Thursday, October 2, 2008

Adirondack Colorwash Paper Towels

A couple days ago I happened upon this awesome tutorial on making tie dyed paper towels using Adirondack colorwash sprays. The effect is simply stunning! I made some today and it has to be the most simple technique I've ever done, and the results are seriously cool. Here is a pic of a few I did this morning:
Aren't they gorgeous? I made a real quick tag using a piece of the second one from the left. The tag, ribbon, buttons, and transparency are all from RockCandy Studios. The flourish stamped on the transparency, the little flower sprays and the script background are all from Oxford Impressions.

A few tips if you're going to try this:
1. If you're picky about your hands getting stained, wear gloves! I don't mind green and purple hands, but that's just me. ;-)
2. The original instructions don't mention wetting the paper towel first, but I found the color absorbed better for me when I did.
3. I started out using a dinner plate, but it got really hot. I switched to a shallow glass pie plate and liked it better.
4. If you want more color after it's dried, you can carefully re-wet it and do it again.
5. If you're using a two-ply towel you will get double the amount! I didn't even notice this until it was totally dry and I tried to glue a piece to my tag. It came apart and each piece was perfectly dyed.

Thanks so much to ladycherie at Artist Trading Cards and Life for this great technique!

9 comments:

  1. Love the technique! I so often love the paper I've used to protect my surface and have used it in projects. When I was teaching pre-school art we always reused the same table cover (recycled bulletin board paper) until it was artfully covered with paint and glue and whatever else we'd used for projects. The children had the most fun recalling projects when they identified spills. You're tag is great... love the stitching on the transparency.
    ~R

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  2. great technique..thanks for sharing i will have to check out the tutorial..looks like something i would like to do..hey i just love tie dyed hands makes me feel so artsy:D

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  3. Love the paper and the tag! The colors are so rich.

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  4. Fabulous and so colourful too. Thanks for sharing will have to check out that link :)

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  5. Great tag, wonderful colours!

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  6. Love the paper towel technique! Dang! Now it looks like I'm going to have to buy some of the Adirondack Colorwash products. Suzanne

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Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts. I appreciate your comments so much!