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Dyed Reed and Other Dyed Media

 When working with dyed reed, pull the reed though a towel to remove any excess dye that might transfer to your basket project. Dyed reed will glide smoothly when pulled with the reed’s grain. Pulling with the grain also reduces the chances of making your reed hairy. Work with dyed reed as dry as possible to prevent the dye from bleeding on your basket.

If you dye smoked reed in yellow dye, you end up with a pretty gold color.  Haven’t tried any other colors on smoked reed to see results. (Submitted by Mona Hartzler) 

Bleached cane accepts dye better than regular cane.  Usually, the back side (rough side) will dye a darker and some times will be irregular in color.  Either side can be used depending on the effect desired.

Use a plastic freezer zip bag to dye small quantities of reed.  You can cut the spokes to size and dye only the weavers needed for a project.  Fill the plastic bag with the hot tap water and dye. Then, place the reed in the bag and close.  The dye bath should cover the reed for an even dye treatment.  

Twisted and braided seagrass can be dyed for weaving or for rim fillers.  Before placing seagrass in a dye bath, tie the ends to prevent unraveling.  If dying a whole coil of seagrass, loosen the coil so the dye can reach and evenly penetrate all the seagrass.  Tie the coil loosely with string or original material used to tie the coil to prevent the coil from becoming tangled.

Cane will take a dye better if run through sandpaper first.


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Rit® Dye Mixes that Work
A complete list of Dyes and Mixes can be found at Dye and Custom Colors from Rit®
Below is a colletion of dry Rit® mixes for reed.  Please note some colors may no longer be available from Rit®.    
Black 1 pkg # 15 Black    Dye in very hot water and let reed dry Then, re-dye the reed
Blue Spruce 1 part # 29 Royal Blue
½ part #35 Dark Green
Caramel 2 pkgs. #42 Golden Yellow
1 ½ tsp. #20 Cocoa Brown
Christmas Red ½ part #5 Scarlet
½ part #9 Cardinal
Cranberry Red 1 part #5 Scarlet
½ part #10 Wine
Deep Purple ½ part #44 Black Plum
½ part #13 Purple
Dusty Rose ½ pkg.  #19 Mauve
1 Tsp. #16 Tan
Grape ½ part #13 Purple
½ part #10 Wine
Jade Green 1 pkg.  #32 Kelly Green
1 pkg.  Yellow
½ pkg.  #35 Dark green
Navy Blue 1 part #30 Navy
½ part #29 Royal Blue
Rust 1 part #40 Tangerine
½ part #20 Cocoa Brown
Sage 1 part #39 Pearl Grey
½ part #29 Sea Foam Green
Teal Blue 1 part #29 Royal Blue
1/4 part #32 Kelly Green
Teal Green 1 ½ part #32 Kelly Green
½ part  #29 Royal Blue
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Tips and Tricks listed on this page have been pasted from weaver to weaver over the past years.  MBG does NOT claim originality but provides a forum for sharing those deemed beneficial to new and experienced weavers.  MBG welcomes the submission of additional tips and tricks.  Please send your tips to

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