Hand-Dyeing experience: disasters and heartache

I warned you this would happen: here comes the first post on dyeing! I tried it out for the first time this week, and let me just tell you that it was an unmitigated disaster.

In fact, it was so bad that I didn't even want to post it up on here. But then I realized that the results were so hilariously bad that I just had to share. It's definitely part of my cross stitching diary!

So. I got all my materials together, namely: baking trays, cast-off fabric aka an old bedsheet turned into rags, plastic cups and spoons, hot water and, of course, the dyes.

These dyes are powder, so I put them in plastic cups and diluted them to the saturation that I wanted. And then the games began!

Take One

One my first round, I tried using blue and green. I had two types of blue and green, one of each brand.

I was going for a subtle effect, an "under the sea" look. Something magnificent fit for a Mirabilia mermaid. Here is what I got instead:

I call them snot-gross and dirty washcloth, respectively. Epic fail. Evidently, green and blue did not go well together! So much for my underwater effect. Time for round two!

Take Two

For this round, I used only one blue on each piece of fabric, diluted to different strengths. Some was very concentrated, some very diluted. I was hoping this would give it that marble effect.

However, once they were washed and dried, this is what they looked like: 

I mean... It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. You can hardly see any change in the colors, especially in the electric blue one. I wanted it to be subtle, but not that much! So, I tried again.

Take Three

This one was an absolute heartbreak, it completely gutted me! Why? Because I tried it out on actual Aida and at first, it came out perfect! 

That's the best picture I have of it unfortunately, but look at it! There was green, dark blue, light blue... it was absolutely magical. When I opened it up I was over the moon, it was so beautiful! Way better than I had imagined. I couldn't believe I'd made something that pretty! Absolutely ideal for a mermaid. 

But then I washed it... And the only color that remained was the light blue! The green and darker blue were gone!

I wish I'd left it that way now. But I was so gutted, so utterly disappointed, that I decided to try adding green and dark blue to it. Genius that I am. And this is what happened:

Absolutely ruined! I was so extremely disappointed that it's still lying around on the terrace somewhere, on time out, thinking about what it's done.

But I'm recording it on here for future reference to myself, because it's definitely part of my cross-stitching experience, and once I cool off I (hope) I'll be able to laugh at this episode. Instead of wanting to shred the fabric to pieces. But they say frustration is part of the creative process, right? Sigh.

UPDATE: I went back to the above ruined piece and tried to fix it. 

I was able to make a dent in it, and in fact I love the way the blues came out this time, but the green splotches still make it look dirty. I don't think you can see them very well in the picture, but in real life they're a deal breaker unfortunately. If it weren't for them I'd love the final effect and use it in a heartbeat!