Over the summer I had gotten a few emails and ads about fun art projects. Often the subject was about tye dye. I started wondering if the same procedures could be applied to a silk scarf as opposed to a cotton tee shirt to get similar pattern results. After a few experiments, I realized it can be done to a degree. Obviously, you would be working with silk dyes instead of cotton dyes and ash solutions. It’s a little more simplistic in that you don’t need a stretcher or gutta.
This would also work well as a class project since you wouldn’t need a boat-load of stretchers. However, I would suggest using the silk dyes that are set using an iron instead of steam setting. This would be a good way to introduce people to fabric painting or make scarves as a team project (pinks for breast cancer or purple for Alzheimer’s).
I’ve added some instructions for silk tye dye to the instructions page on my site. Please check it out if you are interested.
Speaking of tye dye, not far from where I live a family spent their weekends using a pop-up tent in their front yard selling tye dye tee shirts that they made as well as the opportunity to “make your own”. I thought this was a very cool and artistic alternative to the lemonade stand. If this idea intrigues you—you should check out your local laws and ordinances first.
Cheers,
Diane