I got the plain silks in the mail a couple of days ago, and spent naptime yesterday dyeing them. I used the directions I found here to dye with the Wilton's cake dye. After my first attempt I figured out that none of the color actually absorbed during the first 10 minutes, but within seconds of pouring in the vinegar the silks had turned green. After that I added the vinegar right away and just simmered for 30 minutes each.
I was really happy with the yellow, blue, green, and purple (for which I simmered 15 minutes in blue and 15 minutes in red). But the red alone and my attempts at pink and orange were awful. The red never actually made anything red, it ended up being what I like to call 'oww-my-eyes-orangish'. I think its ugly, but Luis likes it, so I guess its just a matter of opinion.
I improvised a drying line on the porch. You can see the 'oww' color in the middle, but it was too dark out to get a great shot of them all.
I attempted to tie dye one, though I have no idea when I have ever tie-dyed, or how I knew how to do it. Maybe its just one of those things I absorbed along the way. Or maybe its just because to tie-dye something, you tie it, then you die it, so I managed to figure it out. I don't know, but I had seen this one on Etsy and loved it, so I was trying to re-create it. Unfortunately I didn't yet know how ugly the red would be. Its still pretty, but not what I was going for.
My collection, brought in from the line this morning. This is about $70 worth of silks if you bought them online, I made them for about $20 (including the dye, which I could dye dozens more with). Not a bad deal. The boys have been using them too. Taye likes to wrap his cars up in them, and Darius just carries them around, or wears one on his head saying, "nice!" I had a lot of fun making them even if they don't turn out to be the most fun toy ever.
And, if all else fails, Grover really likes them!
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