Along with the last batch of tie dye, I tried some items using various low water immersion dyeing techniques. I will say, I love the results, but there was one big hitch.

Probably my favorite.

The two on the left were done with the items, dry, in a bowl, then pouring in two different colors of dye, one on each side of the bowl, simultaneously. The results are much more subtle, with more blending and gradation.

The two on the right were done with the items in small mason jars. First a small amount of dye in one color, then squish in the item, then pour a second color on top, adding water to completely cover the item. The results here are much less blended.

This is the items in their dyebaths.

so, the big drawback? Cloth diapers are very absorbent. Duh, right? When tie dying, they don’t come into contact with much liquid, so the absorbency isn’t a problem. In low water immersion dying, they soak up a LOT of liquid. So much so that I had a really hard time rinsing out all of the darker colored dyes. I rinsed one for about 20 minutes and still didn’t have all the dye out. I was really tired and decided it would be OK in the washer as long as I took it out right away.

But then I fell asleep.

And it sat there with all the other items I’d dyed that day and rinsed.

On top of some of them.

And it of course bled all over them. That’s the stray spots of color on a few of the diapers from the previous post. I was sooo mad at myself. But at least I didn’t do something that stupid on something I really really cared about. I mean, diapers…they’re really just to catch poop, so if they have some stray spots, no biggie.