The Art of Natural Dyeing: A Journey with Avocados and Rubber Bands

Tie-dye as it creates a marble effect, at least I hope so, secure with rubber bands across first, then add more on the diagonal almost like a pie. You just need enough rubber bands to make sure there aren't any floppy edges for the second shirt, I'm doing a similar method but starting the crumple from the top right shoulder then gather everything into a ball and secure with rubber bands. For the first napkin, I'm according and folding it across then folding in two triangles this will create a classic shibori look. For the next one, accordion fold across then accordion fold into squares. Last but not least, the soy milk soaked shirt for this one, I'm pulling only the front side of the shirt into a cone then adding rubber band rings then just crumple the rest of the shirt and secure with more rubber bands.

Now that our shirts are ready, it's time to strain the dye. I'm using a mesh strainer. This is our first dye without the baking soda as you can see the color is a lighter pink shade almost a peach color. Now let's drain the baking soda die, it's definitely a lot darker it almost looks red. I'm getting a crime scene vibe from this die save the leftover pits and shells to make another batch of dime.

Once the dye is strained, bring it back to a simmer then place the fabric into the dye leave the dies on the heat for about 30 minutes then remove from heat cover and let sit until your garment reaches the desired color. I'm going to leave these overnight to really get the most vibrant colors possible. Okay, these have been sitting overnight so it's the moment of truth. Okay, I've got my gloves, I've got my tongs, I'm wearing gloves because since the avocado pits contain tannins the dye can irritate your skin.

First up, I'm going to rinse the no baking soda dye this is the one with the more peachy color. Hey, I can't wait to hang this one up and see what it looks like when it's dry yay. Now the second batch of dye with the baking soda who knew you could have guacamole one day and then the next day you're just like making pink shirts living off the land by land. I mean I bought these shirts at target but and the avocados at the grocery store but still.

And here's our last shirt soaked in water and then soy milk and then the baking soda dye. Okay, and let's hang this one up to dry with all the others it's important to do this somewhere shady as direct sunlight can make the dye turn more brown these will lighten up a bit as they dry for best results these need to cure for about a week before washing then wash them on a gentle cycle with cold water and tumble dry low or line dry.

Just as a test, I did try re-boiling my leftover pits and skins to see if it would create a similarly bold color. So I combined all the leftover avocado parts plus six cups filtered water and 1/4 cup baking soda after 60 minutes at a simmer the color looks really vibrant it also looks similar when strained I think the color extracted even more quickly from the already boiled pits. I'm going to save this dye to try more shirts later.

Okay, so everything's clean and dry let's talk about the results these napkins didn't really pick up the color as well as I hoped they would you also can't necessarily see the tie-dye aspects they look a little bit more solid. I would only recommend dyeing napkins if you're looking for a solid color. The color did turn out really pretty but the designs just aren't coming through so it's not worth that extra headache. I love the pretty pink though.

Comparing the shirts, this is the first one soaked in the baking soda free die overnight and it is a really nice peachy pink you can see a little bit of the color variation here but the color isn't that dark so if you're looking for a lighter color this is the way to go. And this is the final shirt soaked in the baking soda bath overnight the color is a little bit darker almost a reddish color but a little bit more of a true pink than the non-baking soda die I love how this one came out.

If you compare this shirt to the one soaked in soy milk overnight they were both dyed in the baking soda die you can see that the color is pretty similar between these two so I'm not sure that the extra step of the soy milk really helped that much. I think you would need to go with a traditional chemical dyer to really see a change in the color absorption. The avocado dye was really fun to make and it's great to have yet another excuse to up my avocado intake. Have you tried natural dyeing let me know in a comment below don't forget to like this video and subscribe to handmade and I'll see you in the next one

