THE ROAD TO NSS 2013:DIP DYED OMBRE CANVAS BAGS

One of the best parts about exhibiting at NSS is getting to send out fun invitations to stores to invite them to your booth. You know that you have to be creative to stand out among all of the other designers out there so there is also a ton of pressure.

This year we went pretty simple. I wanted my new laser cut invitation to be the star of the show so we didn't fuss too much about everything else. I thought it would be nice to slip the invite inside of a canvas bag since that is how we package our laser cut invitations when we send them to customers. We decorate them but the standard decoration we do just didn't seem right to me for this invitation. I wanted to do something special.

I know that you have also noticed the dip dyed/ombre trend going around and I thought it might be simple enough to achieve. And it really was.

All we did was prepare the dye according to the directions on the box. Make sure you have a pot/bowl that is at least stain resistant to minimize clean up. Laying down plastic is helpful too along with wearing plastic gloves. Have paper towels on hand to clean up any splashes.

We boiled a huge pot of water, added the dye and got dipping. We put the pot near a sink so that we could quickly rinse the bags once they were dipped. It takes a little while for the dye to take so be patient. We were able to minimize this time but dipping 30 bags at a time. Now this does not create the most homogenized look on all the bags, but it created the look I was going for. If you really want a perfect ombre on each bag, I would do them individually but we had 200 to dye and took the easier route.

I would hold the bags in the dye for about 10-15 minutes, while very slowly pulling them out. This is how you create a darker color on the bottom and a lighter color on the top. I think we could have done a better job of this given more time but leading up to the show is such a mad dash.

Then someone with gloves on rinses the bags out with lukewarm to cold water. We also squeezed out the excess water and dye. You want to do this until your water runs clear. Then we laid out the bags on plastic to dry a bit. They were then going straight into the dryer so they didn't rest that long.

Then we popped them into the dryer until dry and they were done. After that, only a few needed to be ironed and we were ready to stamp the logo and stuff them with the invitations. You can see them stuffed and ready to slipped into their mailers in the last few shots. But you will have to wait for the final invitation reveal.

Up Next: Our store invitations are revealed!