The bags absorb the color and here in the Arizona sun they dry quickly into multi-colored pieces of wonder. Diane brought a package of 150 paper lunch sacks, and yes, we dyed them all in a variety of colors and sizes. Just for fun, we also dyed a yard of muslin fabric cut into quarters. We used the liquid form of the dye and no scientific method at all. Just poured boiling water from pots on the the stove into plastic bins outside to soak up the dye. (Nothing measured, nothing poured.) The magazine does give specific instructions if you need guidelines to follow, but I'm an experienced dyer of cloth and Diane was willing to go along for the ride.
We did think that we might have gotten better results if the paper bags had been heavier (like shopping bag quality). They might have held up better in the hot water bath. These bags came out "distressed", shall we say, but we wanted unique hand-made papers and we got them. They could have used a shorter bath time, but dried quickly laid out on a drop cloth in the sun. Heavier paper bags would have held up better or using water that was not yet truly boiling just really hot. I'd say it depends on what paper bags you start with.
It's really quite entertaining to be out in the bright sun making colorful papers. We have a total of ten gals in the exchange with 12 papers per bundle. Diane is well on her way to a successful paper exchange after today. We'll be sure to post details of the swap.
This photo includes the pieces of fabric as well. Can't be a quilter without fabric and Diane and I both have very strong backgrounds in quilting.
This is Diane. Doesn't she look thrilled with her results? She's busily calling a friend on her Iphone to share the results.
