Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Yet some more dyeing experimentation



So the first little bit of experimentation was with some Kool Aid sachets. I tried a red (strawberry) and a yellow (lemon). Also mixed a little bit of the strawberry and lemon together to get a nice orange colour.



This is how the colour looked painted onto the fabric. It rinsed out as a lovely watermelon pink and peachy-yellow. This piece will be turned into an elephant.

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Then I tried some traditional dyeing. You're supposed to add the sachet to a big pot of water and boil it. I like to mix up little concentrated cups and paint it on. It gives me greater control over the placement of the colour - and means i can get rainbow effects.



This is the colour painted on and setting. For really rich, deep colours I'd leave it to dry overnight - then rinse it out. But i wanted softer tones, so i left it for about half an hour.



This is the colouring once rinsed. Its still wet, but you can see the shades really nicely.

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This is the last piece i did tonight. I just used the purple, blue and green to give a nice deep foresty colouring. I'm leaving this one to dry overnight and will rinse it in the morning. Hopefully i should get some nice rich colours!

6 comments:

  1. those came out so pretty! especially the rainbow! i can't wait to see the finished animals!

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  2. Love the colours! You also cut them out so well so all the pieces match on the bears. Where do you get Kool Aid from - I've heard about dyeing with it but didnt know you could buy it here.

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  3. Really neat! I can't wait to see that elephant!

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  4. Thanks for the dyeing tips. i've got some dyes comeing to me, but wanted to try the Kool Aid too, assuming my friend in the US delivers for me! I didn't realise you could paint it on, thanks for the tip :o)

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  5. thanks guys. I'm looking forward to making up the bears and elephant too. And a friend of mine bought the kool aid for me from a speciality lolly shop. I think they were $1 a sachet. So not too bad in terms of dye costs (but really expensive if you wanted it as a drink!). If I used the yellow again, I'd probably need 3 sachets to the 1 red. The red went a lot further. I have a purple (grape) to try too at some stage in the near future.

    And the photos of the other rainbow bears I've made previously were done a little different. On these ones i cut out all the pieces first, then painted the rainbows on, matching the stripes with each piece (ie. leg to leg, arm to arm etc.). Next time I rainbow dye like that I'll do a mini tutorial.

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