The Rit Blog

The ColoRit Color Formula Guide: More Than 500 Shades of Inspiration!

Dianne — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

It's that time of year, friends! We've been hard at work bringing you the hot new colors for Fall 2012. Inspired by the color masters at Pantone and top designers of the catwalk, we've assembled all new color palettes to inspire you to create the new looks for the coming season.

Of course, the Fall Pantone colors take center stage when it comes to fashion inspiration...

We've matched all the colors in the Rit Color Formula Guide to Pantone’s Top 10 fashion colors and if there was no match, we created a brand new recipe!

Tangerine Tango, the color of the year, is still going full force with it's vibrant, fiery red/orange glow. We're also loving the bold color pop of Bright Chartreuse and Pink Flambé. Round out the palette with smoky French Roast and deep Olympian Blue for a classic Euro-feel.

Want more? We've put together some tantalizing palettes for the hottest trends we've been noticing on the fashion horizon.

All shades of grey steal the show, whether standing along or paired with bold brights. It's a look that crosses over effortlessly from work to play in a heartbeat. Accents and allover patterns in fire-engine red are aligned to create a stir in full-skirted dresses for a popular retro-Dior style. Watch for an emphasis on feminine flair heading down the runways this season.

Not into to fashion? Well, maybe it's time for a home makeover! We've been checking out the landscape of the hottest interiors and pulled a few palettes to get you started.

We're digging all manner of hand-crafty goodness. Traditional colors found in handmade pillows stitched with crewel embroidery were the inspiration for this color palette. It's a warm homey feel that will create a charming, inviting atmosphere.

Want to pump up the tempo in your abode? Well, hot Tangerine Tango, Pantone’s color of the year, creates a striking accent in this modern home décor palette.

Set that mellow mood with sulty tones. Grey with purple undertones steps into home décor and pairs up with lavender, raspberry and chartreuse accents for a fresh new look.

Well, that's just a small slice of the color fun for home and fashion at the ever-expanding ColoRit Color Guide. Come stop by and see for yourself!

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We've been hard at work bringing you the hot new colors of the year. Inspired by the color masters at Pantone and top designers of the catwalk, we've assembled all new color palettes and dye recipes to inspire you to create new looks.

Colorful Bird Napkin Rings Add Stylish Accents to a Dining Table!

Dianne — Fri, 17 May 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Melony Bradley created these delightful dyed napkin rings for the May/June issue of Somerset Life, published by Stampington & Company. The unfinished wooden bird shapes were dipped in trendy custom colors created from dye recipes in the Rit Color Formula Guide. For added interest, decorative ribbons and buttons were added as embellishments.

To create the custom colors, Melony followed the custom dye recipes for Peach #115 ( Yellow-Orange palette), Blue Curacao #565 (Blue-Green palette), Orange/Peach #463 (Yellow-Orange palette) and Orange #96 (Orange palette) by mixing small amounts of dye in 1 cup of hot water. Then she poured the dye into plastic bags and immersed the bird shapes, napkin rings, and wings into the various dye colors for 15 – 20 minutes. After they dried, Melony stamped designs on the birds and sealed them with polyurethane. It’s so easy and so much fun! For the full tutorial, click here.

Living in a small town in south Georgia, Melony has been designing full-time for the creative industry since 2004. Her work has been published in national consumer craft and lifestyle magazines, including Women's World, Cloth Paper Scissors, Crafts’ n Things, Create & Decorate, Green Craft Magazine, Altered Couture and Somerset Life, Sew Somerset and Somerset Gallery. Hope over to her blog to see her colorful creative projects.

www.mel-designs.typepad.com

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Melony Bradley created these delightful dyed napkin rings for the May/June issue of Somerset Life, (www.somersetlife.com) published by Stampington & Company. The unfinished wooden bird shapes were dipped in trendy custom colors created from dye recipes in the Rit Color Formula Guide. For added interest, decorative ribbons and buttons were added as embellishments.

How To Tie-Dye Leggings Video

Dianne — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Looking for a fun tie-dye project? Check out this video by Vanessa at The Crafty Gemini.

