NQF: How to dye an Ikea sheepskin in the washing machine

 Not Quite Freestyle (NQF)

How to dye an Ikea sheepskin in the washing machine

The cat is a pampered cat, as befits his status as undisputed apartment ruler. As he has demonstrated a fondness for fleecy and wooly things, his human servants thought he would appreciate a sheepskin.  The human acquired a RENS sheepskin from Ikea for the cost of approximately some-amount-that-the-cat-doesn't-care-about.  

Tag on back of Ikea sheepskin

Upon close inspection the cat commented that he didn't think the sheepskin coordinated properly with his eyes, so we decided to dye it purple as befits his royal majesty.

Inspection 1.

This was pretty simple, fill the washing machine with dye and hot water, but pause the wash cycle before it agitates. Put the sheepskin in, and swish it around with a stick every once in a while. While wearing gloves, pull it out to look if the color is getting any darker.

In-progress view

After a good bit of siting in the washing machine (maybe 2 hours), add some gentle soap, close the lid, and let the gentle wash cycle continue.

Once the washing machine cycle is done, DO NOT PUT THE SHEEPSKIN IN THE DRYER.  Instead, place it somewhere it can fully air dry, like on top of a bucket inside a bathtub.  Wait for the sheepskin to air dry, this could take a while depending on the humidity level.

Drying time

After the sheepskin has dried, fluff the wool generously, then present it to his royal majesty for final inspection.

Satisfaction

Conclusion

With its new purple wool the sheepskin passed inspection, and the sheepskin was granted a charter bestowing upon it the royal cat-nap privileges in perpetuity. 

After completion of this project, the humans ran an empty load in the washing machine to flush out any remnant dye, and all was well in the land.

Meow That's A Fun Frame Find

One night a neighbor friend was browsing his building's message board and saw that someone was leaving a bunch of picture frames outside their door, for free, obviously.  He scampered over and grabbed a whole box, following the scavenger-hoarder mantra of 'take it now, figure it out later.' Approve.  After taking what he wanted he offered the box of associated small frames to me, and I managed to find a group of frames the same style, all around 8x10 to 8x12.  Yay for third-hand picking! It felt positively luxurious to lay out the frames on the floor and look at them all instead of grabbing a box and scurrying off into the night.

Here is a snapshot of the 'before', very basic black wooden frames, at least 20 years old.

Basic frames sitting on cardboard

I have a different friend who wanted to add some art to his walls for the bargain price of next-to-nothing, and was into the idea of painting some free frames with gold paint. Below is one of the frames after the first coat, not very encouraging, but I knew that it takes a few coats of gold to really build up the shine.

In process, don't judge it yet.

Here is the final product, with a picture of the beloved cat printed out at a local drugstore.

Kitty says Meow!

Now we just have to finish painting the rest of the frames, find and print some more suitable artwork (probably more cat pictures), and arrange a custom gallery wall. Stay tuned.

Happy freestyling!