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Description
A long-winded explanation of how this is done below + supplies and materials used. (ノ^∇^)

I wanted to explain how to do a simple (Three colour) gradient dye! I’m making a hip scarf to go along with my hand-dyed cape for my Terra Branford cosplay. So here we go…
You will need the following supplies:
Disposable gloves (Latex, or even dish-washing gloves will work!)
Particle mask — either painters type, or a respirator will do.
Measuring spoons, 1 cup measure.
3 wooden spoons to stir with. (So you don’t cross-contaminate your dyes)
A plastic drop for your working surface, or you can pull a cheap-o, and use plastic bags split open.
Paper towels.
1 quart buckets or containers. (I bought them from Blick, but I am sure you can find something suitable at any craft supply, or Home Depo)
Regular table salt
Soda Ash (You can buy this from Blick, or Dharma Trading Supplies online)
Your choice of Procion MX dyes. (Also can be purchased at Blick, or Dharma Trading)
…and 100% silk! Try using lighter weights first — such as chiffon, habotai or charmeuse.

NOTE: Make sure you are working with natural fibers only. This dye method will not work with polyester! You want to use 100% silk, cotton or rayon only.
You will also want to make sure you wear clothes that you don’t care about. ;3

www.dharmatrading.com/ <—- has everything you need for your dyeing project, right down to inexpensive silks!

STEP 1: Prep your work surface!
Lay down your plastic drop cloth, and gather all of your needed items. Make sure you put on your plastic gloves, and have your dust mask around your neck and ready. The dyes are irritants so you will want to make sure that you are wearing your dust mask while scooping out your dye. Why work with Procion MX dyes? They are more vibrant, you can mix your colours, and they always dye consistently better than RIT dyes or other 'ready' to go type fabric dyes. I can't tell you how many times I've bought packaged dyes, and have had them turn out to be total duds that have expired, and then don't dye my project properly. Talk about enraging!
My formula for mixing dyes in smaller batches are as follows:
3/4 gallon of hot tap water + 2 tbsp salt + 4 teaspoons of soda ash.
Start with 1/4 tsp of your powdered dye, and you can add more to get the right color if needed. (Usually 1/2 tsp hits the spot for me, but if you want darker, add more~)
Place the powdered dye in the bucket first, and with a little water, gently cover the dye to keep it from blooming all over. Using your stir stick, scrape and stir the dye evenly. Make sure you really, really stir well! After this, add the rest of your water, and set your dye bath aside. Prep your other dyes in the same fashion.
Add your salt next, and stir all dye baths very well. Next is the soda ash — make sure you’ve still got your gloves and mask on. What is soda ash, exactly? It is what activates the dye and makes them permanent. Add soda ash to each bath and stir well.
Now that they are ready to go, set your dyes on your work surface and get ready to dye some $&%?! silk! (Lololol)

STEP 2: Wet your silk, and have a small sample ready!
You absolutely must wet your silk before you even attempt to put your fabric in! (Or the dyes will saturate unevenly and look terrible) Run your silk under tap water, and give it a good squeeze to get rid of excess water. Set them aside. ;3
Do a test strip! I started by dyeing in the lightest colour first, and just in the center. Dip your silk from the center first (for this project) but you can vary and dip dye however you please to get the right look! After dipping (typically I don’t dip for more than 5-10 seconds, silk sucks up dye fast!) I will carefully wring out the fabric and “squish” the areas where the silk meets white, undyed fabric.
Next, I go for purple! Dip one end of the silk scarf in, and same deal, wring it out, and squish where the purple meets the peach. If you’ve got dye all over your work surface, take some paper towels and wipe them up before setting your silk down. Same with your hands — be careful not to touch any other areas of your silk unless you want spots. :’<
Same with the mint dye, dip, wring, and dip again!
With clean gloves, and a plastic bag to transport, take your silk to a washing sink. Gently rinse with cold water, starting with the darker ends first. Some of the dye will come out, but no worries. squelch and squish the areas where the colours meet. Let it dry, and see what you think. A little trick I like to use, is when the silk is still wet, I will dip the spots where the colours meet into the lighter of the two dyes, and squish it some more. The colours will mix a bit more naturally in these areas, and make a soft gradient.

STEP 3: “I already explained all of this stuff, so now you can do it on your actual project!”

(If your dyes were too weak in saturation for you, now would be a good time to adjust them a bit, if not, then you are a dyeing god/goddess!)
Rinse out your whole project with cool water, and don’t hesitate to re-dip and wash until you get it right. It’s important to take your time, keep your work area free of dripped dye and remember that a little dye goes a long way on silk… you can make your project as light as you want, or as dark.

