Playsilks - Page 3

[Flor]

Well, I got the direction from someone else, and I asked her if I could PM them to someone else and she said yes, but I didn't know if they were from a different website or her personal directions or what, so I just PM'd them to other people. I'll post them if it's ok with Kari-mom!


I'll post pics soon. I did some practice silks with dark blues and purples and turned those into a cape for ds's friend's bday. So cute!

Then, I dyed a medium blue bigger silk, painted it with gold metallic stars and made a quilt for my friend's baby shower. I was modeling it on the one in the Magic Cabin book, but I might like mine better. . .and way cheaper than 60 dollars! More like 15.

[KathinJapan]

I`d love the Wilton directions also!
We still have some blanks to dye.
Need fun activities for 3 year old now that newborn is here!!!!
Eagerly awaiting...
Kathryn

[kamacat]

flor they look fantastic

[Flor]

Originally Posted by sparklemom

wow! yea! i'm so glad i came across this thread! playsilks are used until they're rags in our house. i'd love to have bunches of them, but i've found it hard to spend so much on them (even tho we enjoy them so). so great to see we can make them ourselves!!!
?...i just ordered ten of the regular-ish sized silks. where can i order larger sized ones? anyone have a link?

thanks!

How about these? Just by the yard, not finished silks:

http://www.achildsdream.com/handwork...ilk_fabric.htm

[naturallyspeaking]

HI,
so is playsilk need to be something that is see through or would solid fabric be ok?

Originally Posted by ma2maya

Playsilks(playcloths etc) are squares/lengths of silk that are used as an open ended toy. They basically can be whatever your child would want to imagine them to be...dress-up, a fort, a carpet, etc etc.

Kathy

[MamaFern]

a question for those using wiltons cake dyes..

i have experimented quite a bit with them but with some colours im getting this chunky white thing going on that ends up leaving darker splotches on my silks.. any idea why?

[Flor]

With Koolaid I found that the microwave directions worked fine, but with the cake colors, I couldn't get all the color to disolve and I got chunks onmy fabric. With the cake colors I usedthe stovetop method (which is actually really easy!) and I mixed, mixed, mixed the colors with a whisk and then I had solid colors. I did have more problems with purple. Someone told me that the red and blue dyes are absorbed by the fabric differently and one time I got a couple of pink blotches.

[Flor]

Originally Posted by naturallyspeaking

HI,
so is playsilk need to be something that is see through or would solid fabric be ok?

You could use anything you want, but babies and toddlers seem to love the texture of silk. It is so different from most fabrics they have in their lives (cotton, wool) and they like the transparency of it.

[alisonsage]

i just wanted to add that i, too, think that it is much easier to get solid colors even using the stovetop method than using the microwave!

[MamaFern]

we dont have a microwave, but i still got the chunks....

[~MoonGypsy~]

Here's basic Kool-Aid dying:

http://www.thepiper.com/fiberart/koo...ithkoolaid.pdf

[mercy589]

I'm interested in the Wilton colors method too!

For regular koolaid dying - is there another site that tells step by step? My computer froze up when trying to open the site the pp mentioned. I'm so excited to make some of these, I thought dying stuff was harder, but it seems pretty simple!

[Queen Gwen]

I tried Wilton colors using the directions at this blog.

I used leaf green Wilton to dye one silk. I'm not sure how much Wilton I used -- I just got a blob on the tip of a table knife (maybe about 1/8 tsp.). I got my hot water from a hot tea kettle, and mixed it in a large measuring cup.

I discovered that the step of keeping the fabric in the pot for 10 minutes before adding the vinegar was totally unnecessary since the fabric took up no color whatsoever until I added the vinegar.

Also, the silk took up more of the blue than the yellow. The water never did get clear, and I turned off the whole thing and let it cool earlier than the directions said -- I have an electric stove so it took a long time to cool down. Shoot, at one point earlier in the process I wandered off and the whole thing started boiling with the silk in it. Oops. In other words, I wasn't exactly a slave to the directions.

And, you know what? It came out *very* nice -- even color, nice spring green effect. Perfect for our nature table. Now, if I can just get around to making some flower children we'd be set.

[Pam_and_Abigail]

me too on the wilton cake dyes info. I just got my blanks from thai silks, but the koolaid I picked up wasn't enough (I have two packs of orange and half a pack of purple/bluey berry stuff), but I do have some wilton colours that I could use. Please post or pm the wilton info.

[Pam_and_Abigail]

Gwen, you posted while I was posting, so thanks! I've got a bunch of wilton colours that I am thinking I will try, and leave the koolaid for dyeing playdough

[amathyst]

I'm getting some blanks from Dharma Tradng Co. this week and would love to get the Wilton directions, as well, if they aren't being posted.

[Flor]

Originally Posted by amathyst

I'm getting some blanks from Dharma Tradng Co. this week and would love to get the Wilton directions, as well, if they aren't being posted.

See post #53. It even has pics!

[kandkrose]

these are such great dying tips! thank you!!!

[Pam_and_Abigail]

I did it! I'll try to remember to post the pictures. I used my wilton cake dyes, and they turned out very nicely. I twisted them up to tie dye them but I was surprised by the contrast in the first one (terra cotta red), so I untied the green and yellow as they were still in the dye to give a slightly more uniform colour. The red one is mostly pink with crimson streaks.

[sunflowers]

I've spent the past 2 days messing with koolaid and silk scarf blanks : I've tried Grape, cherry/black cherry, lemon-lime, pink lemonade, blue raspberry lemonade, lemonade, mango, orange, and one I coffee dyed.

My results: Coffee dye was the easiest, most uniform and nicely colorfast! It looks almost golden in the sunshine
Pink lemonade, mango, and lemonade were all easy & covered fairly evenly. I dyed them all 2x, though. Mango is my favorite, I think!
Orange, blue rasp, and lemon-lime all were mottled (doesn't look bad, just not what I was going for). The orange didn't stay very orange- faded to more of a salmon color after rinsing.
Grape and Cherry were not colorfast at all. I did these several times and couldn't get the color to stick.

I soaked all of my blanks in vinegar water, added vinegar to the koolaid solution, and used the microwave to set the dye. For the ones that I couldn't get the color to set, I even did a post-dye rinse in salted vinegar water because it worked so well for the coffee silk.

Am I doing it wrong or does this seem typical? I do mostly like the results. They'll be dry in the morning and I can post a pic if anyone wants.

Next time I'm trying the wilson's food dye or even simple food coloring.