Tutorial: Hand Dyed Ribbon

I have a quick little tutorial to share with you today. I’m going to show you the process that I’ve been using to dye my own ribbon. For the longest time I’ve been using sari ribbon but thanks to the gals over at Art5Academy I’ve now started using Seam Binding, which is so much more economical.

To get started you’ll need a few supplies.

• Seam Binding
• Plastic zip lock bag
• Scissors
• Something to protect your work surface, like a craft sheet
• Spray inks, like Dylusions or Lindy’s

Cut your desired lengths of ribbon.

Place the ribbon into your plastic bag.

Spray your choice of ink into the bag. I use Dylusions. They’re wonderfully vibrant and blend beautifully with each other. Just keep in mind that they react to moisture so you don’t want to have your ribbon come into contact with anything wet.

I would suggest to add just a few sprays of color to start, you can always add more as you go along. For the purposes of this tutorial I used Lemon Zest & Bubblegum Pink.

Introduce other color inks for a cool effect.

Close the bag up, taking the air out, and scrunch it up with your hands. Don’t be afraid to really manhandle it. Scrunch it, rub it between your hands. You really want to distribute the color.

If you want more color, just open up your bag and add a few more sprays and repeat the scrunching process.

Once your ribbon has the desired color and coverage that you want, just turn it out onto some parchment paper or a Ranger craft sheet to dry.

And that’s it, vibrant hand dyed ribbon that you can create in literally a couple of minutes.

Use it in your art journals, craft projects, mixed media pieces, art tags, or tuck a bit of it into happy mail to really brighten someone’s day.

Thank for reading, I wish you a colorful week filled with art and whimsy.

xo,

Belen