How-Tos

Looking to make your Easter table more colorful?  Laura Bray made this festive Easter egg–shaped placemat using a batik-dyeing technique.  A resist medium was applied to the fabric by drawing stripes and patterns.  Then the dye was painted full strength onto the fabric, just like coloring an Easter egg, and finished off in the microwave!  This is sure to bring Easter joy to your dining table. 

For each placemat, Laura started out by drawing an oval shape on white fabric.  Then she applied Batik-EZ resist medium in striped patterns on each placemat.  After the resist dried, Laura painted Aquamarine, Purple, Tangerine and Fuchsia dye between the stripes.  Then she wrapped the placemat in plastic wrap and heat set the dye in the microwave.  Later, each placemat was washed and dried. Then Laura worked her magic by backing the batik dyed egg shape with batting and stitching jumbo rickrack over the egg. What a colorful idea!  The coordinating napkins were dyed Purple and the eyelet lace was dyed Apple Green.  Click here for the full tutorial.

Laura Bray is a designer, writer and lifestyle expert.  She inspires creative women to live a life of balance and simplicity by sharing her modern twist on traditional home arts.  Visit her blog at www.katydiddys.blogspot.com for great tips and tutorials.

St. Patrick’s Day is approaching quickly! Here’s a sweet card you can make for a special friend.  Cindi Bisson created this card using a watercolor blending technique with Rit Dye on watercolor paper.  Then she tried stamping shamrocks with Rit dye using the VersaMark inkpad, and it worked! Just think of all the many creative possibilities for papercrafts!

Cindi started out by running water over the watercolor paper and then she brushed and blended small amounts of Kelly Green and Dark Green dye directly onto the paperto create the watercolor effect. To help the dye adhere to the paper, she heated and dried the paper in the microwave! To stamp the shamrocks, Cindi first pressed the shamrock stamp onto the VersaMark inkpad. This is a clear pad with sticky ink. The ink helps the dye be more evenly distributed on the stamp.  Using this ink pad definitely opens up lots of possibilities for stamping with the dyes.  

Take a peek at the inside of the card! Cindi makes it so easy to use Rit dye for cardmaking.

Click here for the full tutorial. 

Cindi is a mixed-media artist and the Associate Producer for When Creativity Knocks, an online craft TV show. She creates a weekly Simple Solutions project and writes a Product Review for the website.  To find out more about Cindi, visit her blog at Fat Cat Creations.

Here’s another fun St. Patty’s Day headband you can make in no time at all!  It’s sure to get you the kiss you want on St. Patty’s Day! Created by Ann Butler, this headband was made by hand-dyeing ribbon, wrapping it around a plastic headband and adding glittery stemmed shamrocks Fun to wear and easy to make!

Ann dyed nylon satin-striped ribbon with a mix of Kelly Green dye and water.  Rit is one of the few dyes that will dye nylon. After washing and drying the ribbon she wrapped it around a narrow headband and glued it in place.  Then she cut 2 shamrock sprigs from a shamrock decoration and glued “Kiss Me” and “Celebrate” to the shamrocks for some extra pizzazz! And, then Ann attached the shamrocks to the headband.  So easy and so much fun -- make one for yourself and one for a friend! Click here for the full tutorial.

Ann is a Freelance Mixed Media Artist, Designer and Instructor for the Creative Industries.  Ann works with a wide variety of mediums and loves to incorporate them in her design work.   She teaches online classes at Creative Workshops and you can visit her blog at Creativity Stirs The Soul (www.creativitystirsthesoul)

Have you got a scarf in your closet that lacks pizzazz? We started with a boring black cotton scarf that looked a little tired and refashioned it into a terrific 2- color scarf.  With the help of Rit’s amazing Color Remover and Evening Blue dye, we recolored this scarf to give it new life and a fashionable color-blocked style!

Rit Color Remover is one of those well kept secrets. Did you know that Rit Color Remover can be used, not only to remove color, but to create a design element? Start with a black or dark-colored cotton scarf. Fold it in half in the lengthwise direction and roll it up loosely along the length. To remove the color along the outside edges, we mixed 1 package of Rit Color Remover in 2 gallons of very hot water; stir well. Then, holding the rolled scarf by the folded edge, dip the outside edges halfway into the color remover solution. Hold the scarf for about 5-10 minutes until the color is removed. Then carefully remove the scarf and rinse in hot, then warm water to remove the excess color remover. Wash with warm water in mild detergent. Set aside. Then prepare a dye bath of Evening Blue and re-dye the scarf.  It’s super easy, and just like magic, the scarf is transformed into a fashionable color-blocked scarf!  Click here for the full tutorial.