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enoops this avocado is very ripe so but i'm not sure how well it's going to hold up to being thrown um but so far so good hey everyone welcome back to handmade i'm liz today i'm doing a project i've wanted to try for a while using avocados did you know that you can use the skin and pit of these guys to create a naturally pink dye the cool thing about this process is that it's great for natural dye beginners and it also uses things that you would have thrown away or composted so without further ado i think i have some avocados to eat and some dye to make so let's get into it to make avocado dye you'll need the pits and skins from about 4 avocados that's also the number of avocados you need to make a big batch of guacamole if you needed an excuse to make some this is it set the avocado skins and pins aside making sure to scoop out as much avocado as possible now just grab some tortilla chips yum when your guacamole break is over take the pits and skins over to the sink and give them a good rinse also be sure to remove those little produce stickers you want to be left with as little avocado residue as possible from there it's time to get started on the dye now many natural dyes contain toxic ingredients but the great thing about avocado dyeing is that it's totally non-toxic that means it's safe to use your everyday pots measuring cups and spoons for this process you do want to make sure to use a non-reactive pot like ceramic glass or stainless steel so that the pot doesn't affect the color of the dye the ph of your water will make an impact on the color of your final die more acidic water will create a more peachy dye while water with a higher ph will create a more pink dye to see the difference i'm testing out a second batch of dye with the same basic ingredients 4 avocado pits and their shells plus 1 4 cup of baking soda this will raise the ph and hopefully create a pinker dye once the dye comes to a simmer reduce the heat slightly if the dye boils that will introduce more brown tones so if you're looking for a true pink make sure to keep it below a simmer okay so this is about 45 minutes of simmering i'm going to let these simmer for about 90 minutes total and then let them sit overnight at room temperature to further deepen the color while the dye cooks let's talk fabric i'm using 100 cotton shirts and napkins to test this process you could also use 100 linen um to get a similar result to prepare the fabric i'm going to give them a quick hand wash with a mild detergent just to remove any impurities once they're fully rinsed i'm going to let them sit in clean water overnight most natural dyes require you to morton the fabric or soak it in a solution that prepares the fabric to accept the dye because avocado pits contain naturally occurring tannins this is not required for avocado dye which is another reason it's great for beginners some people recommend soaking fabric in soy milk ahead of dying soy milk isn't a mordant but a binder the proteins in the milk help the fabric absorb more of the dime the next day remove it from the soy milk thoroughly wring out the excess and then put it on a spin only cycle in your washer now our fabric is ready to be folded for dyeing i'm starting with one of the shirts for this one i'm using the crumple method where you start in the center and gather the shirt this is sometimes also called marble tie dye as it creates a marble effect at least i hope so secure with rubber bands across first then add more on the diagonal almost like a pie you just need enough rubber bands to make sure there aren't any floppy edges for the second shirt i'm doing a similar method but starting the crumple from the top right shoulder then gather everything into a ball and secure with rubber bands for the first napkin i'm according and folding it across then folding in two triangles this will create a classic shibori look for the next one accordion fold across then accordion fold into squares last but not least the soy milk soaked shirt for this one i'm doing classic tie-dye rings i'm pulling only the front side of the shirt into a cone then adding rubber band rings then just crumple the rest of the shirt and secure with more rubber bands now that our shirts are ready it's time to strain the die i'm using a mesh strainer this is our first dye without the baking soda as you can see the color is a lighter pink shade almost a peach color now let's drain the baking soda die it's definitely a lot darker it almost looks red i'm getting a crime scene vibe from this die save the leftover pits and shells to make another batch of dime once the die is strained bring it back to a simmer then place the fabric into the die leave the dies on the heat for about 30 minutes then remove from heat cover and let sit until your garment reaches the desired color i'm going to leave these overnight to really get the most vibrant colors possible okay these have been sitting overnight so it's the moment of truth okay i've got my gloves i've got my tongs i'm wearing gloves because since the avocado pits contain tannins the dye can irritate your skin first up i'm going to rinse the no baking soda dye this is the one with the more peachy color hey i can't wait to hang this one up and see what it looks like when it's dry