Searching For Chocolate (A Saga of Dyeing)

What…? You say, why not just go to any store and get chocolate, if that's what she is in search of?  Aah, the chocolate that beckons is not sweet and reeking of cocoa powder.  It is the chocolate color in fabric for rug making. 
That is my most used color and one of the most difficult to find in thrift store sheets.  They surely make chocolate colored dye. (I even toyed with the idea of using cocoa for dye…but no, it is too precious to waste on dye.) I have dyed fabric before mostly in grays.  I have a large stash of ivory and white sheets, colors which I rarely use.  Why not dye them? 

 So, make a trek to the store, not for Hershey's kisses, but for Rit's dye.  Alas, Smith's does not carry any brown dye.  Hmmmm. What makes brown?  Complimentary colors.  Red and Green?  So, I got red (wine) and dark green.  Followed the instructions, for stove top dyeing…adding salt.  Wetting the fabric first.  Stir…dissolve, then add the sheet to the pot. 

Whoa, the green is mostly gray and adding the red….well, it doesn't really produce brown.  Did a few items and looked at the result.  Wow, tie dying.  Dried them in the dryer and inspected the colors and patterns. These make beautiful strips for rug making.

I still needed brown, though.  So, I searched for the natural dye that would make dark brown.  Black Walnut bark?  No, don't have that.  Coffee? 

Doesn't make DARK brown, but it might brown down the gray a bit.  So, into the basement to retrieve the old can of Maxwell House.Tried dyeing with it and it just made a light tan. 

Oh, well, back to the Dyeing Board.

Back to a different store and found Dark Brown dye.

  Yay, Walmart!  Got some more white sheets at the Salvation Army.  I found a beautiful King size chocolate colored top sheet, brand new at Savers for $6.  It was so gorgeous and luxurious and was 100% Indian cotton with an astronomical thread count.  That one goes on the bed.

Any way tried again with the sheet dyeing.  The new brown dye was not very brown and turned out more gray.  Hmmm. What would warm up the color?  I have Orange Kool Aid.  Added a package to the color bath and yes, it did warm it up. (Colorfully speaking.) Got some more interesting items.

I was also excited to find a way to use vintage white print sheets, just add a little color.