So, in a burst of enthusiasm and energy tonight, I decided to dye that new piece of white mohair I ordered (see last post) with my huge assortment of Kool Aid sachets. Miss Chelsea, rather obligingly had a 2 hour sleep this afternoon (a sleep this length is VERY rare!), so I had managed to draw three bears out on the mohair, and cut them into the separate sections ready for dying. The fourth piece was just the left over fur without any patterns drawn yet.
I mixed up a sachet of 'Grape' (purple) Kool Aid, but was a little disappointed by how dark it was. When I tested a bit by painting it onto a scrap piece of fur it came out a dull murky black - then washed right out. I decided painting this one onto the mohair wasn't going to work, so gathered up the leftover piece of mohair (with no bear drawn up in case it went horribly wrong!) to boil it instead.
This is just after two sachets of 'grape' had been mixed through and a sprinkling of salt for good luck (and to act as a fixative - not that I think it needed it!). The colour is still an awful, dull grey.
This is after the fur has boiled for about 20mins or so. You can see how the fur pile has soaked up the purple colour leaving the water a mid-blue tone. Only the mohair took the colour though which was interesting. The backing has remained a pale purple - almost white really.
And this is the fur rinsed (no colour came out). It is actually really pretty. And I think due to the fur being squished into my pot - some bits have gone a deep purple, while other bits have more of a blue tone to them. Looking forward to using this piece now.
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This one was done with 'Lemon-Lime' (green), 'Pina-Pineapple' (yellow), and 'Berry Blue' (blue). I mixed each sachet with about 100mls of water, stirred it up with a paintbrush till all the particles had dissolved, then painted the colour onto the damp mohair (which I had laying on a wad of newspaper to soak up any excess colour). The three sachets of colour were JUST enough for this size of fur (just over a 1/8m). I left this one sit for about an hour before rinsing. It really doesn't seem to make any difference if you rinse after 5mins or 55mins though - as soon as that colour hits the fur, its usually permanent (except for the grape one though it seems)!
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This is my favourite piece. I dyed this one with 'Cherry' (deep red), 'Orange' (Orange), and 'Mango' (brilliant yellow). The colours are so much like a sunset, and they've all blended really well. I used the same process with this piece as I did above (mixing the sachets in water and painting them on), but sprinked this piece with salt and let it sit for half an hour to see if the colours would be brighter. It didn't appear to make any difference! Also, as this piece of mohair was a little larger - the 3 sachets weren't enough to dye the whole piece. So I left some area's white. I actually think this will work when I go to assemble the bear, as it will allow some break up of the rather intense colouring.
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This last piece was dyed with 'Pink Lemonade' (pink) and 'Ice blue raspberry lemonade' (blue). These two colours had more of a pastel look to them, so I thought I'd use them together. Again, the same preparation was used, and again the 2 sachets were not enough to dye the whole piece, so white areas were left. I am really excited to see how the spotty look transfers to a finished bear as well as I tend to stick mostly to the stripes! This piece got no salt, and was rinsed about 5mins after I finished painting it. It looks to be just as bright as the other pieces I left sit for a lot longer. The real test will be what they all look like dry tomorrow!
