Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Tea dyeing silk....


On the £1 rail outside our local charity shop, I spotted this bright orange silk top with a kind of Swiss dot texture to it. I was smitten with the silk and the style, but a little dubious on the colour. The before photo doesn't quite capture how bright it was. It was REALLY bright. Since my freshly dyed hair can sometimes be on the bright side of ginger (depending if I'm in a red or ginger mood when I buy my hair dye ;) I thought a bright orange top could potentially be a bit "clashy"! I prefer more earthy tones anyway so I needed to "mute" the orange. Luckily Marie's post had reminded me of the ageing properties of tea on lace. (Thanks Marie!) Not too much of a leap then, to wonder what it's effect would be on silk.....

To say I'm impressed with the result is an understatement. The resulting colour is right up my street. Really Autumnal. But beyond that, the even colour result is immaculate! Not a streak, blotch or tide line in sight. Compared to commercial hand dyes I've tried in the past it's massively superior; and it's just humble old tea!!
There's a little more detail on my blog regarding quantities and timings etc

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I wouldn't have thought of this at all but it is such a nifty little thing to do to get a colour that is more you.
Eddie EOD