yay now the second batch of dye with the baking soda who knew you could like have guacamole one day and then the next day you're just like making pink shirts living off the land by land i mean i bought these shirts at target but and the avocados at the grocery store but still and here's our last shirt soaked in water and then soy milk and then the baking soda die okay and then let's hang this one up to dry with all the others it's important to do this somewhere shady as direct sunlight can make the dye turn more brown these will lighten up a bit as they dry for best results these need to cure for about a week before washing then wash them on a gentle cycle with cold water and tumble dry low or line dry just as a test i did try re-boiling my leftover pits and skins to see if it would create a similarly bold color so i combined all the leftover avocado parts plus six cups filtered water and 1 4 cup baking soda after 60 minutes at a simmer the color looks really vibrant it also looks similar when strained i think the color extracted even more quickly from the already boiled pits i'm going to save this dye to try more shirts later okay so everything's clean and dry let's talk about the results these napkins didn't really pick up the color as well as i hoped they would you also can't necessarily see the tie dye aspects they look a little bit more solid i would only recommend dyeing napkins if you're looking for a solid color the color did turn out really pretty but the designs just aren't coming through so it's not worth that extra headache i love the pretty pink though comparing the shirts this is the first one soaked in the baking soda free die overnight and it is a really nice peachy pink you can see a little bit of the color variation here but the color isn't that dark so if you're looking for a lighter color this is the way to go okay and this is the final shirt soaked in the baking soda bath overnight the color is a little bit darker almost a reddish color but a little bit more of a true pink than the non-baking soda die i love how this one came out if you compare this shirt to the one soaked in soy milk overnight they were both dyed in the baking soda die you can see that the color is pretty similar between these two so i'm not sure that the extra step of the soy milk really helped that much i think you would need to go with a traditional chemical warden to really see a change in the color absorption the avocado dye was really fun to make and it's great to have yet another excuse to up my avocado intake have you tried natural dyeing let me know in a comment below don't forget to like this video and subscribe to handmade and i'll see you next time byeoops this avocado is very ripe so but i'm not sure how well it's going to hold up to being thrown um but so far so good hey everyone welcome back to handmade i'm liz today i'm doing a project i've wanted to try for a while using avocados did you know that you can use the skin and pit of these guys to create a naturally pink dye the cool thing about this process is that it's great for natural dye beginners and it also uses things that you would have thrown away or composted so without further ado i think i have some avocados to eat and some dye to make so let's get into it to make avocado dye you'll need the pits and skins from about 4 avocados that's also the number of avocados you need to make a big batch of guacamole if you needed an excuse to make some this is it set the avocado skins and pins aside making sure to scoop out as much avocado as possible now just grab some tortilla chips yum when your guacamole break is over take the pits and skins over to the sink and give them a good rinse also be sure to remove those little produce stickers you want to be left with as little avocado residue as possible from there it's time to get started on the dye now many natural dyes contain toxic ingredients but the great thing about avocado dyeing is that it's totally non-toxic that means it's safe to use your everyday pots measuring cups and spoons for this process you do want to make sure to use a non-reactive pot like ceramic glass or stainless steel so that the pot doesn't affect the color of the dye the ph of your water will make an impact on the color of your final die more acidic water will create a more peachy dye while water with a higher ph will create a more pink dye to see the difference i'm testing out a second batch of dye with the same basic ingredients 4 avocado pits and their shells plus 1 4 cup of baking soda this will raise the ph and hopefully create a pinker dye once the dye comes to a simmer reduce the heat slightly if the dye boils that will introduce more brown tones so if you're looking for a true pink make sure to keep it below a simmer okay so this is about 45 minutes of simmering i'm going to let these simmer for about 90 minutes total and then let them sit overnight at room temperature to further deepen the color while the dye cooks let's talk fabric i'm using 100 cotton shirts and napkins to test this process you could also use 100 linen um to get a similar result to prepare the fabric i'm going to give them a quick hand wash with a mild detergent just to remove any impurities once they're fully rinsed i'm going to let them sit in clean water overnight most natural dyes require you