Dyeing Lace

Yesterday I spent a happy morning dyeing lace with potassium permanganate, a compound used most often in veterinary medicine. I'm told it's used for horses hooves, but my DH also says some people stain wood with it. That's all well and good, but I prefer it to dye my laces to give them a golden sheen. It was a technique I first learned about when reading books by Jenny Haskins.


These are some of the laces I ended up with. You can see the un-dyed rayon Venice lace motif in the center bottom. The others are all dyed. Different fiber contents (and qualities) of lace take the potassium permanganate in different ways. You can also vary the color by soaking for shorter or longer periods of time. Here are some more laces and motifs. The P.P. really accents the sheen.


Most of these I'll use as is, but some I'll overpaint with a light color wash to glam them up. All told, I dyed about 30 yards of lace and a dozen motifs. Now I've got a stock to play with.

I've also been toying with the idea of opening an Etsy shop to sell this lace, among other things. But first a bit of research is in order. Must go stitch!