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 Dyeing your Basket

          ...Before or After Weaving??

Another question of the week involved dyeing. Let's say that you're dyeing the entire basket one color. In that case, I would recommend waiting until the basket is finished- UNLESS it's a very large basket. You have to have a dye bath container large enough to contain the dye to COVER the basket. Example: Cape Cod Blueberry basket in a kitchen bucket.

If the basket is large, dye all materials, including the handle, before you begin weaving.

Obviously, if you want stripes of different colors, you'll also dye the reed BEFORE weaving. Sometimes people wipe the reed with a cloth before they insert each strand. This is to prevent the dye from getting on your hands. I've never had that problem with our dyes. Always remember to dry the dyed reed completely before you RE-SOAK to weave with it. Some very dark shades of grocery store dyes tend to bleed more. This isn't a flaw; the pigment is just richer for dark colors. Toss in some salt (the old quilter's color-set trick) and it will help to set the color on the reed.