The Dyeing Experiment: An Update

How's it going, you ask?

Not so well.

I first tried using craft-grade acrylic paints.

Did you know that craft paint makers do not know how to make an actual red. Oh, no. Apparently all those crafty chicks just LOVE pink, because every color of red craft paint is really just a variation of pink--just a very dark pink. When you water it down it entirely ceases to be red, which it shouldn't do.

Pink is NOT just watered down red. Pink is, in fact, LIGHTENED red with a bit of some other color added to make it distinct from red--usually blue if you want a cool pink and yellow if you want a warm pink.

When red is watered down it should still be red. Pale red, but NOT pink.

Here's the first attempt from last week. Granted, I washed the sheets afterward, which removed some of the excess pigment and lightened the color:


Not a bad color, but not dark enough.

So today I went out and bought more paint (all of which turned out to just be different shades of pink) and tried again. Second attempt:


Again, a nice color, but definitely not RED!

Third attempt, I used the leftovers from an old tube of artist acrylic color. It had a better redness, but didn't dissolve very well. I also added some brown craft paint to deepen it further. Most browns are made from a combo of black and orange anyway, so browns are generally complimentary to reds when mixing. Anyway, one big advantage to craft paints it that they're already thinned down quite a bit and thin very well with water. But, as you can see, it's still not a good vibrant red:


Fourth attempt, I added some purple and more brown with the red craft paint (I'd used up all the red artist paint for the previous batch) but it still isn't RED:


Maybe you can't tell the difference. But what matters is that I can tell the difference, and I'm not happy with any of them.

Next attempt--either more artist paint or maybe a quart of some nice deep red from Home Depot.