Working my way through Martha's various craft techniques, it was time that I try my hand at some dyeing. As per usual, I decided to start small. Instead of dying fabric, I gravitated towards dyeing beads.
Thankfully, I had ordered a ton of wooden beads online, in preparation for just this day. I found an awesome dyeing craft, Dyed Wooden Bead Necklaces, which looked extremely cool. There is something really beachy and summery about these necklaces; this is perfect as I am anticipating the change of seasons with excitement mixed with desperation. It has to start getting warmer sometime... right?
The dying process was actually really fun and cathartic after a particularly stressful week, and a great craft for a lazy three-day weekend. I filled tupperware containers with different levels of boiling water and added in a a range of different powdered Rit dye colors, which I ordered in bulk from Joann's. I pretty much eye-balled the formulations for different colors but here is what I used:
- The darkest red beads, I made using a mix of Wine and Petal Pink.
- The light purple beads were mostly Purple with a dash of Petal Pink.
- Teal beads were Teal with a touch of Tan
- Yellow beads were just Golden Yellow
- For the dark blue beads, I used Royal Blue with a dash of Teal
- Light blue beads I made using Teal, Royal Blue, and Tan
I strung the beads on different lengths of nylon beading string. Then, I placed each string of beads into different dye formulations. I kept them in for roughly 4-6 minutes, taking them out when I was satisfied with the color they became.
The result is totally awesome. I am going to restring these beads in different amounts and make some cool, bright necklaces that I can give as gifts or wear myself. I made one necklace using the Wooden-Bib Necklace Craft that I made a few weeks ago, and the dye definitely adds a unique effect. I can't wait to bring out the big guns and dye some fabric next time!
Craft information, courtesy of Martha Stewart, can be found here.
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