Weave Experiments

More Cotton Dyeing

I previously posted about dip dyeing some cotton string. I used Kool-aid to dye the string and if you remember the outcome was much different then when I had dyed wool with Kool-aid. Thanks to experienced fiber dyers they explained that Kool-aid is an acid dye, which works on protein based fibers (wool and such) but not on plant based fibers (my cotton).

I’m so happy when others share their knowledge and experience, it helps me learn a lot quicker!

And with that said, I know dyeing cotton with Kool-aid doesn’t hold color well, but it makes such a pretty pastel…so I dyed some more. I just get a kick out of seeing the colors fade out and am actually surprised by the end results.

Before experimenting with dyeing, I rubber-banded some spots in my string skein. I did this to make some areas where the string didn’t take up the dye as directly as other places in the string. I then soaked my string in a mixture of 6 cups of water and 2 cups of vinegar. I left it in there until I felt that the string was wet enough. I then poured the liquid mixture into a pot and brought it to a boil, which I used with the Kool-aid to dye the string.

One of my cotton Kool-aid dyeing experiences, I used three packs of blue Kool-aid and mixed it in my boiling hot water/vinegar. I put my cotton string in the mixture and then sprinkled a packet of green Kool-aid over part of the string and a packet of yellow Kool-aid over a different part.

This picture of the mixture is pretty blurry due to the steam coming off the hot water. But as you can see the dyeing colors don’t look too pretty.

I let the string sit in this mixture for a while and then additional green and yellow colors dissolved into the hot water a bit as time went on. After maybe an hour, I drained the dye water and hung my string (with the rubber bands still on) on a clothes drying rack with the empty dyeing dish under it to catch any drips of liquid (which there is a good amount of). I let the string dry like this over night. Drying the string in this way really spreads the dye through-out, causing the colors to blend.

In the morning the string was still damp and I took it to the sink to rinse. I rinsed it by running some water over it and then putting it the dyeing dish again with more water. I let it soak in the water for a while. More color came out of the string and filled the dish. I drained the dish then removed the rubber bands and rinsed the string again and hung it from the drying rack for a second time. This time on the rack I separated the strings a bit more so they would actually dry. Through out the day I moved the strings so that each part would have a chance to dry better. I had tied my cotton string with some yarn in two spots to keep the string in an circle so that it wouldn’t tangle while I was dyeing and moving the string around. As the string was drying I un-tied and then re-tied these two yarns in different spots so that all the areas of the string could be spaced out to dry well.

By the end of the day my string was well dried and had a great pastel color, and way different then what the dye bath looked like. It turned out to be a pastel blue with some spots of a pastel green. I didn’t see too much yellow in the string, which I’m not too surprised. I’m sure the blue took over where ever the yellow had been, but it probably tinted the blue a little and made the color slightly more interesting.

After this, I also tried dyeing with some peach, red, and yellow Kool-aid in a similar process and ended up with a really pretty dyed string. Dyeing cotton with Kool-aid is not recommended, but I did find it fun to see what would happen to my colors as they mostly washed out. I’ll have to add dyeing cotton the proper way to my list of things to try.