In this video Vanessa demonstrates how to wrap up a pair of white leggings and dye them with Rit. Be sure to enter her Rit GiveAway as well.

In this video tutorial Vanessa teaches you how to take a pair of white leggings and tie-dye them using Rit dye to add a funky pair of custom leggings to your wardrobe. This is a beginner project and kid friendly.

You don't need any fancy equipment to dye your clothes. The supplies you will need for this method of tie dyeing are:

• Plastic drop cloth to protect work surface

• Gloves

• Rubber bands

• Garment you will dye

• Hot water

• Bowl or container for dye bath

• Rit dye in color of your choice

• Salt (optional)

• Tiny bit of dishwashing soap (optional)

In this DIY tie-dye leggings tutorial she shows one way of dyeing garments. Feel free to play around with rubber bands, knots, paintbrushes, etc to get different dyeing effects on your projects. It's so much fun!

Note: For darker colors, use more dye and allow the tied leggings to remain in the dye bath for 20 to 30 minutes!

Watch the video for details on how to enter the giveaway! Giveaway is open to all international viewers. The entry period will end on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at 11:59PM EDT. Winner will be announced in a future video. Good luck!

Be sure to visit Vanessa’s blog at www.craftygemini.com

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Looking for a fun tie-dye project? Check out this video by Vanessa at The Crafty Gemini.

In this video Vanessa demonstrates how to wrap up a pair of white leggings and dye them with Rit. Be sure to enter her Rit GiveAway as well.

Make a “Happy Heart” Sachet Wall Art for Mom

Dianne — Fri, 10 May 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Here’s a last-minute Mother’s Day gift you can make for someone you love! Carla created this wall art sachet by dye-staining a wood shadow box to house a heart she dyed and then stuffed with fiberfill and dried lavender. So it’s sure to smell good all year long. As a finishing touch, you can add a special hand-written message.

To get started, Carla hand-dyed one piece of cotton fabric and twine in Fuchsia dye. Then she dyed a second piece of fabric and cotton twine in Sunshine Orange. The wood shadow box was dye-stained using Aquamarine dye. Then she cut a piece of chipboard to fit in the bottom of the shadow box and covered it with the Fuchsia dyed fabric and glued the Sunshine Orange twine around the perimeter. The heart shape was cut from the Sunshine Orange fabric. Then Carla hand-stitched around the edge of the heart with Aquamarine dyed twine, gathered it and stuffed it with fiberfill and lavender sachet, and glued it in the shadow box. The flower was formed from the dyed twine. Using a dark brown ink pen, she wrote “Happy Home, Happy Heart” on cardstock. Click here for the full tutorial.

Carla Schauer is an independent designer, licensed artist and a lover of color and patterns. Her designs include memory art, 3-dimensional crafts, scrapbooking, card making, mixed-media art and home decor. Carla also creates surface art for licensing. Her work can be seen at her website, www.carlaschauer.com and on her blog http://carlaschauer.com/carla-schauer-blog-whats-new/.

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Keepsake “Little Handprints” Art

Dianne — Wed, 08 May 2013 04:00:00 +0000

With assistance from an older sibling or family friend, here’s a fun keepsake that a child could make for Mother’s Day! Barbara Warholic dipped a child’s hands into Elmer’s School Glue Gel (the blue one) and then pressed them onto fabric. The glue acts as a resist when the fabric is dyed, leaving a keepsake handprint for framing!

Here’s the fun part for the child. Pour about 1/4 cup Elmer’s School Glue Gel on a paper plate

and have the child put his or her palms into the glue. Then lay a piece of white cotton fabric over freezer paper. Ask the child to firmly press their hands onto the center of the fabric, making sure that there is a good glue imprint of each hand. Then write or print the child’s name under the handprints. Allow glue to dry completely (overnight is best). To dye the handprint fabric, Barbara prepared a dyebath of Aquamarine and Royal Blue and immersed the fabric in the dyebath for about 5 minutes. Then rinse in cold water; wash in warm soapy water until the glue has been washed away. Dry and iron the fabric. The batik-like handprints are ready to be framed into a keepsake that will be cherished forever! Click here for the full tutorial.

