Hi All!

I got my 10 playsilks to dye for the pirate swap. I also got some Kool-Aid (berry blue blast). My question is three-fold:

Can I dye all 10 scarves at once (I have an 8-qt stainless pot)?

Is 2 packets of blue KA enough?

Can I do the "sun tea" method without sun (it's snowing here)? I have a large glass jar (2-gallons) that would probably fit all 10 scarves at once.

Thanks for your help!
Lori

You can dye them all together. They most likely will have a lot of variation in color (mottled) if you dye them all together because they will be touching and sitcking to each other while in the dye bath. Which is not a bad thing; they will probably end up looking pretty cool.

IME, blue kool aid is not the best :( To get a good blue you will need a lot more than 2 packets. You can always try and see what happens, but blue and green are a pain for me to get a good dark shade with (they are cloudy when you mix them and the cloudy ones always come out lighter). I know there is a blue KA out there that we don't have here that is not cloudy because I got some in a swap once and it worked better than the blue we have (which I thin kis blue raspberry, but I am not sure, and I don't have any here). You can always try it and redye them later with more KA (or with Wilton's icing colors, the ones that come in the little pots. Those work well and give really vibrant colors) if you think they are too light.

I have never tried the sun tea method. I alway use the stovetop method or the microwave method, depending on how/what I am dyeing. But as long as it's hot, even without sun, it should work. The dyes need the heat to set into the silks. Again, you can always try it and if they don't set, you can put them on the stove, or in the microwave afterwards :)

What size are the scarves? I think for blue you'll need more than 2, defintiely.

I've dyed with Koolaid (wild berry or something) and it came out a fun turquoise color. I also got a lovely (really pretty) blue with wilson dyes or even some of those old McKormic dyes if you have a 20 y/o package of those lying around (so they still make them?)

Have fun dying! (that didn't come out right...)

Berry Blue KA turns wool a fantastic blue-green! If you like bright orange KA is great too. HTH,