdose your laundry products. Laundry detergent buildup will create that grey appearance in whites over time." Her picks? Tide Ultra Stain Release for detergent, and OxiClean White Revive or borax for boosters.
As the owner of two sets of white linen, huge fluffy towels, and about 12 white t-shirts that have all, um, seen better days, I'm also interested in any advice that helps me reverse the damage that misuse, the passage of time, and my mistaken laundry habits have wreaked. Luckily, Kerr had a handy trick for reversing the dinginess. "There's a product called Mrs. Stewart's Concentrated Liquid Bluing that I love-love-love for whites that have gone yellow," Kerr said. "It does exactly what it sounds like: It turns things blue. Which, in the case of whites that have gone a bit yellow, is exactly what you want, because blue and yellow are opposite one another on the color perception wheel, so adding a bluing agent to something yellow will make it appear bright white to the eye."
Nerd alert: Bluing use in laundry is Prussian Blue (ferric ferrocyanide). Like in the use of any chemical, please practice good hand hygiene i.e. wash your hands after use, especially before handling food, drink, or cosmetics. A pair of disposable gloves (preferably not latex), will help keep your hands clean. Avoid acids: vinegar, etc. Keep alcohol away from open flames or heat sources. 041b061a72