Dye and Painted Lace -- Playtime!

All of the lace that I dyed last week turned out great! Whew, a long sigh of relief! The next step was to paint some details. But what to use for the paint? Well, I dug out all of my supplies...and in a visit to Hobby Lobby on Saturday with Aidan and my pal Pam...even more things were purchased to play with. This post is about the results... The starting point was white lace...like the little heart to the left of the above photo. All of the lace was dipped into a bath of 1/4 teaspoon of Potassium Permanganate and about 1 1/2 gallon of hot water. The amount of time in the dye bath determines the shade of golden tan that the lace becomes. The hearts on the right of the above photo are in three different shades...but all came out of the same dye bath.  

  I ordered my potassium permanganate from the Science Company on line, it cost about $18 for 500 g of lab grade strength. A word or caution...the potassium permangante is a strong oxidizer agent. Read and follow the instructions on the packaging. And, if you leave lace too long...or use too much...you can 'disintegrate' your lace. Read this post if you think I'm kidding....live and learn.  

  The first over-painting was done with fabric markers. I had never used these before, and probably will not use again. It was too hard to get the "ink" to go into the crevices of the lace. But, the results were adequate...and in a hurry might be suitable for some projects.  

  The next over-painting was done with Glimmer Mist. These sprays come in different shades...and you "spritz" whatever you desire. They are designed for paper...but did cover the lace nicely. No real change in color, mostly just a slight shading and some shine.  

 

Next, some little bottles of ink called "Smooch". I had never seen these before, but there were several shades...and who can pass up that! I found them on clearance at Hobby Lobby and when they were opened I figured out why...they were almost dryed up. I added a bit of fingernail polish remover to liven them up...and they did just fine. The 'brush' is really just a plastic wand..and I would have liked using a real paintbrush much more but could not get one into the little bottle. These were fun to use.

Next came the real workhorse of over-dying...various fabric dyes. The first one was Oxepol. Really, this was not a good candidate because the lace was rayon...and Oxepol is designed by Victorian Elegance to work with nylon and synthetics. But, I tried it out anyway.

Victorian Elegance also sales a dye especially made for rayon, Oxecraft. It works wonderfully and comes in many shades that can be mixed and matched. The website on the bottle is www.victoriandyesandlaces.com if you are interested. I've had my dyes for almost two years and need to replenish some colors. I like the results and ease of use. I forgot to take a photo of the bottles...but here are the lace results.

   Next, a dye that is distributed by Ribbonsmyth called Rainbow Dye. It is premixed and you can combine them to have different colors if you like. Their website is at www.ribbonsmyth.com and the dyes are really easy to use with a small paint brush.  

Lastly was over-dying (or over painting) with paints. The first was with Lumiere which is a metallic acrylic paint made by Jacquard. It is made for use on fabrics and my colors were Pearl Turquoise and True Gold. The turquoise was a big harsh for this treatment, but it was all I had. I liked the ease of application, and could see using their gold and silver on some holiday pieces for sure.  

Next was painting with standard acrylic paints. For painting on fabric, acrylic paints need the addition of textile medium. I also add some water to thin the paint/medium down to the consistency of ink. It saturates the lace better that way. The application is stiffer than with inks or dyes, but still has a beautiful result. These paints are from Hobby Lobby and are their Ceramcoat line. I love the light pastel colors...and found these little plastic containers to mix in.

  And, the last experiment was with Dye-na-flow liquid color by Jacquard. These are designed for synthetic or natural fibers and paint on just like dyes. They hold their true color but can be mixed. I have Emerald Green and Magenta...which are both really bright colors. I loved the way they held their color and didn't run all over the lace. I'm going to be getting some white for blending and see how these look lighter. Perhaps...next month...but definitely want to play with these some more.  

So, in general I was pretty happy with my playtime...and like the results. While some are bright and bold (not my usual style) each will find it's place on a project one day I'm sure.

This post is not intended to be a tutorial or even a comprehensive review of all the ways to over dye or over paint lace. I mean, it doesn't even include my favorite dyeing method (acid dye) for which there is a tutorial on the blog...or using food dyes...or common natural elements. It is simply a recording of my fun weekend of just playing around with what was easily on hand for over-dying...and what I found new at my shopping trip. I do encourage you to experiment with dying and over dying of your lace...you might really find the "child" in you!