Barbara Warholic is a designer and author of Sewing Pottery By Machine, published by Martingale. She loves incorporating Rit dye into her work. Visit her blog at www.softpottery.blogspot.comand her Dyeing Textiles board on www.pinterest.

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Make Mom a Sweet Mother’s Day Card!

Dianne — Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:00 +0000

To make this colorful card, Cindi Bisson used Rit liquid dye right out of the bottle to rubber stamp a flower, to swirl dye colors together for the background paper, to dye micro beads and to dye plastic tiles. Then she heat set and dried the dyed items in the microwave. It’s so easy and mom will love this hand-made card!

The secret to stamping with Rit is to use a Versamark inkpad, which is a clear pad with sticky ink. This helps the dye to be more evenly distributed on the stamp. After stamping the flower, Cindi brushed Dark Green dye directly from bottle with a small paintbrush to form the leaves and stem. Then she applied Fuchsia dye directly from the bottle with a small paintbrush to the flower petals and Golden Yellow dye to the center of the flower. To finish, place the dyed paper on a paper towel and heat in the microwave on high for one minute.

To make the dyed watercolor paper, Cindi wet the paper and while the paper was still wet she painted swirls of Dark Green, Fuchsia and Golden Yellow dye on the watercolor paper. Swirling and overlapping the dye creates a lovely effect. Click here for the full tutorial.

Cindi is a mixed-media artist and the Associate Producer for When Creativity Knocks (www.whencreativityknocks.com), an online craft TV show. She creates a weekly Simple Solutions project and writes a Product Review for the website. To find out more about Cindi, visit her blog at www.FatCatCreations.blogspot.com

Make Mom a Sweet Mother’s Day Card!

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Make Cinco de Mayo More Colorful with Rit-Dyed Balloons!

Dianne — Fri, 03 May 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Did you know that balloons can be dyed? Our friend Cindi Bisson had an idea! If rubber bands get colored when tie-dyeing, then maybe balloons could be dyed. She tried and it worked. Here’s a fun last-minute decorating idea. Fill a sombrero with balloons dyed using one of Rit’s festive custom recipes, and let the party begin!

Balloons always add a festive touch to any party and now you can custom-dye balloons to the color theme of your party. We dyed up some balloons using these festive custom color recipes created for Cinco de Mayo. Just remember after the balloons are inflated, the colors are much lighter. We also tried inflating them with helium and that worked, too! Rit is a user-friendly dye that will color, not only fabric, but all sorts of other materials like nylon, paper, feathers and silk flowers. Here’s the full tutorial for dyeing balloons.

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for the “fifth of May”) is a holiday held on May 5 that commemorates the Mexican army’s unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. This special day is celebrated primarily in the state of Puebla and in the United States. It’s a day to celebrate the culture and heritage of Americans of Mexican ancestry.

For many Americans, regardless of ethnic origin, it’s a good excuse for a party! Start with vibrant, festive colors like this collection of Rit custom-dye recipes created by Judy Coates Perez, who is the mastermind behind the formulation of hundreds of colors for the ColoRit Color Formula Guide.

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Dye-Stained “Vegetable Seed Pack” Tray

Dianne — Wed, 01 May 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Spring has arrived and Ellen Highsmith Silver was inspired to decoupage a collection of vegetable seed packets onto this colorful dye-stained tray with Mod Podge. The Chile red wood stain was a custom blend of Rit Scarlet, Tangerine and Cocoa dye. To give the tray a distressed look, Ellen wood burned a hand-stitched pattern around each seed packet.

To get started, Ellen gathered and emptied her vegetable seed packets. Then she placed a piece of graph paper in the bottom of the tray, placed the seed packets on top and drew hand-stitched lines around the seed packets. These lines were later transferred to the tray using a wood burning tool. For dye-staining, Ellen chose Rit custom recipe #143 (Chile red), which is a blend of Scarlet, Tangerine and Cocoa. Always apply the dye hot for better absorption. Let tray dry and reapply dye, if necessary, to achieve desired shade. Dyes can be stored in jelly jars and reused several times. Stored dyes must be reheated before use.

After the dye dries, a wood burning tool is used to make distressed lines around the seed packets. Then the seed packets are glued in place and finished off with Pod Modge. Click here for the full tutorial.

