Dyeing Rope Bowls

... a how NOT to guide. (LOL)

I am participating in a rope bowl challenge in a FaceBook group. The challenge requires dyeing either the rope before sewing or the completed project. I chose the later and chose to coffee dye the bowl. Here's what I did.

1. Boil water with a large amount of salt. Salt is a fixative for the dye.

2. Place three large handfuls of instant coffee and one large handful of salt in an 8-inch baking pan.

3. Add the boiling water to the baking pan sufficient to fill the pan about .75 inches deep. It should be difficult to dissolve all of the coffee. If it is not, add more coffee. We are looking for sludge. (If you worked in an office that provided free coffee prior to pods, you're looking for that 4PM coffee someone left in the pot rather than making a fresh brew.)

4. Invert the bowl into the sludge. The bowl will not be covered.

5. Allow the bowl to rest in the sludge for several hours or overnight. The sludge will wick up through the coils of the bowl creating an ombre effect on the bowl.

6. Remove the bowl from the sludge and allow to drip until it stops.

7. Rinse the bowl in vinegar. Vinegar, like salt, is a fixative and should help the bowl retain its color.

8. At this point the bowl is still shedding coffee on anything it touches. Allow to dry for several hours.

9. Then, finally, launder with detergent on gentle cycle and dry on medium heat.

My bowl lost almost all of its beautiful coffee color. This process will only work on natural fibers so of course I checked my rope by burning a piece. Turns out the core is synthetic (it melted rather than burning) which should not have affected the dyeing. The outer braided portion of the rope is cotton (or other natural fiber) as advertised and burns cleanly.

Don't actually know what went wrong here. I do know that if I had spilled this sludge on anything else it would have stained. In fact, you might say that my bowl is stained rather than dyed.

Bowl inverted OVER the sludge to drip dry.

Interior of dripping bowl.

Rinsed bowl drying on a paper towel.

Interior and exterior of the two bowls I attempted to dye. They are no longer white, but they are far from the coffee color I wanted.

So, I decided to do something else after my dyeing failures.

This is my first oval bowl. Black macrame cord with variegated thread -- no dyeing.

I am still rethinking dyeing techniques for my second challenge entry. Maybe turmeric, or acrylic paint, or food coloring. IDK but I don't think I'll do coffee again without some more research. Meanwhile, I've created two oval bowls (the 2nd is white with colorful thread) and I'm kind of liking this different shape.

dks, 19 Jan 2026