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01/30/2007: "an experiment: how to dye pearls"
Those who know me would agree that it generally takes not much more than a suggestion of an idea for me to jump in and try some new crafty something. When I announce to my dear hubby that I have been "experimenting" he usually sighs and knows that the dining room table will be buried under a pile of rubble for at least a week. (I really don't think he bargained for this - pretty sure that "putting up with messes" wasn't in our wedding vows.) So yesterday, while I was wasting a little time at the bead shop before the yarn shop opened, I got a wild hair and decided I needed to try dyeing pearls. They often come in long strands of different colors at the bead shop and the colors are all expensive. Besides, I really would like a few pink pearls for a silk cuff or something but I really don't need 100 of them. So I bought a strand of plain old white ones for $7.
Somebody told me once that you could dye your own and that pearls were pretty porous, so here's what I did...
1. Start with a strand of plain old freshwater pearls. Not the glass kind, those won't work.
2. Mix up some of your favorite fabric dye. I like procion MX Dyes. I was dyeing some silk anyway, so I just used some leftover dye. I used probably a scant 1/8 tsp of powdered dye to a couple of tablespoons of water.
3. Put the pearls in the bottom of a small plastic container - recycled yogurt cups work great.
4. Pour enough dye over them to cover. Let them sit for an hour.
5. After an hour or so, I poured everything through a mesh strainer and rinsed with hot water and then out on to a paper towel to dry overnight.
With this method, I got lovely soft colors. I am going to try another experiment sometime soon to see if I can get some darker colors as well. Dye colors left to right:
red wine/black cherry, white (this is how they started), avocado green, turquoise, golden yellow, deep purple.