STEP 4: Rinse gently in cool water!
Once rinsed, hang that silk up somewhere to dry. You might want to set an old towel underneath just in case some of the residual dye is still dripping. (Though it shouldn’t much)

STEP 5: That’s a nice gradient~
You’re done! At this point, you can either move onto silk painting (Which I will be doing tomorrow, and adding another tutorial) or, you can go ahead and set your dyes. You can either steam them, or you can set them with a liquid dye setter. I will explain how to make your dyes permanent in the next tutorial shortly!
Thank you for reading my tutorial — let me know what other types of tutorials would be helpful to you!

www.facebook.com/ElysiumSansCosplay
www.twitter.com/ElysiumSans

Description
A long-winded explanation of how this is done below + supplies and materials used. (ノ^∇^)

I wanted to explain how to do a simple (Three colour) gradient dye! I’m making a hip scarf to go along with my hand-dyed cape for my Terra Branford cosplay. So here we go…
You will need the following supplies:
Disposable gloves (Latex, or even dish-washing gloves will work!)
Particle mask — either painters type, or a respirator will do.
Measuring spoons, 1 cup measure.
3 wooden spoons to stir with. (So you don’t cross-contaminate your dyes)
A plastic drop for your working surface, or you can pull a cheap-o, and use plastic bags split open.
Paper towels.
1 quart buckets or containers. (I bought them from Blick, but I am sure you can find something suitable at any craft supply, or Home Depo)
Regular table salt
Soda Ash (You can buy this from Blick, or Dharma Trading Supplies online)
Your choice of Procion MX dyes. (Also can be purchased at Blick, or Dharma Trading)
…and 100% silk! Try using lighter weights first — such as chiffon, habotai or charmeuse.

NOTE: Make sure you are working with natural fibers only. This dye method will not work with polyester! You want to use 100% silk, cotton or rayon only.
You will also want to make sure you wear clothes that you don’t care about. ;3

www.dharmatrading.com/ <—- has everything you need for your dyeing project, right down to inexpensive silks!

STEP 1: Prep your work surface!
Lay down your plastic drop cloth, and gather all of your needed items. Make sure you put on your plastic gloves, and have your dust mask around your neck and ready. The dyes are irritants so you will want to make sure that you are wearing your dust mask while scooping out your dye. Why work with Procion MX dyes? They are more vibrant, you can mix your colours, and they always dye consistently better than RIT dyes or other 'ready' to go type fabric dyes. I can't tell you how many times I've bought packaged dyes, and have had them turn out to be total duds that have expired, and then don't dye my project properly. Talk about enraging!
My formula for mixing dyes in smaller batches are as follows:
3/4 gallon of hot tap water + 2 tbsp salt + 4 teaspoons of soda ash.
Start with 1/4 tsp of your powdered dye, and you can add more to get the right color if needed. (Usually 1/2 tsp hits the spot for me, but if you want darker, add more~)
Place the powdered dye in the bucket first, and with a little water, gently cover the dye to keep it from blooming all over. Using your stir stick, scrape and stir the dye evenly. Make sure you really, really stir well! After this, add the rest of your water, and set your dye bath aside. Prep your other dyes in the same fashion.
Add your salt next, and stir all dye baths very well. Next is the soda ash — make sure you’ve still got your gloves and mask on. What is soda ash, exactly? It is what activates the dye and makes them permanent. Add soda ash to each bath and stir well.
Now that they are ready to go, set your dyes on your work surface and get ready to dye some $&%?! silk! (Lololol)

STEP 2: Wet your silk, and have a small sample ready!
You absolutely must wet your silk before you even attempt to put your fabric in! (Or the dyes will saturate unevenly and look terrible) Run your silk under tap water, and give it a good squeeze to get rid of excess water. Set them aside. ;3
Do a test strip! I started by dyeing in the lightest colour first, and just in the center. Dip your silk from the center first (for this project) but you can vary and dip dye however you please to get the right look! After dipping (typically I don’t dip for more than 5-10 seconds, silk sucks up dye fast!) I will carefully wring out the fabric and “squish” the areas where the silk meets white, undyed fabric.
Next, I go for purple! Dip one end of the silk scarf in, and same deal, wring it out, and squish where the purple meets the peach. If you’ve got dye all over your work surface, take some paper towels and wipe them up before setting your silk down. Same with your hands — be careful not to touch any other areas of your silk unless you want spots. :’<
Same with the mint dye, dip, wring, and dip again!
With clean gloves, and a plastic bag to transport, take your silk to a washing sink. Gently rinse with cold water, starting with the darker ends first. Some of the dye will come out, but no worries. squelch and squish the areas where the colours meet. Let it dry, and see what you think. A little trick I like to use, is when the silk is still wet, I will dip the spots where the colours meet into the lighter of the two dyes, and squish it some more. The colours will mix a bit more naturally in these areas, and make a soft gradient.

STEP 3: “I already explained all of this stuff, so now you can do it on your actual project!”

(If your dyes were too weak in saturation for you, now would be a good time to adjust them a bit, if not, then you are a dyeing god/goddess!)
Rinse out your whole project with cool water, and don’t hesitate to re-dip and wash until you get it right. It’s important to take your time, keep your work area free of dripped dye and remember that a little dye goes a long way on silk… you can make your project as light as you want, or as dark.

STEP 4: Rinse gently in cool water!
Once rinsed, hang that silk up somewhere to dry. You might want to set an old towel underneath just in case some of the residual dye is still dripping. (Though it shouldn’t much)

STEP 5: That’s a nice gradient~
You’re done! At this point, you can either move onto silk painting (Which I will be doing tomorrow, and adding another tutorial) or, you can go ahead and set your dyes. You can either steam them, or you can set them with a liquid dye setter. I will explain how to make your dyes permanent in the next tutorial shortly!
Thank you for reading my tutorial — let me know what other types of tutorials would be helpful to you!

www.facebook.com/ElysiumSansCosplay
www.twitter.com/ElysiumSans