Posted by skimac in Crafts, Projects
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I always admired the beautiful play silks in an array of vibrant colors that graced the pages of natural toy catalogues. They are great for all kinds of imaginative play. They can be expensive though, especially the large ones. I had not thought about making my own as it seemed complicated and messy. Several years ago a friend introduced us the method of dyeing with Kool-Aid drink mix powder. It is really easy and produces a beautiful colored silk. Makes one wonder about the fact that people are drinking this dye. But that is one of the benefits of this dying method – it’s non-toxic and not too messy either. It’s an economical alternative to the ready made silks.
Following a discussion at 4 Real, I am posting the steps to this easy dyeing methodfor play silksso that some women can make this for Christmas gift. The white silks are available at very reasonable prices at various places on-line A couple companies that carry them are Dharma Trading Co.and Thai Silks. We use the Habotai (also called “China silk”). There are a variety of sizes available in thescarves and shawls sections.
The first thing to do is collect your materials. You will need the silks, some pots, pans or jars, packets of Kool-Aid drink mix (the non-sugar packets) distilled white vinegar, stirring utensil.
Pre-soak the silks in a basin/pan of warm water with a bit of white vinegar in it, for about 30 minutes.
In the bowl/pan/jar that you are using to dye the silks put hot water, vinegar, and Kool-Aid powder. I used stainless steel bowls. Glass is also good. I’ve heard you aren’t supposed to use aluminum or cast iron as they react with the dye. I filled my bowls with 2 cups very hot water (our faucet runs really hot – but you could also boil it), 1 tablespoon vinegar, and 3 packets of drink powder. Stir to dissolve all the powder. None of this is an exact science. I have seen people recommend anywhere from 2-5 packets of drink mix. Obviously the more packets you use the darker and richer the color you will get in your final product if you allow it to absorb all the dye. There is also discussion that the vinegar is not necessarily needed. It is used to make the solution acidic which is necessary to set the dye – but the Kool-Aid itself has ascorbic acid and is probably acidic enough.
Then submerge your silk in the color of choice. Stir it around to make sure color is getting to all parts of the silk. Continue to stir occasionally. When the dye is absorbed the waterwill bealmost clear or a very light cloudy color and you can remove it. Rinse in cold water, ring out the silk, and hang to dry. After it is dry a put it in the drier on high for a few minutes to heat set it. Don’t know if that is necessary. If you want a lighter color you can use fewer packets or only soak each silk for a shorter time. That way you can use the same dye for multiple silks. That is what we did the first time I dyed silks. This time we used the entire solution for only one silk. You can definitely see the difference in brightness. The above instructions are for dyeing one silk in a single color. We have tye-dyed them before(left).
This time I attempted a variegated color combination since it was a longer silk (6 ft.) .I submerged about 1/3 of the end of the silk in red dye (Cherry), 1/3 of the other end in blue dye (Berry Blue)and left the middle 1/3 out of the solution.
After those dyes had been absorbed, the middle section was submerged in the yellow dye (Lemonade). FYI, yellow is probably one of the weaker dyes. I actually added several drops of food coloring to the solution to get it a little darker (more packets of Kool-Aid, would have helped too but we didn’t have more). I put part ofthe blue and part of the red into theyellow solution as well to get orange and greenin between.
The green came out okay but there is very little orange – the red dye just seemed too dark to be changed much by the weaker yellow. But it is still pretty.
As I mentioned at the beginning it is not really messy, but it can stain. You can use gloves if you want, so your fingers won’t be off color for the day. It does wear off pretty quickly. It also can stain light colored formica or clothing so cover those. But all in all it is a very simple, safe,and effective medium to use for kid and family friendly dyeing of play silks. There are also variations on the method mentioned in other places. Some use a microwave method or “double boiler” simmering to heat them, but we have never had trouble with them readily accepting the color with just hot water.