to morton the fabric or soak it in a solution that prepares the fabric to accept the dye because avocado pits contain naturally occurring tannins this is not required for avocado dye which is another reason it's great for beginners some people recommend soaking fabric in soy milk ahead of dying soy milk isn't a mordant but a binder the proteins in the milk help the fabric absorb more of the dime the next day remove it from the soy milk thoroughly wring out the excess and then put it on a spin only cycle in your washer now our fabric is ready to be folded for dyeing i'm starting with one of the shirts for this one i'm using the crumple method where you start in the center and gather the shirt this is sometimes also called marble tie dye as it creates a marble effect at least i hope so secure with rubber bands across first then add more on the diagonal almost like a pie you just need enough rubber bands to make sure there aren't any floppy edges for the second shirt i'm doing a similar method but starting the crumple from the top right shoulder then gather everything into a ball and secure with rubber bands for the first napkin i'm according and folding it across then folding in two triangles this will create a classic shibori look for the next one accordion fold across then accordion fold into squares last but not least the soy milk soaked shirt for this one i'm doing classic tie-dye rings i'm pulling only the front side of the shirt into a cone then adding rubber band rings then just crumple the rest of the shirt and secure with more rubber bands now that our shirts are ready it's time to strain the die i'm using a mesh strainer this is our first dye without the baking soda as you can see the color is a lighter pink shade almost a peach color now let's drain the baking soda die it's definitely a lot darker it almost looks red i'm getting a crime scene vibe from this die save the leftover pits and shells to make another batch of dime once the die is strained bring it back to a simmer then place the fabric into the die leave the dies on the heat for about 30 minutes then remove from heat cover and let sit until your garment reaches the desired color i'm going to leave these overnight to really get the most vibrant colors possible okay these have been sitting overnight so it's the moment of truth okay i've got my gloves i've got my tongs i'm wearing gloves because since the avocado pits contain tannins the dye can irritate your skin first up i'm going to rinse the no baking soda dye this is the one with the more peachy color hey i can't wait to hang this one up and see what it looks like when it's dry yay now the second batch of dye with the baking soda who knew you could like have guacamole one day and then the next day you're just like making pink shirts living off the land by land i mean i bought these shirts at target but and the avocados at the grocery store but still and here's our last shirt soaked in water and then soy milk and then the baking soda die okay and then let's hang this one up to dry with all the others it's important to do this somewhere shady as direct sunlight can make the dye turn more brown these will lighten up a bit as they dry for best results these need to cure for about a week before washing then wash them on a gentle cycle with cold water and tumble dry low or line dry just as a test i did try re-boiling my leftover pits and skins to see if it would create a similarly bold color so i combined all the leftover avocado parts plus six cups filtered water and 1 4 cup baking soda after 60 minutes at a simmer the color looks really vibrant it also looks similar when strained i think the color extracted even more quickly from the already boiled pits i'm going to save this dye to try more shirts later okay so everything's clean and dry let's talk about the results these napkins didn't really pick up the color as well as i hoped they would you also can't necessarily see the tie dye aspects they look a little bit more solid i would only recommend dyeing napkins if you're looking for a solid color the color did turn out really pretty but the designs just aren't coming through so it's not worth that extra headache i love the pretty pink though comparing the shirts this is the first one soaked in the baking soda free die overnight and it is a really nice peachy pink you can see a little bit of the color variation here but the color isn't that dark so if you're looking for a lighter color this is the way to go okay and this is the final shirt soaked in the baking soda bath overnight the color is a little bit darker almost a reddish color but a little bit more of a true pink than the non-baking soda die i love how this one came out if you compare this shirt to the one soaked in soy milk overnight they were both dyed in the baking soda die you can see that the color is pretty similar between these two so i'm not sure that the extra step of the soy milk really helped that much i think you would need to go with a traditional chemical warden to really see a change in the color absorption the avocado dye was really fun to make and it's great to have yet another excuse to up my avocado intake have you tried natural dyeing let me know in a comment below don't forget to like this video and subscribe to handmade and i'll see you next time bye\n"