Ellen is a designer whose medium is textiles. Since she was a child growing up in North Carolina, Ellen has had a love of fabrics. It was this love coupled with her love for dogs that lead her to create floorquilts, which are no-sew, fabric decoupaged floorcloths. They are durable and provide colorful designs for any room. Her book, Floorquilts, published by C & T Publishing, is filled with wonderful designs based on quilt patterns and other whimsical motifs. To see more of Ellen’s creations, visit her blog at http://www.ellenhighsmithsilver.com/

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Add Color Accents to Your Home with Dyed Switch Wallplates!

Dianne — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Have you ever painted the walls in your home a custom color and then couldn’t find switch wallplates to coordinate? Well, our friend, Barbara Warholic, found an easy solution to this dilemma. She discovered that switch wallplates are made of unbreakable nylon and they can be dyed with Rit. Just imagine the color possibilities!

Barb selected custom color recipes from the Rit Color Formula Guide. Then, she washed the switch plates in warm soapy water before dunking them in the dye. As a reminder, make sure that the switch wallplates are made of nylon. Wallplates are available in other materials, but only nylon can be dyed. For her dye bath, she used 1 cup very hot water and then followed the custom recipe. Then the switch wallplate and screws were immersed into the dye mixture. (Barb’s screws took the dye.) Allow the switch plate and screws to soak in the dye solution for up to 10 minutes. Check the switch plate often in natural light to see how the color is progressing. The switch plate will be slightly darker when it dries completely. This is so easy and so much fun … the color possibilities are endless! Just think of the color burst it can add to a kid’s room, and it works for outlet plates as well. Click here for the full tutorial and custom recipes.

Barbara Warholic is a designer and author of Sewing Pottery By Machine, published by Martingale. She loves incorporating Rit dye into her work. Visit her blog and her Dyeing Textiles board on Pinterest.

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The Rit Studio presents “Bucket Dyed Jeans”

Dianne — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Learn how easy it is to dye your jeans any color you can imagine with Rit Dye! The bucket or dishpan method of dyeing makes it so easy and helps you get just the color you like, right out of the bottle. Or, you can mix several dye colors together to create your own custom color. It’s fun, easy and great to do with friends!

Dianne, our Crafts & Education Director, and Rebecca, our SVP Color Inspiration & Creativity, team up to show you how.

Supplies Needed

Rit Purple Liquid Dye
White Jeans, 100% Cotton
4-Cup Measuring Cup & Measuring Spoons
Spoon for stirring dye
4-Gallon Container for Dyeing
Fabric Scrap for testing dye color
Salt
Dishwashing Liquid
Rubber Gloves
Paper Towels
Plastic Table Cover

Instructions

1. Prewash jeans to remove any finishes that may interfere with dye absorption.

2. Fill dishpan or bucket with 3 gallons very hot tap water (140° F). Note: If water is not hot enough, heat some water in a tea kettle or in the microwave.

3. Estimate the weight of your dry jeans. (If possible, use a food scale.) These jeans weighed 14 ounces. As a guideline, ½ cup (half bottle) of liquid dye will color up to 16 ounces of dry weight fabric. To achieve a dark, more intense color, we suggest doubling the dye so we used 1 bottle of dye.

4. Dye Preparation: Wearing rubber gloves, shake dye bottle and pour into the water. Then measure 1 cup of salt; dissolve with 2 cups very hot water and stir well. Add to dyebath.

5. Add squirt of dishwashing liquid and stir well.

6. Test dye color to be sure you are satisfied. Note: If color is too light, add more dye. If color is too dark, add more water.

7. Wet jeans in warm water and squeeze out excess water.

8. Immerse jeans in dye bath and stir continuously for 20 minutes, then occasionally for 10 minutes or until desired color is achieved (up to one hour). The longer the jeans remain in the dye bath, the darker the color will be. (Color will appear lighter when dry.) Stirring helps to ensure an even color.

9. Remove jeans from dye bath and squeeze out excess dye. Rinse in cold running water until water begins to run clear. Then wash jeans in warm water with mild detergent, rinse, dry and iron.

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