Dying Bakers' Twine!

I recently bought cones of bakers' twine for some summer fundraising bake sales at my daughter's school from Country Clean Paper Supplies.  I think cookies, brownies, and mini loaves sell better when they have cute wrappings!  Buying the twine by the cone is so much cheaper than from shares and samples sets!  So... two cones later, I am overwhelmed with thousands of yards of twine!

I have decided to have a little fun and try a bit of dying.  I worked at a fabric store for 17 or so years and learned how to dye lace, shoes, and fabrics.  I used to do a fair amount of batiking too, so dying the twine seems like a natural thing to do! 

I found some old tie-dye supplies left over from last summer.  They warn that age will distort the colors, and these have been around for a year.  I decided to try out my project using 10-yard hanks of twine. 

Step one:  Measure off the twine and keep it as neat as possible to prevent tangling.  I have a hard time dying with this kind of thing when it is longer than 10 yards.  (That is to say, I have a hard time keeping it from tangling!)

Step two:  Wet the twine with water to help the dye penetrate.

Step three:  Place the twine in a zipper-seal plastic bag.  Squirt the dye in.  Through the plastic bag, massage the dye into the fibers.

Step four:  Let it set.  I wanted to pull one out, so I chose the purple.  I removed it after 20 minutes.  All others were left to set in the dye for about 4 hours. 

Step five:  Through the plastic, squeeze out the dye, allowing it to puddle at the bottom of the bag.  Using gloves, remove the twine and immediately drop it into distilled white vinegar.  (This is the cheap kind of vinegar that you buy at the grocery for a couple of bucks a gallon and is useful for cleaning and deordorizing around the house.)  Let it set for a few minutes to help set the color. 

Step six:  Rinse the twine.  Allow to dry.  Do your best to avoid aggitating and tangling the twine! 

I used the Mickey Font ticket, cut at 1-1/2" on my Expression to make these poster board cards for the twine I dyed.

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