Dyed clothespins... lots of them.
With this baby shower right around the corner, I've been ramping up production of all the little details I want to incorporate in my part of the decorating. I won't divulge all the details right now (I want it to be a surprise!), but I will say that it involves a LOT of colorful clothespins.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I somehow acquired a whole bunch of wood clothespins... well this takes care of 200 of them! Of course, painting that many clothespins would have been a ridiculous chore, so I decided to color them with fabric dye. So much faster!
I started by dividing my clothespins evenly into three gallon-sized plastic zipper bags, one for each color.
I then added urea (a chemical that helps the dye absorb into the fibers) and powdered fabric dye (I use Procion dye from Dharma Trading; I do a lot of tie dye in summer and had this on-hand) right into the bags, then filled them up with hot water. I sealed the bags, shook them up and let them sit for a few hours while I ran some errands.
When I returned, the clothespins appeared to have taken on a good amount of color from the dye. I rinsed them in a wire bowl, one color at a time, until the water ran clear.
I then hung them on the clothesline to dry. Good thing I got them hung out early! We got some more sloppy, wet snow in the afternoon. Yippee. Where is this so-called spring? I'm definitely in need of some sunshine action.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I somehow acquired a whole bunch of wood clothespins... well this takes care of 200 of them! Of course, painting that many clothespins would have been a ridiculous chore, so I decided to color them with fabric dye. So much faster!
I started by dividing my clothespins evenly into three gallon-sized plastic zipper bags, one for each color.
I then added urea (a chemical that helps the dye absorb into the fibers) and powdered fabric dye (I use Procion dye from Dharma Trading; I do a lot of tie dye in summer and had this on-hand) right into the bags, then filled them up with hot water. I sealed the bags, shook them up and let them sit for a few hours while I ran some errands.
When I returned, the clothespins appeared to have taken on a good amount of color from the dye. I rinsed them in a wire bowl, one color at a time, until the water ran clear.
I then hung them on the clothesline to dry. Good thing I got them hung out early! We got some more sloppy, wet snow in the afternoon. Yippee. Where is this so-called spring? I'm definitely in need of some sunshine action.
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