Glycerin and Dyeing

February 24, 2020 1 Comment

Our sola flowers come to you undyed, but are very easy to color. Most people use latex paint or fabric dye. This is great to be able to match your home or for wooden wedding flowers. Wood flowers in their raw state are soft and foamy in texture, but can become brittle, which makes them more fragile, after dyed with paint. In order to soften up the sola wood flowers, many are turning to glycerin. Glycerin is a chemical that can be used to soften your flowers, which keeps them from breaking and chipping.

Vegetable glycerin can be found on Amazon, in pharmacies, grocery stores and other places. The brand is not important, but for bulk dyeing, finding a bigger bottle could be helpful.

Here are 2 recipes we have tried, with an easy step by step guide on how to incorporate glycerin into your dyeing process. What works for some, doesn't always work for others, so have fun experimenting with what works best for you!

Method #1: Pre-Dip Method

Mixture: Ratio of 1:3, glycerin to water. For example, if you use one cup of glycerin, you mix in 3 cups of water. If you use one tablespoon of glycerin, you'd use 3 tablespoons of water.

To combine the glycerin and water: Pour your glycerin into your bucket, then add very hot to boiling water to dissolve the glycerin thoroughly. Make sure to mix with a spoon.

Pre-Dip your flowers: Take your raw or skin flowers and dunk them fully into your glycerin mixture. A quick dunk is all you need. Remove flower and put to the side until you are ready to dye it. It doesn't matter if it stays wet or dries before you move onto the next step.

Dyeing: Dip dye your flower as usual. Your dye mixture should be exactly the same as you would usually use to dye.


Method #2: One Step Glycerin/Dye Method 

Mixture: Ratio of 1:5, glycerin to water. For example, if you use one cup of glycerin, you mix in 5 cups of water. If you use one tablespoon of glycerin, you'd use 5 tablespoons of water.

To combine the glycerin and water: Pour your glycerin into your bucket, then add very hot to boiling water to dissolve the glycerin thoroughly. Make sure to mix with a spoon.

To make your glycerin /dye mixture:
Use the glycerin/water mixture JUST AS you would plain water when diluting your dye. For example if you usually use a 1:1 ratio of water to dye, use a 1:1 ratio of the glycerin/water mixture to dye. Just treat the glycerin mixture as you would your water. Add until your desired dilution.

Dyeing: Dip dye your flower as usual.

Watch our video for a visual tutorial:

https://www.facebook.com/luvsolaflowers/videos/1658734357600070/

www.luvsolaflowers.com
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