If you are new to the world of scrapbooking, here’s one more interesting area that you should explore. Tie dyeing is often misunderstood as being a tedious task however, I must admit that it is kind of messy but not difficult to achieve. In fact, you can come up with all sorts of beautiful creations funded by your endless imagination.

Remember how tempting ice creams with ripple effects look? Tie-dyeing will do just the same to your scrapbook layout however, with the exception of being inedible. If you have done tie dyeing in the kindergarten, you will probably recall how much fun it is to be messing with colors.

Tie dyeing with wax is especially useful in creating greeting cards and certificates

Taking your layout to the next level with tie-dye

So tie dyeing with wax paper is only taking a step further. It is no more difficult than blending matching colors to come up with those dazzling ripple effects. So here’s how to go about making a tie dye scrapbook layout using wax paper.

  1. Get hold of a wax paper which is slightly larger than the area of your scrapbook layout or any size of area that you are working with.
  2. Crumple the wax paper as much as you can. However, be careful not to tear it off.
  3. Now take off a glossy paper and place the wax paper over it.
  4. Place a scrap sheet on top of the wax paper to protect the iron and place another scrap sheet under the glossy paper to protect the ironing board.
  5. It’s now prepared to face the heat! I.e. iron the set of papers using the hottest setting your iron has.
  6. If it is a steam iron, make sure you switch over to dry mode before ironing and make sure not to iron for more than 5 seconds.
  7. Now it’s time to peel off the wax paper and apply dye ink. You will see how the wax will act as a resistant giving rise to what is called a ‘textured look’.

Of course, you could try out many variations in the process. Some people would prefer to be left off with a circular or whirl pattern. If you like to try out this method, all you got to do is pie-fold your wax paper ensuring that the point of the paper falls at the centre once unfolded. So keep folding your wax paper in a triangular pie shape until you cannot fold anymore.

Crumple your layout! No but its great for cards

Now it’s time for the crumpling. Leave the paper crumpled for a few second before you unfold it to its original state. Next step is to sandwich the wax paper and put it under heat. Once ironing is done, you can sponge dauber the dye ink in a circular or swirling fashion to get your most wanted swirling ripple effect!

You’ll be amazing to find how many special effects you can create with this technique. Tie dyeing with wax is especially useful in creating greeting cards and certificates of all sorts. So enjoy messing with colors while keeping your eyes open for new trends that are becoming popular in scrapbooking!

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