We were talking about dyeing pearls in one of our doll groups and Diane mentioned that she dyed her pearls with Rit Dye. So I decided to try out some other dyes as well to see if those worked so here is what I did.
The fushia pink pearl is a natural pearl and I used wild plum alcohol ink to dye it.
The one below is also a natural white pearl dyed with alcohol ink. I used Stream
This one below is a synthetic pearl dyed with Lettuce alcohol ink
These two are synthetic pearls the one on the left is the original colour and the one on the right is dipped in alcohal ink diluted with water and heated. I had to leave it in hot water for sometime to get this delicate pink colour.
The ones below on the left is the synthetic pearl and the one on the right is the natural freshwater pearl. I used orange Quick Color for microwave dyeing . Again I mixed a little bit in water heated it and dropped the pearls in it. These coloured more quickly but strangely the synthetic pearl took the red colour from the dye and the natural pearl took the yellow colour from the dye. I liked these the best as they were uniformly coloured
However I think colouring the pearls with the inks is also interesting as you could get swirls of colour on them if you remembered to use forceps to hold the pearls with them instead of your fingers. One has to be quick with the inks as they dry quickly because of the alcohol in them. I foolishly used my fingers and not only did I blotch the colours but in the process coloured my fingers in very bright colours lol!
Very clever idea....I imagine you could get a lot of nice effects too. Great post, Shashi!
ReplyDeleteOh they're all beautiful, but I like the pink synthetic ones the best. You'll be known now as the lady with the technicolor fingers!
ReplyDeletereally like the soft delicate pink colours :D
ReplyDeletegloves next time? ;)
Those are lovely!Yes, next time please wear gloves. :)
ReplyDeleteHugs
They are all pretty....and who would have thought to dye pearls? Not me that's for sure...now you will have me looking at junk jewellery ... let's see...pawn shops...second hand...and...I bet even garage sales.... for pearls to buy and perhaps dye.....
ReplyDeleteVery interesting......I like the blue one very much, but I suppose its not so subtle (a bit like me ;-)
ReplyDeleteAlcohol inks are great for colouring all sorts of things; I use them on buttons, punched metal pieces and brads.
I may have to try this myself, I like them all, very pretty!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your nice comment. I was glad to receive it because just lately I am having trouble finding all my fayourite blogs .Don,t know why. But will now put yours in my Bookmarks.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great experiment! I use rit to dye the faux pearls too as I found the AIs and head took the painted finish off. I love the looks you got! Beautiful. Can't wait to see what you do with them.
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