Naturally Dye Silks.

 I have a treat for you tomorrow. Jennifer from the enchanting Syrendell is going to be our guest on Discovering Waldorf and her topic will be The Magic of Play Silks. I can't wait for you to read all about how play silks fit into Waldorf and the many ways silks can ignite imaginative play. I truly think that if we were to be stranded on a deserted island and could only take ONE plaything with us, I'd choose play silks for my children.

So, I thought I'd precede Jennifer's post with a tutorial on how you can dye your own silks using everyday, natural, dyes...

I have a few of the white silks available in my shop, Fairyfolk, if you'd like to have a try (click here for the actual listing). If you are going to be using natural dyes, it's best to use a mordant, which helps the dye to penetrate the silk and will make your silk more colorful. The mordant I use is Alum. The white silks available in my shop have all been pre-soaked in Alum for immediate dying.

The first dye we used is beetroot.

Cut the beetroot up into small cubes.

Put beetroot into a pot of water and bring to the boil.

When the water is boiling, add your silk. As my kids help me with the dyeing (very carefully of course as I do not want them to get burned) I turn off the heat before adding the silks. We then let the silks sit in the red beetroot water. They stir the pot occasionally until our silk has reached the color we want it to be (not too long for light pink, longer for deeper pink/reddish). We carefully take it out of the hot water and rinse it in cold water. Hang on the line to dry and Voila! You have a beautifully naturally dyed play silk.

Next we used New Zealand Flax. It grows in our garden.

All parts of the plant can be used. Cut off a bunch of flowers and leaves.

It's always such a fun adventure to guess what color a plant is gong to make our silk.

Cut the Flax up in to small bits in your dying pot.

Flowers, stalks, leaves and all.

Cover with water. Put on the stove and bring to a boil.

Once it is boiling, add the silk and stir. You'll see the silk take on the magically golden color of the flax. Let it sit until it has reached the intensity of color you desire.

Take it out of the pot, rinse in cold water and hang it on the line to dry... Voila! Your beautifully golden playsilk is ready to become your kind knights cape, your golden mountain for your playthings or your pretty gold table cloth for your tea party.

For more natural dying tutorials, please visit Aurora,  Echoes of a Dream and  Fiona Duthie's Blog (aah, the beauty!)

Please pop back in tomorrow for Jennifer's post on the magic of play silks.

Blessings and magic,
Donni

How to Tie Dye.

We have an early summer tradition. We raid our closets for white shirts that aren't so white anymore (chocolate milk, ketchup, coffee stains :-). Also, during the year, if I come across a nice cheap white dress for K, I purchase it in a bigger size and keep it aside too. What do we do with all of these tired old clothes, you ask? We tie dye them of course! We have our own little tie dye party, giving new life to our old stained things.

This is what is needed:

Dyes (found at markets and craft stores - I found mine at Walmart)

Squeeze bottles (found at craft stores)

Rubber bands (craft stores)

White clothes to be dyed.

A dying pot filled with clean cool water (this is the pot I use for all of my dying - I don't use my dye pot for cooking food)

Rubber gloves.

First we wash our clothes. Then, when they are still damp, we tie them up with rubber bands.

Once they are all rubber-banded up, we mix the dye to the dye instructions, put on our gloves, and fill the squeeze bottles. We decide on what color should go where (not an easy decision for a 6 year-old but a very easy one for a 3 year-old!) and squeeze the dye onto the garment.

We love the concentric circle tie dye patterns the best. You can see how we tied K's dress up with rubber bands to get this effect... the dye will not penetrate the white cloth where the rubber bands are tied tightly... thus making the white circle suns.

Here, K wanted to experiment with a whole lot of colorful circles.

When the dye has been applied to each garment, put it in a plastic bag to rest and 'set'.

We also each made a rainbow silk - here is Mr T's... he liked squirting his dye best.

The dye instructions say to leave the dyed garment in the plastic bag for 6-8 hours for maximum color. We, however, wanted our clothes to be gentle colors, so we washed them in HOT water after about 2 hours (besides, it was just too hard to wait much longer!)

Here is K's dress and Mr T's t-shirt. Didn't they turn out wonderfully?

I made them jump for joy, (in an effort to get rid of the spazzy grins in the photo above but included it anyway as it's just too damn funny!)

We left our silks over night and they are much brighter.

We will be a colorful little Rainbow Family this summer.

Blessings and magic,

Donni