Bex’s Blog Takeover Week 4 - Stains and Dyes

Today is about Colour! We are going to make some coloured stains made from some spices and other bits from around the house.

This is a messy one and WILL stain clothes so make sure they are old ones or wear some protective gear.

You will need some paper/fabric to stain/paint, a plate or similar to mix on, water, brushes, and of course your stains. I’ve used the spices Turmeric and Paprika. I’ve also added an old eyeshadow palate. You can also use diluting juice, some fruits, coffee, anything with a strong colour. Experimenting is the best part of this weeks project. (Always get permission before using items)

Using your plate as a palate, space out a tablespoon of Tumeric, Paprika, and (in this case) Blue Eyeshadow. 

Carefully add a small amount of water to each making sure to NOT let them bleed into each other. Stir together gently making sure to breakup any lumps. You can add more water if struggling to make smooth paste.

Colour Wheel Time!

If you have used the same items as me you will have a Red, Yellow and Blue Stain. Using these three primary colours you can create any other colour you want.

Red + Blue =Purple

Blue + Yellow = Green

Yellow + Red = Orange

Red + Yellow + Blue = Brown

If you want to make the colours more pastel add something white like flour.

To make black you need something like charcoal or khol (eyeliner pencil)

Once you are happy with your colours try using them.

If you want to stain fabric I recommend a fade and bleed test as not all colours will last or stay. There is nothing more disappointing as finding half of your design washed out and the other half looking like fuzzy blobs.

I hope you enjoy this week’s project. As well as sending you all off to experiment, I am also setting a challenge this week!

Can you find Blue? Blue is one of the rarest natural colours, this made Blue and Purple a sign of great wealth in History. Can you find it in your house? If you would like to learn more about the history of the colour blue, click here to go the the wikipedia page to find out more.

Enjoy your experiments and show us how you got on!

 Please send comments to heather@boomcommunityarts.com

We love to see what you have made, share your creations with us twitter @boom_arts or www.facebook.com/BoomCommunityArts

Next Week – Marbling.