Dying Acrylic Yarn for Doll Wigs

Though acrylic yarn is fabulous for making doll hair, it doesn't come in a huge variety of hair tones. While I was looking for a way to dye the stuff, I learned that there really wasn't a good way to get color to stick to acrylic because it's basically plastic.

I found a tutorial by Lindsay Weirich explaining her method of mixing acrylic paints and water to dye acrylic yarn, but does that work for doll hair? Weirich is using yarn to knit. Meanwhile, I plan on brushing it out and using a straightener on it.

I used Craft Smart paint, and I mixed it in some spray bottles I got from the dollar store so it'd be easy to apply. My aim is to create an auburn/reddish-brown for a character doll I'm working on.

To see how this works, I dyed the yarn already processed into hair as well as in its normal form. I wanted to see whether it would still be possible to process the yarn when it's dyed, or if it would be best to process it beforehand. This is because I prefer rerooting rather than making wigs, and from my experience, you can't root yarn after it's made into hair.

Dyed brushed vs yarn Dried and brushed

As you can see, this didn't work very well. The piece of hair that was already brushed out and straightened is slightly darkener, so that's a start. I imagine it'll work a lot better with a lighter base, but I'm not quite done trying to get the red-brown I'm looking for.

I bought some burnt umber acrylic at the dollar store to see how much more a darker paint will show up. I also try a few different shades on a platinum color.

Brown vs Burnt Umber Base Color, Golden Brown, Brown, Burnt Umber

Not a huge difference on the orange base, but this method works great on blond! It still dries light, but the color shows up really well. I also want to make a note that my brown fabric marker works too.

You do lose some of the softness, but the texture isn't affected much. This is a game-changer! If you need more info on doll hair, I have several helpful articles with more to come.

Love,

Haley

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