What to do with left over drawing ink.

Blank Colour Wheel

Colour Wheel Poster

I often use drawing ink in my classroom to demonstrate Tie-Dye and put colour theory in to practice. As drawing ink is not permenent/washable on fabric I use paper napkins as these are also a cheap alternative which means students can experiment with more folds and patterns. Though this method would also work with fabric dyes.

Equipment:

4 Plastic cups, 

Red, Blue and Yellow Drawing ink

Paper Napkins

String

Latex Gloves

Aprons

Method

Fold the napkins in different ways to create patterns. All of the folding techniques I use are based on the basic accordion fold.

   

Fold Pattern 1

Fold Pattern 2

Fold Pattern 3

Once you have folded the napkin you tie it in one of 2 ways (the different ways will also create patterns). You can fold it into a cube and parcel tie it or fold it into a long rectangle and tie it length ways.

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Now you are ready to start dying. Put the primary colours in 3 separate beakers (You can use Red, Yellow and Blue OR Magenta, Yellow and Cyan)

Dip the bound parcel into the different colours one after the other to different depths making sure your final dip completely coats the parcel. (Make sure you have gloves on) The squeeze the excess off into the 4th beaker then unwrap carefully. This part really has the WOW factor as the brown looking bundle turns into a rainbow.

Fold Pattern 1

Fold Pattern 2

Fold Pattern 3

As you will see the primary colours naturally mix to create the other colours.