Tie Silk Dye Transfer

Today I had so much fun doing this tie-dye project. No, this is not the tie-dyeing that was popular in your hippie days. This is actually using men's silk neck ties and transferring the color onto silk scarves. Andrea was so kind to turn over the whole first floor of her lovely home into workshop space for us. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of her. Shame on me!

Here's Barbara on one half of the big table in Andrea's huge studio. I had the other half. I got there a little late, so I wasn't set up yet.

Nike is in the dining room and she shared that space with Andrea. Notice all the ties draped over the chairs.

Carolyn had one table in the living room. Look at the graceful curves she's cutting. Andrea had set up two tables in there after moving furniture and rolling up the rugs.

Chris had the other table in the living room. We also had two ironing stations set up and the use of the dryer in the laundry room.

To give a very simple explanation of the process: Take pieces of the silk ties, put them right side down on the right side of the silk scarves. Roll around a PVC pipe, wrap in muslin, tie tightly with curling ribbon, submerge in a big pot of water/white vinegar solution and simmer for 2o minutes. There's a little more to it than that, but that's basically it.

Part of the fun and/or frustration is that you never really know what color you will end up with. These dark navy and bright red prints turned out a little subdued, as you can see in the picture below.

These bright red and navy polka dots became the colors below. Reds are usually reliable, but not always. Look how light the navy blue became.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. Andrea has made many, many of these and hers are always beautiful. She has a knack for putting together wonderful color combinations and patterns. I'm hoping she puts them on her Etsy store. Barbara made a gorgeous two-sided one last year in a technique that she perfected and she won Best of Show at a Woman's Club Arts and Crafts competition. Carolyn's, Chris's and Nike's all looked wonderful, too. I should have taken more pictures. I didn't even take mine until I got home.