When I went to church camp every summer as a kid, one of my favourite activities was making tie-dye t-shirts. I would create all kinds of elaborate, crazy patterns and mix the dyes together to create new colours. I couldn’t wait to cut the rubber bands and wash and rinse my t-shirt to see how it turned out!
There are so many crafts that cross over into scrapbooking and I recently thought to myself, “Why not give tie-dyeing a try?” To get started, you’ll need a variety of spray ink colours, dictionary paper (or any other type of light-weight paper such as sheet music, newsprint, etc.) and old newspapers.
Spread out a few newspapers to protect your work surface. [Note: for this project, plastic spray mats are not an ideal work surface.] Crumple a sheet of dictionary paper into a ball.
Choose two spray ink colours that, when blended together, create a third colour. For instance, yellow and red blend to orange. Spray on several small, random patches of the first colour, rotating the ball around on the newspaper. You’ll want to hold the nozzle about 2” away from the ball and spray in short, fast bursts. The ball will begin to expand and open as the paper saturates with ink.
Repeat with the second colour, spraying small patches right next to the first colour, allowing the two colours to overlap a bit. When done, the ball should look something like this:
Set the paper ball aside to dry. Now, no peeking! If you open the ball while the ink is wet, the ink will drip/run and the paper might tear. If you are impatient (like me), you can speed up the drying time with a heat gun or microwave the paper ball for 15-20 seconds. :)
Once dry, gently open the ball and hand press the paper flat. Now that you see the random pattern and ink coverage this technique creates, you’ll get a better idea of how much (or how little) ink to spray onto the ball, and how large to make the patches of colour. Try another one!
From the two I made, I created three paper blossoms for this card that I showed on Monday.
You could also use this tie-dye technique for backgrounds, paper piecing, die cuts and envelopes. Give it a try and share your results with us—we’d love to see what you come up with!
~ Becky Fleck
Very creative idea. I will have to give this a try.
Posted by: JoAnn Burnham | August 24, 2011 at 09:51 AM
love this tutorial...thanks for sharing!
Posted by: michelle | August 24, 2011 at 09:54 AM
Love this,will be trying this out! Thanks
Posted by: MELINDA MCCALL | August 24, 2011 at 10:22 AM
I want to try this! Thanks!
Posted by: Lee-Anne | August 24, 2011 at 10:55 AM
Love the effect. Must try it out very soon. Need to find an old dictionary. I guess I'll check out a used book store next to my local scrapbooking store. Thanks for the tutorial.
Posted by: Darla Ebbeson | August 24, 2011 at 12:41 PM
Awesome, I'll definitely be trying this one!
Posted by: Roxanne McCleary | August 24, 2011 at 01:13 PM
oh yeah, going to the craft room now to try this out, am making a shabby journal for a friend and a tie dye flower on the front is just the special touch it needs! thanks for the tips and tricks!
Posted by: Cindy Lou | August 24, 2011 at 01:47 PM
What a cool technique!
Posted by: Melissa | August 24, 2011 at 04:31 PM
Love how this looks with the flowers.
Posted by: Bunnyfreak | August 24, 2011 at 07:47 PM
I was wondering how you made did these flowers! Thanks for the great tip!
Posted by: Carol Metully | August 24, 2011 at 09:00 PM
so aesome and I even have the supplies on hand to do this. Thanks!
Posted by: Teresa aka Tess | August 25, 2011 at 09:09 AM
Neat! I'm going to have to try that!
Posted by: Pamela Bennett | August 25, 2011 at 11:02 PM
I love to use spray colors and your project and idea is adorable!
Posted by: Linda Beeson | August 28, 2011 at 05:08 PM