Friday, January 25, 2013

Make Prussian Blue With Steel Wool

A pigment used in laundry bluing, Prussian blue helps alleviate yellow staining on white fabrics by tinting them with slight bluish tone. Prussian blue can be made into an ink, a paint, or simply used as is for your laundering needs. Making Prussian blue from steel wool provides you with a traditional endeavor used for many centuries. Eliminating the need of expensive fabric dyes and laundry treatments, homemade Prussian blue made with steel wool proves useful and cheap.


Instructions


1. Place the steel wool into the glass bowl.


2. Pour the water into the bowl, allowing the steel wool to absorb a lot of it.


3. Add the small amount of dish soap to the bowl and stir the steel wool around with a plastic spoon to mix the solution.


4. Let the bowl sit for about two days in a cool, dark area.


5. Put on the thick rubber gloves and remove the balls of steel wool from the bowl. Squeeze them to release the Prussian blue pigment into the water. Return them to the bowl and let them sit for another two days, repeating this step.


6. Pour the opaque, grey-blue solution after squeezing the steel wool a final time, into a large plastic bottle. Cap it and store it for later use.

Tags: Prussian blue, steel wool, blue made, Prussian blue made, steel wool