Mid-South Gardening: Dyeing silk scarves...join in the fun!, 1 by melody

melody wrote:
The acid dyes are steam set, but in this case, we use the microwave to do the job. For silk that is painted with a design that can't bleed a bit, it isn't practical, but for the tie dye, it isn't a problem.

Your son will love doing this...Korey isn't artistic at all and he's finishing up pre-law, so he's going to be broke for the foreseeable future as well.

We soak the scarf blanks in the acid water (a cup of white vinegar to a gallon of water) then we blot excess water with a towel and drop in a zip loc bag.

Dye is dripped in the bag sparingly and it is sealed except for about 2" (gives it room to expand) We nuke it in the microwave for 1 minute at 50% power and do this 3 times, turning the baggie over each time. If the baggie is completely sealed it will explode...trust me...

This strikes the dye. We generally use our lighter colors to start with. We take the scarf from the bag and rinse. Then drop it back in the acid water to soak again. After about 5 min, we remove it, blot it, and then we tie the designs. Use white cotton twine, synthetics or rubberbands could melt. I use cotton crochet thread.

We tie the damp scarf with tie dye patterns and then take a foam paintbrush and daub the darker colors on. This is nuked again for the 3 minutes at 50%, in one minute increments.

Rinse and carefully cut the strings. (I've cut scarves...sad voice of experience...so be careful) Rinse, hang to dry and when almost dry, press with steam iron.

All there is to it...cheap, creative and no one will have one like it. (the expensive scarf blanks are about $5...and go down from there)

The stretchers and the detailed painting are more advanced. You need more equipment and there is a higher learning curve. This gets you going, produces spectacular results and you'll get your feet wet without a big investment.