Dip Dying a Lampshade

I did this super easy project on a bland, inexpensive lampshade. All you need is:

- a box of Rit dye (take a look at the Rit Color Guide)

- a big bucket (bigger than your item to be dyed)

- water

I used an empty Scoop Away bucket and dropped the dye in. Then, I filled the bucket with water (using hot water will enable the dye to dissolve better). This created a dark-looking dye. I placed the white lampshade into the bucket and left it for 1/2 hour to an hour. How long you leave it contributes to how dark the color on your item will be. Then, I emptied a quarter of the water out of the bucket and replaced the lampshade. I left it another stretch of time before emptying another quarter to half of the remaining water and returning the lampshade to the bucket one last time. Finally, I took the lampshade out of the bucket and set it to dry emptying my bucket of dye completely. [How much water you empty each time will determine where your gradients are. I wasn't really that particular, but if you want evenly separated sections, you need to be more exact about emptying your water and do it in the same increments.]

I ended up with a light grey dip-dyed shade. I was really pleased with the results. I would have liked it a bit darker, but to achieve that I would have had to have more dye or left it in the dye longer (I'm impatient, what can I say?).

If you check out the Rit site, they have other projects you can do with dyes.