Waldorf-Inspired Nature Table Playsilks

[lapoli]

It's been a long time since I've pulled out the ol' dyes, but I've been wanting to make hand dyed playsilks for my son since before he was born!

I got all the silk blanks for Dharma Trading - I had about 12 35"x35" silks and then I picked up a small ton of 11"x11" handkerchiefs.  I used Jacquard Acid Dyes (since I have a small collection of them) and found that the silk LOVED the dyes.  They absorbed practically whatever I could throw at it and then some!

Anyway, these are some of my favorites:

They are a super fast and easy project and the results are awesome! I can't wait to get my nature table started with these!

[Belladune]

Love these!  I've got a ton of silk scarves just for this purpose, this makes me want to drop everything and do it now!

[serenityfey]

Wow, do you have any tips? I have a bunch of dye and silks coming my way-but I'm a newbie when it comes to dying. Those look so fantastic!

[NotKnit]

Gorgeous!

[lapoli]

Love these!  I've got a ton of silk scarves just for this purpose, this makes me want to drop everything and do it now!

Doooo ittt!

[lapoli]

Wow, do you have any tips? I have a bunch of dye and silks coming my way-but I'm a newbie when it comes to dying. Those look so fantastic!

Thanks, serenityfey! To be honest, I actually took the lazy way out when I dyed these--they were SO easy!

I set my oven to 350 degrees and filled a glass 9x13 pan with water.  Added a little vinegar and then added my scarf (or scarves, depending on how big they were).  From there, I just tapped dye powder onto the top where I thought it should be and then gently stirred the scarf/water to mix the color(s). Then, I "cooked" it for 20-30 minutes until it looked like the dye was absorbed.  Really-it's that simple!

I got a lot of texture/variation in my scarves because of the way they laid in the pan. (You can see a better picture of what I mean here.) Had I kettle dyed them, they would have moved around more and would have been a little bit more uniform.  You can also handpaint them and then steam them, if you're looking for something you can control more (and end up with more even results.)

The only downside to my ultra-lazy method is that you can't fully control how/where the colors meet and muddle together, so you have to exert some restraint when and where you add the dyes.  

This is a result of lack of restraint. It was supposed to be rainbow-ish and my hand was heavy when tapping out the red, so I basically got a red scarf with a TINY amount of yellow/orange.  

Does that help?

Really, seize your dyes and the day!  You can't really go wrong, so experiment and find what way works best for you! (And share your photos, too, once you've finished!)

[Belladune]

What I've done with my boys(kids love dyeing, it's like magic) Is basically what Lapoli did, only I mixed up the dye and put it into big syringes (the kind you can find at Ag store, they are for vaccinating cows and such) and the kids squirt away!  Often they end up with brown, but it's a great way to show how colors mix. 
still have to break out the dye pot...... sunday maybe...

[jungrrl]

Congrats!!

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