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Black tea dye

Dye Experiment Materials: 

  • 10 bags of Bigelow Constant Comment tea

  • 2 bags of Bigelow Constant Comment tea

  • (pre-washed) cotton, wool, and silk fabric (cut into 9x9" squares)

  • pot (not used for cooking)

black tea felted wool.jpeg
black tea silk hobotai.jpeg
black tea cotton broadcloth.jpeg

Left to right: felted wool, silk habotai, and cotton broadcloth

Fabric Preparation​

  1. Cut fabric into numerous 9x9" squares. 

  2. Pour 8 cups (or 0.5gal) of water into a pot and bring to a boil.

  3. Mix 0.5 cup of alum with 1/4 cup of hot water.

  4. Add alum mixture to boiling pot.

  5. Add fabric to pot and let it simmer for twenty minutes.

  6. Let fabric in pot cool down.

  7. Once the pot is cooled down, take fabric out and rinse it under warm water.

Dye bath

  1. Add 12 cups (or 0.75gal) of water to a pot.

  2. Put 12 tea bags into pot. (The ratio of tea to water should be one tea bag per cup of water.)

  3. Bring water to boil.

  4. Add fabric and simmer for one hour.

  5. After simmering, turn off heat and let fabric soak overnight. (I soaked mine for a total of 14 hours.)

  6. Rinse fabric until water runs clear.

© 2020 by Alyssa Domenico

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