Tutorial how to color dye felting wool with KoolAid

A great way to color or dye felting wool is with KoolAid. It comes in a wide variety of colors that could be mixed up to create even more colors. It doesn’t wash away and is as natural as a food coloring could be. Another great thing about KoolAid is that it can be found in any grocery store in US.

I suggest we start with a few bright colors like red for cherry flavored KoolAid, yellow for Lemon and orange for Orange and a few felted beads of medium size. To read more about the process of creating felted wool acorns please refer to my post on How to make felted wool acorns.

I first made colored water. To make it I added powder from KoolAid packs to the water in a few small plastic containers. As a result I’ve got five containers with brightly colored water. I added approximately a tea spoon of powder to each of the containers. Then I put each of my five beads into a separate container and let the beads suck in the colored water.

One can vary the quantity of powder dispensed in the water to make the solution more or less saturated. As a result beads can turn out of either pale and pastel hues or bright and vivid colors. It makes sense to heat containers with solution and beads in a microwave up to the boiling point for color to fully penetrate the beads. However be careful as beads will be super hot! I usually cool them off in cold water afterwards.

The result is pretty impressive. All of my five beads turned out to be colored differently. The most intensive, bright and beautiful color turned out to be orange. Yellow bead was not that intensely colored but I really like the light lemon color of the bead. They smell of oranges, lemons and cherries! Yummy!

All those brightly colored beads could be turned into acorns or into an acorn wind chime.

This post describes my personal experience with a particular product.
Please be careful trying to replicate the experiment!!!

Tutorial by TonyaUtkina

Introducing Lightkeeping and Lampwork

Wouldn't it be nice to find out more and see the faces behind the amazing work of Etsy Russian Team members? Now I do not attempt to claim that my creations are half as amazing as the art created by other members, but I would love to humbly set an example of introducing ourselves.

My name is Anastasija (or Anna for short and for easier pronunciation) aka Lightkeeping. I am originally from Lithuania, however, I come from a Russian family and have a very strong Russian identity. And recently I also chose to be an immigrant of love by coming to Ireland. A couple of years ago I was studying arts in Cork and met this guy with hair like a raven, cheecks like blood and body like snow straight from "The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu", one of the most stunning sagas ever written in Irish. So after finishing my studies in literature back at home and quitting my day job in the media, I flew back to Ireland on the love wings of Airlingus.

As long as I can remember myself I was crafting something all the time. It used to be sawing outfits for dolls first, then I moved on to knitting for myself and family members. I was always very disappointed that I cannot draw as visual arts are a passion of mine, I just love visiting galleries and exhibitions as well as taking art history courses and was delighted to discover the media of lampwork as it fully satisfies my hunger for color, texture and form.

Lampworking is a type of glasswork that uses a gas fueled torch to melt rods and tubes of clear and colored glass. Once in a molten state, the glass is formed by blowing and shaping with a variety of tools and hand movements. Lampwork beads can be very colorful and highly detailed and they are an instant mood lifter. I just love working with them: matching them with Czech glass beads, colored jade, pearls, Swarovski and other beads to make bracelets, necklaces and earrings.

My next step will be learning to make my own lampwork beads and I am looking very much forward to being able to afford learning lampworking and getting all the equipment. Meanwhile, I want to show you the work of another member of the Russian team - Nina, who runs an Etsy shop Britanika. She makes gorgeous lampwork beads in her home studio in Israel. All her beads are cleaned and annealed in digitally controlled kiln for added strength and durability. If you love color and unusual form you should definitely visit her shop.

Here are a couple of examples of the lampwork beads that are currently for sale in her shop.