Notice that my trees still aren’t a perfect, uniform green, but that wasn’t the result that I was after. When you overdye a piece, you’re never certain exactly what color you’ll come up with in the end. But with careful forethought and a judicious hand in the dye pot, you can absolutely use overdyeing to mask an offensive color and turn it into something far more appealing to your eye.
About The Author
Julie Finn
I'm a writer, crafter, Zombie Preparedness Planner, and homeschooling momma of two kids who will hopefully someday transition into using their genius for good, not the evil machinations and mess-making in which they currently indulge. I'm interested in recycling and nature crafts, food security, STEM education, and the DIY lifestyle, however it's manifested--making myself some underwear out of T-shirts? Done it. Teaching myself guitar? Doing it right now.
Visit my blog Craft Knife for a peek at our very weird handmade homeschool life, and my etsy shop Pumpkin+Bear for a truly odd number of rainbow-themed beeswax pretties.
I never saw this before but it looks interesting to try and I think I can add this to my decoration for Christmas. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing this technique. I’m wondering since the trees were rinsed and not washed, if there would be a problem w/color fastness…would the overdye bleed if they were placed on a tablecloth or other cloth surface? This is definitely a technique I will consider as I am rummaging through old wool sweaters!
There would be a problem with color-fastness if the trees got wet. Three solutions:
1) Whenever possible, overdye your felted wool before you create with it. I only overdyed a finished project because it was a craft emergency!
2) If it’s a decorative object, like my felted wool trees on a cloth tablecloth, glue something waterproof to the bottom of the object, such as a piece of an old plastic grocery bag.
3) Hand-wash the object, which will allow you to completely rinse away excess dye as well as keep the finished object sound.
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