# Dyeing gauze



## jdubbya

I need to darken some light colored gauze. What's an inexpensive,easy way to do this? I've heard of tea/coffee staining, but is there a recommended method? What about traditional fabric dyes? Thanks for any info.


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## Johnmonster

Tea-staining is more for aging and mellowing of light and bright colors. If you want dark gauze, coffee would be better. Just dump some used coffee grounds into a pot and add enough water to cover your fabric. The more grounds, the darker it gets. Boil the used grounds until the water is dark enough to suit you.

I don't know how much gauze shrinks, but if it matters, let the water cool before putting the gauze in. If shrinking doesn't matter, toss the gauze in and simmer it in the coffee.

It'll end up a shade or two lighter (compared to when wet out of the dye bath) when it dries.

Walnut shells work too, but I've never used them. Seems like you just crush and boil them to make the dye.

A few days ago I was making a pot of black beans (yum) and it inspired me to research using them to make dye. Turns out black bean juice makes blue/purple dye.

A couple of quick google searches will reveal a ton about all these methods, mostly from folks who like to knit and dye their yarn (hippies).


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## RoxyBlue

If the gauze is cotton, use RIT dye if you want to go traditional. You can find it in any fabric store.

John's suggestions are all good and likely cheaper,especially if you're a coffee or tea drinker anyway.


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## jdubbya

Great ideas! I may try the coffee method and see what I end up with. I believe it's cotton gauze but not sure.


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## Aquayne

Why not add boric acid and borax to made it fire resistant while your at it.


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## Pumpkin5

:jol:I'm with Roxy, Rit is the bomb! You don't want to let this stuff go through the 'fluff and fold' though, just take it out of the washer (after it dyes, while still wet) and let it air dry. Also if you want to water down cheap acrylic paint and put it in a spray bottle, you can end up with some good custom colors if it is for a costume or a specific color palette. I have done both with excellent results. Rit is easier, no wait time, but you have one color....spraying is good for shading and color variance, and the result can be dramatic...but it's up to you.


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## Bone Dancer

I have used coffee to age cloth, Rit dye to color cloth (making my own "creepy cloth" with cheese cloth and black rit dye). I have also used acrylic paint in a small pot with warm water and soaked some material. And if you have ever stained your cloths with fruit juice you know that will work too. For that matter Kool-aid might even work.


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## jdubbya

Thanks for the ideas. Now I have a project for next week!


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## Haunted Hot Sauce

*"Grunging" Liquid*

1 cup of almost boiling water
4 tablespoons instant coffee
1-2 tsp. of cheap vanilla extract

Put your gauze (I use this for cheesecloth) in a plastic container and dump the liquid on top of it. Use a wooden or plastic spoon (unless you want brown hands) to mash down the cloth so that it all gets covered. You can add more of the mixture of a little water to cover the top depending on how dark you want the end result. (Caution: it looks BLACK in the container but dries to a medium brown)

A little bit of this goes a long way though and you end up with a fairly dark stain. No need to let this sit very long either. Once the cloth is covered the stain is done! I don't rinse it out afterwards either. Instead I hang my cloth outside on a string extended from my garage door and a ladder. The drips from it are very dark so protect the floor if you don't do this outside.

For variations or to lighten it a little you can spray the cloth with clear water while it's hanging on the string.

I still haven't figure out how to make it weathproof though. Maybe you could add a small amount of exterior wood glue to the liquid to make it resist water without turning it too crispy. (Anyone have a better idea?)

After a while it ends up smelling a bit like old cloth too. (In the beginning it smells like a haunted Starbucks) You might want to try a very small amount of liquid and fabric to start because for some people, the rich coffee smell is a deal-breaker.

It ends up looking like this:


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## Haunted Hot Sauce

And yeah...like Bone Dancer said, you can also just mix a small amount of acrylic paint in water and soak your fabric in that. I made "hanging Spanish moss" from long triangular sections of cheesecloth and I wanted a custom grey-green color not available from RIT. It turned out to be weatherproof too!


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## Sawtooth Jack

I used the acrylic paint/water method last year on the gauze pieces for the arms of my Sawtooth prop and it worked well enough and was water-proof too. It took quite a bit more paint-to-water than I thought it would and it still ended up fairly light. I wanted a nice dark mossy green and ended up with a lovely shade of sea-foam!


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## dynoflyer

Pumpkin5 said:


> :jol: just take it out of the washer (after it dyes, while still wet)


I use one of those empty dry wall compound buckets to dye gauze, if I put RIT dye in the washing machine it'd be my head on the pole at Halloween


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