Dyeing with Spectra Bleeding Art Tissue

After the success of using this special tissue paper to dye silk, I wanted to try it on this cotton "folding" sun hat from Dharma. They also have silk sun hats for dyeing. I thought the cotton would offer better UV sun protection, so I went with the cotton rather than the silk. But now I have some ideas adding color to a silk sun hat, too!

Dharma says that you can use Procion dyes on these hats, however, the soda-ash fixative will wreak havoc with the metal hoop in the rim. So they recommend alternative coloring methods (fabric paints, for example). This method requires water to make the dye transfer, so I expected some rusting.


This is the hat covered in the now-dry tissue paper.


This is the folded hat ready to go into the little carrying case, which I also dyed in this session. I've been looking for a hat like this to take on trips. We always do a lot of walking, and I need to be careful about getting too much sun. These fit the bill perfectly!

Results
My first impression was that the results seemed very faded and muted.

It looked like much of the color remained in the "spent" tissue.
Was it too cold in my basement wet studio? It actually looks much more striking as a sun-catcher than in regular light.

There is a slight bit of rust on the brim. Perhaps that could be used to advantage in another design?



The cheesecloth worked VERY well! Even the sop cloth (blue-green) took the color beautifully

The hat worked great working in the garden yesterday!