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| Pam and her wool dyed with Kool-Aid. |
Here's how:
1. Soak 100% wool (or silk or other animal fibers) in hot water until saturated.
2. Dissolve a package of unsweetened Kool-Aid in hot water either on the stove or in a crock pot. (You can experiment with different amounts and combinations of colors.)
3. Squeeze out fabric (we used about a quarter of a yard or less at a time) and immerse it in the hot Kool-Aid mixture. Stir intermittently until the fabric has absorbed all of the dye and the water is clear or milky -- depends on the color. The more you stir, the more even the color will be. Stir less for a mottled look.
4. Remove wool from hot water and plunge into a bowl of cold water.
5. Rinse in cold water with one drop of dish detergent until rinse water is clear.
6. Squeeze out and toss in hot dryer with an old towel. It's okay to dry several different colors together without worrying about the color bleeding.
Here are the results, shown with the Kool-Aid colors that were used.
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| Dyed first with blue, then a little lemon-lime was added. |
Ideally, you can find light-colored wool garments for cheap at thrift stores. Cut them apart, wash in hot water and dry on high and then go to town with the Kool-Aid!
If you're interested in seeing what other fiber artists are up to this week, check out Nina Marie's Off-the-Wall Friday: interconnected-off-wall-friday.html
Have a colorful day!
12 comments:
Great writeup and pictures. Thanks for documenting for us. Might be a nice article if newsletter if you wouldn't mind sharing. We can talk about it.
I'm English so I've got an idea of what these packets of kool-aid are for (making a drink?!) but it realy makes my mind bogle that people drink this stuff that can dye fabric such vivid colours! Does it taste nice?!!
ES -- In answer to your question: You have to add tons of sugar to the Kool-Aid mix and then it tastes sort of fruity. It's an awful thing to put in your body, but great for dyeing fabric!
You are correct...the colors are delicious!!!
This was a super fun day. Pam is a great teacher. This is a wonderful way to get some vibrant colored wool at a reasonable price.
Well I wouldn't want to drink it, but the colours are fantastic! Will they fade, do you think?
Gosh, I had no idea one could achieve such great color with Kool-Aid.....thank you for such a comprehensive post!
Yummy colors! Thanks for sharing.
The koolaid colors fade, they don't last. Lots of people who dye wool for rug hooking have found this out the hard way.
What bright, happy colors! Too bad they fade but they are great eye candy while they last.
The colors are beautiful. Was your intent to make felted wool? That is what happens when you go directly from hot water to cold water with wool; it shocks the fibers and shrink the wool.
Jan -- It was already felted. Since I'm using it for wool appliqué the felting is desired.
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