adventures in silk dyeing

so.

we are working on a fan veil choreography.

and I have 6 performers.  unfortunately we are not all in the same colour fan, nor are we in all different colours of fans.  So today I decided to take a set of the old beat up white fans and give dying them a shot in a colour that we don't have.
one white, one red, two turquoise, one blue,  I also have a set in  orange and a set in pink but they don't match.


See - I ordered new fans for myself and they aren't in the same pattern as the older sets - The fans that I ordered for the group years back are colour - fading down to white.  The new fans - although they do fade down to a less intense colour - Do not fade down to white, just a lesser shade of whatever.  Too bad it is so dang obvious.

Since I found instructions for dying silk with kool aid or food colouring - I thought - why not?  take some of the older sets in plain white and give it a shot. they are pretty ratty now and from a distance it is mostly colour that is going to show.

Tips for the future.  Vinegar/hot water - will cause the glue to let go - DON'T soak that end of the fan.
but other than that... they look half decent and if I can re-glue them  I have one more set of fans for the show. 

yes I dyed my hands yellow

so I went back to do a second application to get the core area around the bamboo staves a more vibrant shade and yes - even though I was using a brush I managed to dye both my hands yellow.

oh well.  The fans look gorgeous.