Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Dyeing Silks

     To me, the very thought of paying twelve dollars for a play silk is insane, especially when it is so much cheaper and fun to dye your own.  I recently had my nieces over so that they could all experience the fun of dyeing their own play silks.  (Or scarves, in the case of my older nieces, who have out grown play silks) They all wanted to do tie dye as oppose to doing it all one color.  I wasn't sure at first how tie dyeing would work with cool-aid dye, but they turned out beautiful, and each one is as unique as the girl that made it.  This had to be the yummiest smelling project I ever did.  I just could not convince the girls that the unsweetened cool-aid with vinegar was not good to taste. 
     I mixed three or two packets of cool-aid in just a little bit of hot water, to try to get the darkest colors possible.  Since the scarves were only dipped, and did not soak, they were not dark, but were bright enough.
     Everyone had their own method for dipping and tying.  I was pretty sure Anna's first scarf was going to turn out mud colored, since she just kept dipping, and dipping, but it turned out a lovely burnt orange.


     As you can see, the results were varied, but all were beautiful.
     And they made great capes!

2 comments:

  1. What a super fun idea! Might have to do this with my 3 yr. old this summer. And speaking of kool-aid crafts...have you seen the link for homemade playdough that is colored/scented using kool-aid? I pinned it on Pinterest, but can't remember the exact link...looks like another fun way to use stuff I don't let my kids drink! LOL! :)

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  2. Using cool-aid to dye play-dough is a great idea. I bet the colors would turn out really bright. Anna didn't even know what cool-aid was, until I bought it for dye. LOL

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