Bunny Rug - transferring an image to any surface with a projector

Step 4 Dye the Rug

I picked up some RIT brand black dye at the drug store. It only costs a few dollars and comes in a concentrated powder that has to be mixed with water. You can also get in a liquid form that can just be poured right into the washing machine. I followed the directions on the dye for "washing machine dyeing".

I put the rug into the washing machine and started to fill the tank with enough hot water to cover the rug. I then mixed two packets of the dye into four cups of water and then dumped that into the machine. Following the directions, I added in one cup of salt and some laundry detergent and then started the wash cycle.

I interrupted the wash cycle just before it emptied the hot soapy water several times and set it back to the beginning so that the rug could soak in the dye for at least half an hour. After it had soaked sufficiently I allowed the cycle to finish and then washed it again with hot water and just a little bit of detergent to get out any extra dye.

Once I was done dyeing the rug I ran the machine one more time with a couple cups of bleach to clean out any residual black dye.

The rug came out of the dryer as a dark purple - not quite black, but since all of the stains were hidden, and I didn't mind the color, I let it be and moved on.