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First, we need to
make up the dye bath.

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And so you want a big pot of hot
water, which I have here already,

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and you want to fill
it with enough water

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that when you dump
the napkin in, you

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can go in and out without having
to push some of the napkin down.

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So you want it to be as high
as you want to dye to be.

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So I've probably got a good three
or four inches of water in the pot.

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And then we want to add the salt.

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Even if your particular brand of dye
doesn't call for adding the salt,

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I recommend that
you add salt anyway,

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because through the
magic of chemistry,

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salt allows the fabric
to absorb more dye.

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So it will give you a
more saturated color.

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So I'm going to add a cup
of salt to my dye bath.

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You don't need really
precise measurements.

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You just want to make sure that
you have enough salt in there

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that it will help the dye
to set into the fabric.

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And a cup is usually pretty good.

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Then it's time to mix
the colors that you want.

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You can use a straight color
and not mix two together,

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but I'm going to use a purple
color and a blue color.

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I feel like adding the blue
adds this kind of nice depth

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to the purple, and just
gives it this nicer hue.

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So I'm going to
start with my purple,

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and I'm going to add probably about
a quarter to a half of the bottle.

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And then I'm going to
toss in a little bit less

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of the blue, maybe a third.

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And I'm going to test this
out on my scrap of fabric,

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and you should too.

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I mean you can mix up
these custom colors,

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and then just dunk a
corner of something

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in, and make sure that it's
the color that you want.

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As you can see here, it's steamy.

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I'm keeping this on a simmer.

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And again, this is something
that I've learned through trying

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different kinds of dyeing.

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Even if your dye doesn't
call for it to use

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a hot water method, a stove top
method, I really recommended it.

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It sets the color better.

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You just want to
keep it at a simmer,

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and you don't want it to boil.

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And now I'm going to test and
see if it's a color I like.

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And just dip it right in.

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And you can see it's purple,
but it has some blue.

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When you mix colors together,
sometimes the blue--

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or the lighter color--
ends up almost on top,

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which is something I really like.

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So I'm going to go for that.

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One thing you want to think about
before you dip your napkin in

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is how high you want it to go up.

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When I fold these and
put them on the table,

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I like the whole
entire ombre gradient

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to show on this front of the napkin,
so I'm only going up a few inches.

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If you want to cover
much more of your napkin,

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that's completely fine.

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Just give that thought before you
actually dunk it in, because you

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obviously can't take the dye out.

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You want to make sure you don't
have any tags on your napkin,

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and then take it over to
the sink and get it wet.

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All right.

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So we are ready to dunk.

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And the first dip in is going
to be your lightest color,

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so you just want to go in and out.

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And then the next one, you're
just going to go straight in,

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but bring it not quite as high.

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And you want to bounce it around a
little bit, kind of keep it moving

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and keep it swishy, because you
don't want to get any hard lines.

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So this ombre effect is just you're
going to dunk it a little bit

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higher each time.

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So it's moving from light to dark.

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And then at the bottom, you
want to be really saturated,

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very supersaturated, so that
one I keep in the longest,

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and I just want to have it hang out
there for probably a minute total.

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And the reason, as
you can probably tell,

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that you have this
lovely gradient effect,

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is because the top
stays really pristine

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and give this great contrast
to the dye at the bottom.

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And you want to keep it that way.

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You don't want to get
drips or splatters on it.

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So as we're going to make
a beeline over to the sink,

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you just want to be really
careful in how you're holding

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this and carrying it, keeping the
color at the bottom at all times

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as you move over and rinse it out.

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And then you're going to
run it under cold water

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to rinse the dye out.

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You want to rinse it
out really thoroughly,

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and you can do that by
opening up the seams,

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because that's where the dye
likes to hang out a little bit.

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And just keep rinsing,
and keep rinsing.

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This is almost the hardest part--
which sounds sort of dumb to say,

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because you're just rinsing it
out-- but you just want to do

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a really thorough job of this.

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And I'll show you this
nifty sort of thing

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that I came up that it
allows you to make sure

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that the dye is actually all out.

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So once the water is running
really clear, what I do,

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since I'm normally dyeing
a few napkins at once,

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is I set this one up in
some paper towels here.

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It'll look like the
water is running clear,

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but then you want to
lay it here to dry,

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because if they're still
dye left, you'll be

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able to see it in the paper towel.

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Before you dye the next napkin,
you want to make sure that when you

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were lifting the napkin up and
down, you didn't get any splatters--

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well, you probably
did gets splatters,

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but you want to take
care of the splatters

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that you made around
the inside of the pan.

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So I'm just going to take a paper
towel and run it around here.

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Because if you hit those
areas with your new napkin,

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it will ruin it, if it's
a part of the napkin

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that you don't want to be dyed.

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So I do that between every
napkin or item that I am dyeing,

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to make sure that it
stays nice and pristine.

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You can see that this one is
releasing some of its dye yet,

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it hasn't all been rinsed out.

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So that means you want to
give it yet another rinse.

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And you are using a lot
of water, it's true,

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but you can just
take shorter showers

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for a week or so to compensate for
all the water that you're using.

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This step sort of seems
like a pain, like you

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are doing this an awful lot.

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And you are.

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It's true.

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But the reason that you're
doing it an awful lot

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is because you want to have
this release all of its dye

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now in the sink, rather than later.

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Because the first time you wash it,
it will turn lighter-- but not only

128
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that, it could also give the whole
napkin a tint of this color when

129
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you put it through the washing
machine the first time,

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and you want to avoid that.

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At this point, you're really
trying to lock in all of this color

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as much as possible.

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So you want to rinse it again,
and do this until there's no more

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dye coming out on your paper towel.

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And at that point, you're ready
to hang it up and let it dry.

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Now, I have done this every which
way, in terms of drying these,

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and I've put them straight
into the washing machine.

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I've put them straight
into the dryer.

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And the best possible thing
is to let these air dry.

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So you want to hang
them up on a-- rig

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up a clothes line over
the heater in your house,

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or hang them up outside.

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And you want to line them all up
and let them air dry until they are

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barely damp to the touch, and
that will give you the very

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best locked-in ombre color.